Glass Ear Gauge Tutorial??
 

Hey everybody,

I am a new flameworker, and i greatly inquire some assisstance! I would really like to learn how to make glass ear gauges. Does anyone possibly know where i might find anything about it. Thank you all.

Cheers,
Nic

G'day Nic,

Do you mean the ear plugs (for the big holes, not the earhole itself?)

There was a small discussions about them http://www.lampworketc.com/forums/sh...ight=ear+plugs

I have made some and they were easy enough, but have only just got some digital calipers to be able to accurately measure the middle bit! Here was my early effort using boro:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4011/...66552d75_m.jpg

These have a little home-made clownfish murrini in the end which I managed to distort a bit :rolleyes:

Is this what you were thinking of?

Nat :cool:

yes exactly! is there any way you could explain the process to me. I do not have any digital calipers. However i have a gauges wheel with cut outs of the sizes. The things that stumps me is how would i get it symetrical on the wearable surface? Thanks for the help, this is so great!

Nic

I would be interested, too. My son in-law has been after me to make him some for quite a while!

No worries Nic,

I basically did mine off mandrel so they are solid, but plenty of people have made the ones on mandrel which look like they would be easier to control the thickness of the guage in the centre (by changing the diameter of the mandel if not just the volume of the glass you lay down as a footprint) and also easier to make the ridgy bits on the sides how deep or shallow you want them. You could also make the ones that have a ridge on one side, but flat on the other with an o-ring to hold them on!

Here's a simple diagram for the on mandrel ones:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2790/...37ed0f36_m.jpg

You can check your guage on the metal hole type guage by inserting into the guage before you put a second ridge on (or just eyeball it and check after its been annealed and cooled).


The way I did these boro off mandrel ones was quick and simple too (and no cleaning up afterwards).

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2751/...8e52f957_m.jpg

1. Lightly heat the very tip of a rod roughly the diameter of the guage of the earplug you want to produce.

2. press carefully against a marver to form a ridge (not to deep a ridge or people could not get them into the ear hole).

3. Cold Punti up to the center of the pressed side.

4. Nip the rod or melt off the rod (melting off can be a bit harder to control the volume. Heat the end lightly and press with marver until matching the first ridged side.

5. Remove the punti carefully smooth off the little mark and pop into kiln for annealling.

I put in my murrini on the first side and not the second if I am using them, because at that point it is easier to control the heat and pressing in the murrini can them become part of the process for forming the initial ridge of glass on that side.

Geeze I hope this makes some sense for you. There are plenty of people on here far more experienced at making these than me, but this works for me and I am happy to pass along how I've done them.

Nat 8)

ps. you will have to show off how you go you know :poke:

Ah magnificent! I will try this process tomorrow night! Now perhaps you might have some idea how these type of plugs( http://www.painfulpleasures.com/xcar...productid=5568 )are made, or lead me in the right direction? Thank you for your help Natalie, you have been very welcoming to my first post and I am very grateful!

Cheers,
Nic

Nattie, you're a doll!

De

Thanks De and you're totally welcome Nic, lots of people were real helpful to me when I first came on, so just passing the good karma along!

First off WOW Nic, there are some amazing things on that site!!!

I don't think the curly ones would be too hard with a bit of practice, I will have to go and try making some .... that might just have been my famous last words on the subject (whenever I say that, I am then punished by badly buggering it a few times before I get it right).

My sister now wants to get her earhole stretched so I can make her some plugs and is trying to talk me into it...... almost tempted.....nah, looks like it might hurt a bit!

Nat :-)

I will look for a pair that I did, and gave away!! I think I have pics, but maybe not!! anyway, they were similar to the ones that you linked on the site, but a little different. The ones on that site are "soda lime" or, soft glass, so the working time is much better than boro! I have seen these done in boro though, so I know you can do it with a bit of practice and patience!!

Oh, a little tip! I took my graphite pencil, and I drew a pattern on my bench to copy for the design of the ear plug. It worked really well, just try not to touch the bench, hover your design above it and just "eyeball" the design from there.

I hope that all makes sense!!

Scout Handford
Handford Glass and Enamel Tools

Why thank you for trying Nat, and Scout i will have to give that a try. One question about that though, do i have to do it all in one motion or would i do it bit by bit? Does that make sense?

Cheers,
Nic

They're pretty easy to make. Making two that match is the hard part...

^^^ what cosmo said. i make plugs and horns and such. plugs are easy to get the feel for,and i have a high consistancy rate. everything else is a different story.

if i need to make a pair of plugs. i can make 2 plugs and they'll probably match.

let say i'm making 12mm horns . i'll have to make 20 horns to get 8 or 9 matching pairs. by making a larger number of the same gauge, it makes it easier to get maching pairs

i'm guessing that these twists are going to have a much lower consistancy rate......at first, practice makes perfect.

when you get it figured out , if you could post your findings and tips i'd be grateful.

My son wants me to make him some of the horn type ones but I don't even know where to start.

ok this was my first attempt, it was mighty windy in the desert last night so i only got one run in. Kinda of rough, reminds me more of stone then glass. i Absolutly love them though, i have them in my ears right now. Cant wait to get more practice on them.

Cheers,
Nic

P.S. Sorry about the blurry picture, camera phones...

here's a few of my horns. i don't have any recent pics. i used to leave the end that goes behind your ear rounded , now i make a nice flat maria , like the cobalt blue and white ones, which just happen to be the ones i'm wearing right now

they're 13 mm
1.i start with a 12mm rod
2.add color(note the amount of color being used and length of rod being covered. it's important.)
3. melt everything in and condense to 13 mm
4 check diameter of rod with set of metal calipers, and make adjustments where needed
5. make maria on the end of the rod. and apply a punty with a cold seal
6. neck down the rod where the point of the horn will be. ( i have a bunch of little measurment marks on my bench for a number of differrent things like this.)
7. heat the section of the horn where the bend is going to be . making sure not to heat the part that goes through the ear , that section should already be the right size and you don't want to change it. when it's thoroughly heated give it an "S" shaped bend with one nice SLOW fluid motion.
8. seperate horn from original rod and clean up point.
9. heat grabbers, remove punty, polish punty mark , put in kiln and make 5 more so hopefully you'll end up with a matching pair.

hope this helps

Those are amazing Berning! I will give those a try hopefully tonight. I need to get some 8mm rods, as thats my size (0g), or should i go with 7mm? Thanks again and i'll post more results as soon as i make them.

Cheers
Nic

thanks. if you weren't so far away i'd tell ya to stop by and i'd show you in person. i use 12 mm to make a wide array of sizes. i use 12 mm alot and buy it by the case. ideally i think i would be nice to be 1mm +/- the size you're shooting for.

good luck

Wow, what a great job for the first effort Nic! Its so cool that you can given them a test drive in your own ears too, do they feel comfortable?

What a great idea about the pic on the bench Scout, it sounds like everyone says getting the matching pairs is the difficulty and that would definitely help when eyeballing them. I suppose we could also try to get one really good one made and then leave it on the bench to use as the model for more (after it has been annealed and cooled)

Those are great Berning! They must look really cool when worn too! I love the opally clear ones on the bottom right hand corner, YUM!

Nat :-)

i always have a premade one sitting on my bench as a visual guide. it helps, but not much.

thanks. if i had a pic of me wearing 'em i'd post it , but i don't think i do. i'll have my son look later.

Berning i wish i could see you do it in person, i might just have to make the journey haha. As soon as i get 8mm i will give it a shot, might be a couple days though. Thank you for the instructions, i've been reaing them over and over!

Natalie, thank you for the support! And yes they are actually quite comfortable. However i need to work on getting a smooth consistent texture on the wearable surface. That i say, is the biggest flaw on them.

I will produce more pictures once i get back on the torch. And thanks again to all of you for the help!

Nic

Hey check out my first attempt. A little small but i think i'm getting the hang of it! Thanks for your help everyone. Please post your attempts if any.

Cheers,
Nic

Those are really cool Nic!!!!

I haven't had much chance to get onto the torch (rotten visitors) but hope to have a go on the weekend (its Friday arvo here in Oz)

I was thinking what would be really cool with that style is to make the front (where you have the dot of color) into a snakes head with some cool murrini eyes!!!! you'd have scary-ears!!!!

Sometimes my brain outstrips my skill level on these mad schemes ;-)

Are you working in boro or soft glass Nic ?

Nat :-)

Thanks Natalie! I've actually seen snake heads before, except they were carved from bone! And i work with Boro, i cant say i've touched the soft glass at all. When i got my setup, the guy gave me about half a ton of hard glass. Do you think soft would work better for this type of project? Thanks!

Nic

i'd stick with boro for body jewelry , not sure why, but it all seems to be made from boro, plus , that's all i have.

nice first attempt....i have a bunch of em in the scap can.

Yeah i might dip my feet in that pond later on down the road, all i have is boro as well. And thank you Berning, your instructions helped out a lot, i still need A LOT more practice though! I cant wait to start coming up with some unique designs! Will post some more after i get some practice this weekend? Got a open studio at my glass academy on sunday, so 4 hours of free intructor time! Best deal in the desert.

Cheers,
Nic

I made some basic ones for my son I will get pics when he gets home.

WOWZERS!!!! These are awesome and I should have known that Natalie would have that under her belt already!!! (SHE ROCKS) Now you all have me interested in this and I am gonna give it a shot when i get home this weekend. I have divided my glass stuffs up and have set up at both houses now....however............I FORGOT MY REGULATOR!!!! Cant find one in this poedunk town!:(:(:( I could cry cause i wanna torch so BAD!

Here are my 1st attempts using my hothead
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y95...eads/002-2.jpg

I've never made one but I wonder if they can be made on a larger mandrel so they would be hollow in the middle and thus lighter?

Very Nice Bunny!! and Swamper, i know that they make hollow gauges, they call them Flesh Tunnels. I'm not exactly sure how they make them, i assume with tubing, but i bet a large hole mandrel might work. Anybody got any ideas?

Nic