*@#%! Razzle Frackin' Soft Glass Tubing Grrr!!!

[Moth]

Dontcha just hate it when you think you are a genius and then you spend several dollars and several hours (read DAYS...WEEKS) proving yourself wrong?


So I buy this really nice sounding lauscha clear tubing. It is I guess around 20mm. I thought it was medium walled, but it looks pretty darn thin to me!

I was going to form a disk bead on the end of a hollow (bead released) mandrel, I was then going to heat the rim of this tubing, and attach it to the disk, extending off the end of the mandrel.

I was then going to pull it to a point and close the end. Voila...instant vessel with nice even, thin walls. All it would need is a couple little puffs to fatten it up a bit, then I could just decorate til my heart's content. No more winding and winding and winding.

Not that I hate winding...I just thought this tubing idea was pretty flippin' clever.

Only, I didn't realize how shocky the tubing would be. So then I figured out to preheat them in the kiln really helped. End of shocky. But, I can't get it soft enough to move without the tube collapsing down on itself.

I guess I just need to buy thicker walled tubing. It isn't blowing holes out or anything, it is just condensing before I want it to. I even tried corking one end of the tube, but it didn't make any noticeable difference.

GRRRRR!!!!!

I'm not so smart as I thunk I was.

Any advice???

~~Mary

[Mr. Smiley]

Ok, when working thin tubing, use a softer gentler heat. Think bushy flame... then work it slower. It's all about heat control and it's HARD! Once you go through several cases of the stuff, you'll have the hang of it and it may eventually be easier than winding. ;) :D

[Moth]

LOL, Brent you are such a realist.

Don't you know that I can just go out there right now and do it correctly without any more practice whatsoever?

I guess I'm NOT going to be making reticello marbles with this stuff any time soon. LOL

Oh, I WILL get it. If it kills me, I will make at least one vessel with this tubing.

Thank you!


~~Mary

[Bubbyanne]

When you do get a vessel made Mary, I wanna see!

[MikeAurelius]

Mary - have you cut the tubing down to a reasonable size?

There's a trick you can try:

Pre-heat the end of one tube and close it down. Attach a punty on the closed end.

Start spinning the tube in the flame, like Brent says in a bushy wide flame. Aim for a neutral flame as best you can, you don't want carbon screwing things up.

As you spin and heat up a section at a time, put your thumb over the open end and gently push the punty end towards the open end. The tubing should bow out a bit. Take your thumb off and keep spinning. The glass will slowly start to thicken up.

For adding glass on to the tube, use rods that are about 8-10 mm thick. Get them nice and hot, but not runny.

Stripe the rod onto the tube in a spiral from the top to the closed end, leaving about a 2 mm space between the spirals. Melt in and puff out. This will take several minutes as you melt in and puff out several times.

This is how Suellen Fowler does her vessels - she starts with 19 mm medium wall (2.5 mm) and adds about 4-6 mm of glass all the way around.

A trick I learned from her is once you have the tubing thickness where you want it, add additional stipes of glass from the clear rod radially about 1 inch up from the thick section to the thin section of the tube. This will give the tube some additional strength at the point where it needs it the most: the transitional section between the thick and thin sections.

[SuzyQ]

Well, now I know what I am suppose to do with the tubing I got in a "buy me out" purchase. I was thinking it might be a really clever way to encase evenly but of course the moment I tried to heat one I thought clear frit was a better idea.

[CorriDawn]

Mike, I am a bit confused. I think I have to read your post a few more times. I have clear tubing too and thought it was just to look at