may have a source for custom tools...

[gravdigr]

I have a friend and he is very artistically gifted, drawing, airbrushing, sculpting, you name it this guy can do it. He really wants some torch time but his schooling is eating most of his time right now. Unfortunatly his true passion is auto mechanics and metalworking. Well yesterday we were talking and I was showing him some new glass (he bought one). He asked if we ever thought of some sort of signature for our pieces. I told him yeah being that we are Graveyard Glass I would love to get a skull press to make small skull marbles to put on some pieces. He replied by asking what I want it made from, brass, bronze, aluminum, whatever. He said he's made them before for friends but mostly for stamping alum. I asked if he can do them in brass and he replied 'with my eyes closed'. Now correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't custom tools like that sell for a good bit of $$? I told him if he really enjoyed it I may be able to connect him up with a pretty sizable market if there is demand and the work is good (it will be).

Thoughts?

And on another note he just informed me yesterday his school is selling a huge ox generator (not sure of specs but he said it has a 100 gal ox storage tank) and they want $1,500 for it. Too bad I spent $500 last week on a pile of K tanks, feel like a jackass now...would only have needed another grand for the gen. With something that big I could fill tanks for the local shops and rage 4 or 5 torches :tantrum:

[Brian Newman]

I use graphite presses. Take care of them and they last many many years with no sign of wear. Drop them and they may chip. Brass is both good and durable, but graphite is best.

A good use for artistically inclined friends is to get them to draw by removing silver. I will shape a bulb (blue tube looks good) close to what I want it to be while keeping it sealed as a point. Let it cool. fume it multiple times quickly, taking breaks in between so the bulb never gets too warm, and you get a heavy fuming job. If the bulb gets too warm, the silver sticks a little more.
Then set an artist to work on it with a wet (avoiding drips), sharpened wooden matchstick.
Put it back in the flame, and work the image in. This Idea came to me one day after the umpteenth time someone picked up a fumed on point to admire it, and removed the fume in the process. I have learned to keep the bulb cool and best tools to use by trial and error. Change your matchstick regularly to avoid leaving little clumps of silver.

[HumanLathe]

I would use brass. the only molds graphite is good for is marble molds IMO.

[smutboy420]

It depends on how its going to be made. Is he going to make a block that you just push the glass in to? or a 2 sided masher that has 2 halves that come together around a blob of glass and sqwishes it to shape?

[newmexicomagma]

im looking for a stamp to put on my glass too. have u guys seen the haevy tubes. it looks to me like they just have a metal stamp that they just push it into let me know grave ill prolly be interested in getting one that says magma.

[gravdigr]

He has made them all, a stamp with a handle to press into the material, a plate that you can push the glass into, and he has done clamshell molds.

I don't want to mention any prices yet because I'm not exactly sure what the work is worth and don't want to underprice him. He'd be lower than standard retail prolly. I'll have to do some research. Any links to websites that make/sell this kind of stuff?

[jello]

did he sell the oxy gen yet?. if not please PM me with some contact info.. thanks man

[Deez]

I would be interested in some skull presses. and any other kind of faces.

I like pressing glass then fuming, to bring out the design.

[glassblowingBiker]

i would also like a skull or face or hell Hd wings would be bad ass let me know when the ifno is ready peace Jeff

[gravdigr]

did he sell the oxy gen yet?. if not please PM me with some contact info.. thanks man

Well technically not yet. I'm planning on getting it just need to work out the finances. So no you can't have it :D

[wildrokproductions]

german christmas orniment bigg$$$$, there glass, and made in a 2 peice mold then painted. feel free to correct me but i thinks thats how there made. well im sure with all the new techs , someone could come up with some interesting things.

[David Sandidge]

I've made many a mold out of graphite. I have been covered in it all day today as a matter of fact. Graphite is very easy to carve. For some molds I first cut the graphite into small pads about 2"x2"x 5/8" using a table saw, sand them smooth with a belt sander, then start carving away with a dremmel using various bits. Then with 2 pads (both halves of the mold) I will mount on a pair of needle nose pliers by brazing small plates of steel to the piers thus making a form to hold the graphite mold. It's really pretty simple if you can carve in the negative. There are lots of little tricks for doing this that I won't go into at this time. These molds are great for doing parts of a larger sculpture just to speed up the production process and maintain uniformity. You can also get more detail than you could sculpting glass free hand.

Other types of molds I do with graphite are blocks that I've routed using a drill press and an up spiral mill bit. That's what I was doing today. These blocks after being carved out are then filled with molten brass that I've melted with a hand torch. The brass makes a plunger that fits perfectly into the mold. I then fix the plunger and the mold to a small arbor press that sits on my work bench next to the torch. A molten ball of glass is placed into the mold , then I press the plunger into it. Usually any oversmash is easily chipped off before fire polishing.

Another type of mold is great for doing things such as fancy goblet feet and tops. With a large block of graphite, you can route it to a particular cone shape with various contours later cut into it with the dremmel. You would then press a hot piece of tubing over the graphite thus forming the glass tube into the shape of the graphite.

These are just a few of the many uses of graphite molding. It's quite messy work and you should wear a respirator to keep from breathing the dust, but graphite is made of carbon and is non toxic fortunately.

[Snurf]

^^great info...makes me want to try it again ...thanks

[Nokey]

David Sandidge, thanks for posting the info.



David Sandidge for Prez!!!!!

[jokersdesign]

sweet