First blows

untamedrose · #1 2011-09-04, 10:37am

Any tips, and suggestions on learning the fundamentals of blowing?
What are the best sizes to start with?

I have some 7mm, thought small would be good to start with now not so sure. Any and all attempts with it have been pretty Blah.
What do you do with 7mm?

LePatron · #2 2011-09-04, 11:00am

Contemporary Lampworking Volume 1, 2, and 3.

Youtube

Many boro tutorials here in the tutorials part

7mm tube I dont think I'd do anything with other than downstems for bubblers.

gmkcpa · #3 2011-09-04, 1:42pm

Are you looking to make pipes, marbles, Christmas ornaments, bottles, vases or maybe beads, pendants or zandelos?

untamedrose · #4 2011-09-04, 2:55pm

Really just want to learn anything at this point...been doing beads and small sculpture stuff.

Bunyip · #5 2011-09-04, 4:38pm

I want to make zandelos! (whatever they are)

LarryC · #6 2011-09-04, 6:51pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bunyip

I want to make zandelos! (whatever they are)

You dont know what a Zandelo is?? You need to get out more

LePatron · #7 2011-09-04, 6:58pm

I googled Zandelo , came up empty. Ok, what is it?

menty666 · #8 2011-09-04, 7:10pm

Ditto on the zandelo.

You might be able to coil off the end of the 7mm, but not much more than that. Wee vessels?

Now I've got that line from "Star Trek IV: The Search for Money" in my head, "We are searching for the nuclear wessels"

untamedrose · #9 2011-09-04, 8:52pm

like to to know what a Zandelo is too.

Ok what about off mandrel blown glass beads?? tut on those?

Maybe I've been far to wide with my Q, basically I'm asking where a good starting point is with the blowing to learn the fundamentals. Get a good base and I can branch out from there.

LePatron · #10 2011-09-05, 12:05pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by untamedrose

like to to know what a Zandelo is too.

Ok what about off mandrel blown glass beads?? tut on those?

Maybe I've been far to wide with my Q, basically I'm asking where a good starting point is with the blowing to learn the fundamentals. Get a good base and I can branch out from there.

It sounds more you just dont have any direction of what to learn or make. I'll reaffirm my Contemporary Lampworking books as my suggestion to you. If they dont help right away, I dont know what could.........

gmkcpa · #11 2011-09-05, 1:26pm

OK. Here we go. zandelo (noun) - any thing that is (successfully) remarketed for a completely different use or purpose. Example: a 'rock' is 'stone occurring in bulk as part of the earth's fabric'. However, years ago someone packaged and remarketed rocks as 'pets', calling them 'pet rocks'. Millions were sold. Recently an entrepeneur painted some symbols on a rock and is marketing it as a 'yoga stone' for $40.. The marbles we make are usually marketed as marbles (to play with, although a 1 1/2" marble is hard to shoot), or as art to decorate a desktop, or sold as 'yoga balls' for $80.. Rocks are zandelos, as are the marbles we make.

Juln · #12 2011-09-05, 3:55pm

I use 16-25 mm for ALL my zandelo work. For simple blowing, you want to be able to pull off a chunk 1-3 inches long, and have roughly the mass of glass you want the finished piece to be. 2 inches of 25mm is perfect for a zandelo. For hollow beads, I like smaller tubing, like 19mm or 22mm with a 2-3 mm wall.

7mm is super small, not even really good for blowtubes, except maybe for children (not for heating/puffing children, I mean if you have small hands or something). Handling a tube like that is dainty, and then, what do you make from a 3 inch section of 7 mm tubing? Not much, unless your target market is squirrels. So that's out.

I suggest some 19 mm heavy wall, as that's a decent size and medium/heavy wall is easy to work with at first.

One important piece of info: what sort of torch and oxy setup are you using?

untamedrose · #13 2011-09-05, 7:46pm

Ok I'll try and get ahold of that book.

Not targeting squirrels, or at least I haddnt planned on it. Is there a decent demand in Squirrel goblets?
I suppose if nothing else the 7mm make good mushroom stems lol

I'm got a Nortel milon on a tank, planning on getting the 21 tip for it here soon and an oxycon to connect to the tank.

Bunyip · #14 2011-09-06, 5:16am

Wow. I missed the bit about the 7mm tubing... I'd avoid using that, probably too small, even for straws, either the walls would be too thin and they'd be fragile, or too thick and the straws wouldn't draw very well.

I'd suggest getting a hold of some larger tubing. Do you know any local flameworkers? Tubing is pretty inexpensive, I'll usually donate a piece or two of tubing to someone who wants to try it if they're local. As noted above, 16-25 MM are good sizes. I learned the bits and pieces I know about hollow work mostly on 20mm x 3mm tubing.

menty666 · #15 2011-09-06, 7:01am

Squirrels? No. But the folks that make dollhouses love custom stuff.

AuntD · #16 2011-09-06, 10:24am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Juln

7mm is super small, not even really good for blowtubes, except maybe for children (not for heating/puffing children, I mean if you have small hands or something).

So what DO you use for heating/puffing children? Personally, I wouldn't go much higher than 10mm. Some of those kids are really small.

Tom, you have kids... do you have a favorite size?

(sorry, it's been a long day...)

fyrsmith · #17 2011-09-06, 5:52pm

15 mm med wall. Big enough to get some volume, small enough to use without pulling into points.

Greg Cowles · #18 2011-09-07, 7:10am

I use 19mm heavy wall as my blow tube, and for my starting point for doing blow ins. I also use it for really small bottles, and rondels. Every thing els I use tube wise is in the 30mm range.
I found that starting small and working my way up in size suited my learning curve.
If I'm having trouble with a tech I find myself still going back to the 19mm to sort it out
I'll use 7mm for the shafts of ink pens but that's not really blowing.
If you have some decent lengths of that 7mm pm me and lets see about trading for some of the 19mm

menty666 · #19 2011-09-07, 9:56am

I've found the smallest I can coil off of (easily) is 12mm. I have some 10 I occasionally use for blow tubes, but the 12's really the starting point because anything smaller goes soft too easily while you're working.

You can build up the outside of the tubing some, but with the 10 it collapses easily. Again, the 12 gives you some wiggle room.

Juln · #20 2011-09-07, 12:05pm

I wouldn't use 7mm even for miniatures. If I was to use that size, first step would be covering it in thick something. I could see it as a really, really small blowtube.

As far as blowtubes, 9 or 9.5 has long been my standard for work the hollow bead size. I find the size of the blowtube affects how finely I can control smaller pieces. 12mm is too clunky for anything smaller than three inches, for me.

dmas0n · #21 2011-09-11, 8:41am

I'm a total newbie, infact I feel like I'm maybe only 1 or 2 steps beyond untamedrose, but I do have some advice for what to do with that 7mm.... Should make fine wic holders for some oil lamps which are reasonably easy to blow out of some 19 or 22 mil heavy wall. Just saying.

menty666 · #22 2011-09-11, 8:43am

It depends on the size of the wick. I bought some thicker stuff that allows airflow and that fits nicely inside the 12mm

gmkcpa · #23 2011-09-11, 9:36am

dmas0n - nice to hear from you. Welcome aboard.

dmas0n · #24 2011-09-11, 6:49pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by menty666

It depends on the size of the wick. I bought some thicker stuff that allows airflow and that fits nicely inside the 12mm

yeah a wic selection would need to be made with the 7 mil tube in mind for sure.

Thanks gmkcpa i be noob so not much info to post but I'm glad to be here nonetheless

untamedrose · #25 2011-09-12, 9:17am

Its not a total loss and worthless guys

just is for blowing it looks like.

Been using it as stems...

See mushrooms..

rose

couldnt make em without a stem.

dmas0n · #26 2011-09-12, 12:52pm

Those are very nice flowers, good use of the tube. Shrooms are nice too some fume might add to the stems there.

menty666 · #27 2011-09-12, 2:28pm

Pretty flower