Making a loop on blown ornament

Floorkasp · #1 2015-11-19, 8:07am

I am planning to give making blown glass ornaments a go.
I have blown boro tubing before.

Any advice on how to finish off with a loop? Is there no chance of creating a vacume?
My idea is to first blow the bulb, attach a punty, then shape the point into a loop, remove the punty.
But if it is still too hot, and I close the point to make the loop, will I create an implosion hazard?

I will be using boro frit as well. My kiln is very small. My idea is that the risk of cracking is pretty small with hollow forms, so that they do not need to go into the kiln but can air cool. ( and batch anneal later). Or am I then setting myself up for a cracking mess?

bepnewt · #2 2015-11-19, 4:50pm

Don't fully seal them.

Watch this video first - it's short because of time compression:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=138cFuwKlZ4

Then watch Jim's videos if you haven't already:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BU9sW04OVb0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZWzNYl_lFE

-BEP

Speedslug · #3 2015-11-19, 11:27pm

Aye, leave a pin hole some where for it to equalize.

Maybe draw the tube out as they do pulling points and wrap that into a curlicue pigs tail but don't let it collapse.

Of course this if from someone that has never pulled a point in my life and the only boro I have is the rods I will someday use for fuming gold and silver on to soft glass.

snoopdog6502 · #4 2015-11-19, 11:38pm

Leave a little hole, if using fit melt it in real good and the chance of cracking will be less.

Speedslug · #5 2015-11-20, 12:08am

Very Nice video find Brian. Thanks for that.

Floorkasp · #6 2015-11-20, 2:41am

Great advice, great videos.
I have not made a pinhole before, so I'll be trying that out for the first time. Get a tungsten pick really hot and just poke a hole?

Speedslug · #7 2015-11-20, 4:50am

Or make a larger hole in a section that you then heat and let shrink down and as the glass tube or bulge diameter reduces it makes the hole smaller as well.

If you are heating and puffing out one area repeatedly you can pop a hole like the pipe makers do in the side of their pipes.

Floorkasp · #8 2015-11-20, 4:53am

I have blown holes before, but they are a lot bigger. Also, when you heat the hole, sometimes it gets smaller, but sometimes it gets bigger. For me, it is a not (yet) a very controlled result.
As you can tell, I am pretty new to the tubing stuff. Learning as I go along.

menty666 · #9 2015-11-24, 8:41pm

You can do the pin hole with a tungsten pick, but you run two risks:

1) Accidentally leaving ugly tungsten fume on your ornament (sometimes it can be burned off, but it's tough to do if you've blown the wall thin
2) Accidentally deforming the wall, and now that you have a hole, it's tougher to try to fix.

Another option is to neck down the bottom handle, impart stress with diamond shears and knock it off, leaving a small hole.

The way I do them? I lay a layer of soot on them and let them bench cool in my point rack. Once cool, I give them a wipe to clean them off, heat an area of the handle to try to draw it more consistently straight. Then I neck down the handle a couple of inches from the ornament, and knock off the remainder, then gently heat and loop it over with my tweezers. That way they're still technically open as long as I don't put a crimp in the loop.

I did used to seal them, but after having one implode in the kiln, I stopped doing that. I was lucky the door was closed at the time.

If you want to try it the way the hot shop folks do it...

They'll make the ornament, then put stress into the hollow handle close to the ornament. Knock this off into a coffee can full of fiber frax.

Get a hot dollop of glass and use it to seal over the hole, quickly pulling a loop from this solid mass.

The only headache, soft glass has a better working time, so this has never worked well for me with boro.

Floorkasp · #10 2015-11-25, 4:42am

Thanks for your extensive answer. Unfortunately, I have found that so far I have had little success getting the tube heated event enough on my cricket.

LarryC · #11 2015-11-25, 5:09pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Floorkasp

Thanks for your extensive answer. Unfortunately, I have found that so far I have had little success getting the tube heated event enough on my cricket.

If none of those options work, you can always make loops separately and join them together last.

ESC · #12 2015-11-25, 6:05pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by LarryC

If none of those options work, you can always make loops separately and join them together last.

This is what I did for my icicles, since after almost 20 years of melting glass, I still suck at loops.

menty666 · #13 2015-11-26, 11:53am

Quote:

Originally Posted by ESC

This is what I did for my icicles, since after almost 20 years of melting glass, I still suck at loops.

That's ok, I suck at making swans

Ravenesque · #14 2015-12-02, 1:49am

Quote:

Originally Posted by Floorkasp

Thanks for your extensive answer. Unfortunately, I have found that so far I have had little success getting the tube heated event enough on my cricket.

I use a cricket with Boro, tubing melts even better than rod imo because it's not as thick as a rod. I have no problem making marbles or anything, perhaps it's your oxy?

Floorkasp · #15 2015-12-02, 1:55am

I have no issues getting it melted, and have made marbles as well. It is not about the heat. I work on a single 5LPM Oxycon. However, I feel like I can not get the flame wide enough to get even heat throughout a larger piece of tubing. Perhaps I should just take some more lessons, and then decide if an upgrade is needed.....