wholesale rods?

[honey*bee]

My father and I own a stained glass business and he has just started to supply glass rod. He buys wholesale from AGH. They have GREAT prices, but they dont have the largest selection of glass rod. Does anyone know of a GREAT wholesaler of glass rods, and lampworking tools?

[lunamoonshadow]

I think most folks buy from Frantz--as he's a direct importer. You could also find out the minimums from all of the companies & buy direct & do your own importing.

[Dennis Brady]

Originally Posted by honey*bee

My father and I own a stained glass business and he has just started to supply glass rod. He buys wholesale from AGH. They have GREAT prices, but they dont have the largest selection of glass rod. Does anyone know of a GREAT wholesaler of glass rods, and lampworking tools?

That would depend on what glass. Is he selling Boro, Moretti, Bullseye, Urorobus? Few suppliers supply all but lean toward some level of specialization. Some artisans alternate between different makes, but they're a minority. The greatest industry growth appears to be in Bullseye (90) and Uroborus (96). Mostly because they can easily be equally employed for kilnforming. That allows torches to use strips of sheet glass interchanged with rods and to fuse torch made components onto kiln projects.

If he decides to carry Bullseye, he can buy wholesale direct from Bullseye.

[Chuckie]

AGH imports thier glass directly from Effetre. The reason they don't carry Vetrofond is because they don't buy their glass rods from Frantz. Frantz is the exclusive US distributor of Vetrofond. Anyone that sells Vetrofond in the U.S. is buying it from Frantz.

AGH carries Effetre, Spectrum 96 , Bullseye and Precision (R4). I don't think the R4 is on the website, if it is, I don't know where it is. I know the Spectrum rods aren't on the website, even though they have them in stock. I doubt you'll find a wholesaler that carries all the different varieties/manufacturers. The people that carry them all are the retailers.

[Carolyn M]

Originally Posted by Dennis Brady

That would depend on what glass. Is he selling Boro, Moretti, Bullseye, Urorobus? Few suppliers supply all but lean toward some level of specialization. Some artisans alternate between different makes, but they're a minority. The greatest industry growth appears to be in Bullseye (90) and Uroborus (96). Mostly because they can easily be equally employed for kilnforming. That allows torches to use strips of sheet glass interchanged with rods and to fuse torch made components onto kiln projects.

If he decides to carry Bullseye, he can buy wholesale direct from Bullseye.

Dennis, I'm interested to know why you think that Bullseye and Uroborus are the largest growth in glass rods. I never use my Bullseye, it is gathering dust, and I tend to use Reichenbach when I do venture out of 104.

I know LE doesn't represent all the glass world, but it seems the majority of us use 104, particularly since the silver glass colours came out, and the odd lots have expanded exponentially.

[lunamoonshadow]

If I had to venture a guess--it's because the importing price of the 104's is going to go up so much due to the economy, that unless the "home-grown" 104 companies start producing glass at a much faster rate, I think a lot of folks are going to find that Bullseye (being a US company) is going to look a lot more attractive price-wise in the near future.
(for those who don't "kiln-form" & "fuse" & do stuff other than lampwork with their rods )

[Dennis Brady]

Originally Posted by Carolyn M

Dennis, I'm interested to know why you think that Bullseye and Uroborus are the largest growth in glass rods. I never use my Bullseye, it is gathering dust, and I tend to use Reichenbach when I do venture out of 104.

I know LE doesn't represent all the glass world, but it seems the majority of us use 104, particularly since the silver glass colours came out, and the odd lots have expanded exponentially.

I based my comment on comments from about 50 artisans I routinely work with plus near as many retailers that sell a variety of different glass. The reasons:

1. Numerous compatibility issues with Moretti. The number of complaints about compatibility problems has increased steadily. There's no way of knowing if this is because too many torchers are needlessly experimenting too widely with different glass or if the problem is with production.

2. Colour control issues. Some artisans aren't particularly concerned if the colour matches between batches. Others consider it extremely important to be able to get exactly the colour they want.

3. Interconnection with kilnforming. A steadily increasing number of artisans are experimenting with adding torched components to kiln projects. Easy with 90 or 96. Nearly impossible with 104. The reason? Kilnforming is much less tolerant of the COE variance the exists throughout the 104 glasses. You get away with a lot in a torch that you can't in a kiln.

4. Costs. The drop in the US $ has radically increased the cost of Italian imports and there's ever reason to expect that to continue or even increase.

Retailers will respond to user comments and complaints. The most common complaint coming from Moretti/Effetre users is "It's unreliable. I don't trust it any more". My personal decision as both a user and a supplier is 90 & 96 only. Perhaps boro later. I have no desire to acquire a quantity of 104 I'll have trouble disposing of. Others will make other choices.

A large part of the reason I expect a significant shift is I expect a significant reduction in the desire of torchers for new colours. I believe as the torchworking industry matures, there will be less desire to improve work by being provided new colours and more desire to improve it by developing new techniques. I also expect the largest growth in the glass arts will be cross-pollination of disciplines with torchers taking up kilnforming and kilnformers taking up torching. None will be using 104.

ETA....

I've no idea if it'll have any effect on the sale of rods, but I wonder how many of the torchers that are complaining about Asian imported beads and suggesting Americans should buy American made beads understand the hypocrisy of asking their customers to buy American made beads made by artisans that rejected using American made glass?