Will these sell or should I not try yet

[Shiny]

These are the first pieces Ive made that I think are good enough to sell. Ive been practicing for a month and a half now, starting with pendants and then moving to I/O attempts.

Im going to sell them to friends over break. If I take pieces that look like this to a store will I just be making myself look bad or are they ok? Should I feel bad for people and charge them less because theyre my first ones? (the ones in the back are from a week or so ago before I really started figuring it out.)

[glassblowingBiker]

THey Look Nice for how long you have been doing it but if you take them to a store now you will have to sell for less and when they get Better and nicer looking you still wont get what you should Its VERY hard to charge More to a store when you Lets say start off as the 5 buck spoon Man than a few months later want like 15 bucks they dont care that they are 1k better looking so i would wait a few more Months and then start to hit up stores Peace Jeff

[WORLD FAMOUS]

Believe me, I've seen much much much worse! You should be stoked! The bowls and holes look good, the mouthpieces are straight. Marbles look like they could be melted on slightly more, but whatever, they look alright.

You'll probably be better off selling these to people at first, and move up to the stores as you get more efficient. Try to get what you can for these though, and don't feel bad about these pieces at all. Give people a little price break if they recognize that you are just beginning, and if they don't call you out on it, get what you can. If you do give out some bro-deals, remember to at least cover your materials/gases. Then you can afford to make the next round.

Keep it up Shiny...At the pace you are going, a year from now your pieces will be clean and solid, and you'll probably look back and laugh at this picture. But for now, smile and be proud...you are well on your way.

[luke]

those look good. what torch do you use?
luke

[Itzallmyne]

Nice job, have they been cooked in the kiln?

I'd keep selling them to your buddies, have them tell their buddies, and so on, I think you would get more $$ than selling them to the store, cuz they will at least charge people 2-3 times more than they paid you. Give your pals an incentive program, like a stamp card, refer 10 people, get a complimentary piece. I've found folks will expend alot of energy to get something for free.

Marilyn

[Alfred]

Rock your personal retail market til you use it up, and all your friends friends have your glass THEN start selling wholesale!Those pieces look great for only a mnth and a half!Hell they look better than some pieces I've seen in shops.Keep up the good work and don't undersell yourself.

[gravdigr]

I'm selling all but the very best of my stuff to locals. I worked a deal with a friend, she sells 10 of my pieces to her friends and I make her a bubbler which is a fine deal for me since my bubblers aren't good enough to sell yet but are usable which was fine with her. Once local sales dry up (which is gonna happen soon) hopefully I'll be at a point where 1 in 3 I make will be store quality...I hope for a better ratio but I'm not gonna get my hopes up.

On another note....do the knobby pieces sell better? I usually try to get my pieces as smooth and streamlined as possible. But I can see where adding the knobby bits could cover any flaws turning a pipe that my not be quite good enough into a passable piece.

[bc]

for some reason folks do like a lil 'knoobs' once in a while. Just make sure you don't put them in the way of lighting/seeing the bowl.

[CripSkillz]

Ya bro thoes are lookin great , better than mine for sure I like your colors,

[Shiny]

I use a red max, yea they are annealed, I love the knobby dealy things because they are awesome. The little bumps get way overdone real quick though cuz theyre so fun to do. they come in handy for bad spots in the design.

[Pilgrim]

I dont want to be the only bad guy here... but i really think you should work on you controll be for sending them out to the public, also if you sell for less you lower the market rate for the rest of us.... i think you should just gift those pieces out to your friends and keep working hard at what your doing.... the use of color is really cool..... and please put more effort into the mouth piece.
keep going dont let assholes like me slow you down......
Scottland Fowler, fredhead glass.

[ShttrdSpctrm]

so you wont be the only bad guy here, your pipes look ok but you should definatly work on the mouthpieces. and do not undersell yourself. if you ngo in the shops and sell them $5 spoons once they will want that all the time, then when you do get better they still wanna give you 5. i say give em away and start over. good luck.

[onion]

i gotta kinda agree with the fowl monkey, but again in a positive way. work on getting nice clean mouthpieces and even, repeatable shapes. i gotta say though those are pretty damn close, how long have you been working?

[ech]

Stay away from the stores until you can get a freind to pay retail price for one. Use your friends as a barometer so-to-speak. If you go into the stores now you'll regret it later when you should be able to get more for your work.

[Glacier_Arts_Studio]

Damn it man... i sure wish i had, had this advice when i was starting out...
if i had of, i would be able to get what i need to out of my pieces now...

:(

[BIRDMAN]

Should Have No Problem... They Look Good.............
4 Me It Seems Like The Ones I Dislike The Most Sell First...

[Shiny]

i gotta kinda agree with the fowl monkey, but again in a positive way. work on getting nice clean mouthpieces and even, repeatable shapes. i gotta say though those are pretty damn close, how long have you been working?

a month and a half so far

[Shiny]

yea I always sell the pendants I think look crappy. Ive sold 3 of them for 20 dollars so far

Edit... I mean people always like the ones i think are crappy. Ive sold 3 pipes so far for 20

[CripSkillz]

Were on bout the same time frame but your shit is lookin better than mine for sure, I gotta catch up
heheh3eh

[nick84]

Looks awesome for a month and a half :)
Nick

[Shiny]

So Ive gotten the lame average normal mouthpiece down. In the pic there are a couple of the more recent pipes that have good mouth holes.

What are some other types of mouth pieces that are cool other than just ending the pipe?

[CripSkillz]

Id say any hole thats round and clean thats what i try for any how,, but im sure someone else has a way better answer than that

[newmexicomagma]

well i know most of my customers out here like smaller mouthpiece holes so no scooby sncks when its new. but what i do is melt a lil gather where my mouthpiece is gonna be and pull that gather till its thin as paper then i just break it off and fire polish the hole. the size of your gather depends on the size of the hole.

[CripSkillz]

thats how i do it tooo guess im doin somethin right

[gravdigr]

The guy I sold to said his customers love squashed mouthpieces. Basically the blower just took the bubble at the mouthpiece and squashed it flat. It elongates the hole but makes it narrower so no "scooby snacks" :D

[gravdigr]

no clue, but he had a couple in the case and says customers love them. And tes they were squashed after the blowhose/tube/point was removed from the mouthpiece. The why is as I stated above, it makes the hole more of a long slit. I can't imagine trying to clean out a spoon like that but if it's what the customers want then it is their problem.:tongue2:

[dnug42]

so you started a month and a half ago?- hummmmmmmmm who showed you how to make a bowl?

[Danjeezy]

i must be the only one with high standards.

[mer]

where is your work posted danjeezy? i'd love to see something by the only guy around here with high standards. i bet you are awesome.

[misled youth]

yeah danjeezy, would love to see some shit!!! everyone's gotta start somewhere

[Cosmo]

Damn Ben. You've come a long way since the last time I saw your work. Those should sell no problem.

Seem like... what? Two or three months ago you were out behind the house making your first pendant.

[Shiny]

Cosmo let me come to his spot 2 times and taught me to make pendants. He has helped me in a huge way. Caleb (dont know if hes on this forum) let me watch him for a while to learn pipes and also pendants. Also a giant help. I finally got all my stuff bought and a spot at the start of this semester.


so you started a month and a half ago?- hummmmmmmmm who showed you how to make a bowl?

Yes. I went to Chad's two times. I set up my bench about a week after this semester started. Hater. Caleb showed me.

All possible thanks to Caleb and Chad.

I have a piece I got in Guerneville in cali near humboldt. Ive always loved the mouthpiece on it. Its a bubble and theres a lip left on the hole. The lip is pressed in a little on the top and bottom to make the hole pill-shaped but the bubble is unchanged. It feels awesome to smoke, I wish I could do them but I havnt been able to blow an even bubble yet on the mouthpiece

[dnug42]

hey how many people are going to say hater....? its getting pretty old...and yea shiney your bud just said you have been on the torch two or three month ago- so have you been workin hollow for a month an half? so why embelish the relish?...i dont hate- just chekin da back round- ya baby. i live right next to the gurn. where did ya get it at bernnies? its NOT any where near humbolt....

[Shiny]

Chad let me come to his place twice to learn pendants. Then I got my bench and started making pendants at the beginning of this semester. I started messing with tube now and again but it wasnt too fun cuz I knew it would just fail. I finally completed a bowl and some chillums about a month ago and have been trying to make them look better since. I started watching Caleb half way through last semester and buying stuff. You offered to sell me your red max for a good price actually but someone had already offered.

I know youre not a hater, just dont accuse me of lying about how long ive been doing things in the future...

Hell yea I got it at bernnies. Me and my two brothers all have pieces from there from 3 different trips

Humboldt is 4 hours away. as Cali goes thats not that far...not that close I guess either.

Now ive told people way more than anybody wanted to hear. Arguments make everyone involved look childish. And now I look childish

[Cosmo]

Don't worry about it. Just keep on working. You are off to a great start. Much farther along than I was at 3-4 months in....

[dnug42]

a. i didnt accuse no one of nothing- all i did was ask....so yer right- you do....but other than that- doin great- keep up the happy thoughts and killin on the glass- and to the future buck dogers- the future...

[Shiny]

Do you sell glass there? Might it have been you that made the piece I have?

Its a drop hammer

[ShttrdSpctrm]

i wanna see danjeezy' s pieces. where's the link?

[Glacier_Arts_Studio]

well i know most of my customers out here like smaller mouthpiece holes so no scooby sncks when its new. but what i do is melt a lil gather where my mouthpiece is gonna be and pull that gather till its thin as paper then i just break it off and fire polish the hole. the size of your gather depends on the size of the hole.

that's the money... :chilling:

i don't do it that way but, that's because i'm me
but, that's the way it's done...