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Old 2015-07-21, 3:38am
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Otter's Flame Otter's Flame is offline
He can do the origami
 
Join Date: Nov 24, 2005
Location: Najin Oyate
Posts: 1,474
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All of these are great suggestions. A few things I remember about blowing hollow forms in 104 glass. As has already been mentioned, cool pot your glass melt it in all the way, keep your gather rotating at all times and thr blow out your hollow part of the way. The first attempt you do not want to inflate it to it's final size, slowly melt it back and condense it down to almost original size. Do this at least two, maybe three times before you blow your final size and shape. Doing this goes a long way in developing even wall thickness. If you are using opaque colors, you may want to make your initial coil pot using moretti black. This glass is just a bit stiffer than some of the other colors. Then encase the black with white or ivory or whatever opaque color you use. This will give you just a tiny bit more control over your gather. Another point I am reiterating is the pause or count to five before ypur final blow. This is very helpful, once you have achieved even wall thickness and you heat your gather in preperation for the final blow, pause for a few seconds. 104 is like soup on a stick so you have time. This will help dissipate (not completely compensate for) any heat differential you may have in your gather. After the pause, blow slowly as you continue to rotate the gather. In time, with practice, you will recognize the amount of glow left in your glass that signals the perfect temperature to blow your hollow form.
Have fun and keep at it.


Otter
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