Don't you hate it when...........

[Jerry Gash]

Your workin on a piece, say the best piece you have ever made in your entire life, when you here *tink*, the mother cracks, you fix that crack, only to have it crack again, damn im pissed!!! I wanna SCREEEEAM!!! :attitude: :attitude: :attitude:

[PyroChixRock]

*Pyro hands Jerry a beer*

[NUBBLET]

*nudge* dont forget the bong . Oh and one for the beer , so 2 .

[IrieGuy05]

I used to get pissed and scream a lot when shit like that happened, just think of all the REALLY nice shit others have had crack/blowup. I know people are out there having shit a lot nicer than mine blowup. Working with other people helped too, can't really scream too much about shit or you look like an ass...
After that I don't even feel the need to yell or get pissed, not as much anyways.

Also as you work more you'l notice what makes glass crack since it sucks so much when it happens. Keep it hot, turn your kiln up a bit when your doing large sectionals that get reheated a lot. Don't use cracky colors if your going to take your time and reheat a lot. I think that after lots of exp most people get to a point where hardly anything cracks.

[bc]

the good thing is their is a reason, find that out an you've learned something.

[Jerry Gash]

Yeah, i decided just to cool down for abit, then have another wack at it. I am trying to do 2 peice sherlock bubs. My welds are just terrible, i am getting better with every attempt but they sure do cause me (and my peices apparently) alot of stress. I think I will go back to working with just clear for abit until i get them down better. I still don't see how you guys get perfect welds, i am thinking i need a pair of Deans hot pads instead of just using holding fingers. I guess I will just keep trying, eventually i should get good. :-)

Thanks for the support.

[Satori]

You're welding them together after taking off the puntys?? When I do a weld, I have handles on both the pieces I'm welding together. Once I stick them together, I work slowly around the seal melting the shit out of just one side of it until smooth. This way, the opposite side stays solid and acts as a brace to hold the pieces in place. Once 1/4 of it is smooth, I let it cool to solid again and work the next 1/4 and the next and so on. Once the weld is smooth all the way around, then I take off my punty handles. Hope this helps :)

[Jerry Gash]

You're welding them together after taking off the puntys?? When I do a weld, I have handles on both the pieces I'm welding together. Once I stick them together, I work slowly around the seal melting the shit out of just one side of it until smooth. This way, the opposite side stays solid and acts as a brace to hold the pieces in place. Once 1/4 of it is smooth, I let it cool to solid again and work the next 1/4 and the next and so on. Once the weld is smooth all the way around, then I take off my punty handles. Hope this helps :)

Yeah, i got hndles still attatched, seems like when i do the joins im off just a little, i think i just need more practice on making precice joints cause i did a fairly good one today. Just made the best bub i have made ever!!

[rumplephorskin]

Just make sure that you get the pieces SCREAMING hot before you stick them together and make sure that the 2 holes youre sticking together are the same size and that the thickness of the 2 pieces youre sticking together is as close to even as possible. I personally like to let the glass soak up lots of heat in the kiln before I try to seal different pieces together.. Maybe even let the kiln ride a little high for a few minutes.... up to like 1175 or 1,200. Whatever you do.... Don't Give Up!!!!!!!!!!!!
Also... try to let the two pieces barely touch eachother.... if you push the hot glass together too much you will end up with a big mess of thick glass with seem lines in it that you will have to sit and blow out and pick at. NOT FUN!!!!!!!!!!!

[Jerry Gash]

Just make sure that you get the pieces SCREAMING hot before you stick them together and make sure that the 2 holes youre sticking together are the same size and that the thickness of the 2 pieces youre sticking together is as close to even as possible. I personally like to let the glass soak up lots of heat in the kiln before I try to seal different pieces together.. Maybe even let the kiln ride a little high for a few minutes.... up to like 1175 or 1,200. Whatever you do.... Don't Give Up!!!!!!!!!!!!
Also... try to let the two pieces barely touch eachother.... if you push the hot glass together too much you will end up with a big mess of thick glass with seem lines in it that you will have to sit and blow out and pick at. NOT FUN!!!!!!!!!!!


Thanks for the tip, im gonna kick the kiln up a little, that should definetly help. Everytime i do a seal they get better, just a matter of time before i start nailing them.......they have been frustrating cause iwork so hard to get the 2 pieces all nice, only to muck them up them at the end....

[Utopian Brain]

rumples got some good knowledge to share. I dont know about turning my kiln up that high. when im making a headpiece i fear those ugly kiln marks so ive been keeping the kiln at 1060. Im not sure if im an asshole for having it that low but anything higher than that and my pieces get pock marks on the bottoms resting on the kiln. thats just about how i do my seals tho. CONSISTENCY is your number one issue.if everything is the same it will join the same. i also heat more so around the lip and flare my hole out from the inside. let there be an even heat base on what you are going to move or ream out. if its all heated the same it will move the same.
FINALLY, try a bridge. Now this can be tricky and cause cracking in your stem or bowl. But its how i get perfect weldswith my old man sherlysi use4 or 6 mil. and once ive made my connection and sealed it but not made it perfect and consistent. i put it in the kiln so i can get my piece reheated. usually i work on another peiece while waiting for it to reheat about 5-10 mins depending how thick ure piece is. i then pull it out and attach a hot sealed piece of 4 or 6 mil halfway up the stem, then bend it a little or leave it straight, wahtever is necessary, and attach it to the can. so it is now a hot sealed bridge from your stem to your bowl, a couple inches from where your welding. put it back in the kiln and let it soak, then spend as much time as you want working on that seam, and let gravity work, and get the whole weld nice and hotso you can make it look perfect. now make sure u dont use cold seals, they will pop off at the worst time and your piece will fold in half. but one you learn the bridge even old schoolers will be jealous of how nice your welds look. good luck, and if you need a better description, i can try, but bridges are the shit

[rumplephorskin]

What brian has to offer about bridges is quite valid as well. But; i might like to point out that i (personally) have found that it is extremely wise to use the flame to cut the bridge before placing your work back in the kiln. The reason being that the bridge and the main body of your work are seldom at the same temperature. Since the bridge and the vessel youre building at the time are rarely the same temp; the kiln's heat will tend to make the molecules of glass expand at different rates and may cause severe unrepairable cracking. So just use a nasty lil cutting flame and pick away a section in the middle of the bridge before you put the piece back in the kiln.
For what its worth.... I stand by my kiln temperature suggestion as well. Anyone who has extensive experience with any of the northstar colors is well aware that you need to run the kiln well above the normal holding temperature in order to strike colors such as amber/purple(no offense meant Brian). It isnt a good idea to leave the kiln above the good ol 1,056 marker for extended periods of time but as long as youre just doing it for say 10 or 15 min youll be fine.

[Jerry Gash]

Well, i just got done making my first stand-up bub, i think i am starting to get the hang of seal. Dunno about bridges though, seems like a good idea but alot of extra work. I really like the working 1/4 of the seal at a time technique, i seem to be getting better with every piece. The only problem i have had is sometimes ill blow a hole through a seal on accident, i think its because im using to much oxy, just gotta slow down abit.

Now, for my next hurdle, doing the bends for sherlock style bubs, any advice on those? I've noticed its best to use just enough heat to get it to move otherwise it will fold or twist unevenly.

Heres a link to my latest bub.
http://www.glasspipes.org/Gallery.asp?GalleryID=12187

[rumplephorskin]

well jerry in all due honesty youre going to have to learn both the above techniques as well as many others before you get to the point where you can create just about anything you can see in your mind's eye. The bridges arent necessary for rudimentary side arm and butt seals. However youll find them most usefull as you get into more advanced pieces and theyre also an integral part of decorating high dollar headdy pieces as well. If youre blowing holes through your seals it means that youre blowing too hard and not waiting long enough for the glass to "set up" and soak in its heat before blowing into it or it means that youre blowing into it while your piece is still in the flame. Youre only using too much oxygen if youre boiling your glass or burning the color out. Other than that get it as hot as possible without losing your shape and youll be better off in the long run because the glass will be better sealed.
As far as the bending goes: let the gravity do the majority of the work for you. At first I recommend not making flattened mouth pieces on your sherlocks because bending the glass is already tough enough at first without having to make sure that the flattened area of the mouth piece is perfectly level as well. Basically you want to have the stem mounted on a point or a blow tube on one end and a punty on the other. Go ahead and take the stem and put about 90% of it into the flame diagonally and heat it till its nice and molten occasionally switching the direction that you hold the piece in the flame. Youll want to leave a little section on the end youre going to seal nice and cool as well as the area that you want to keep straight for your mouth piece. If you get the glass hot enough you should be able to gently hold the blow pipe still and pull down on the punty while keeping it parralell to the blowpipe.After the initial bend is done its a good idea to flip the piece over while its still molten and let the glass fall back the other way. After you have done this; go back and use a sharp flame to burn away any devitrification(crystalization of the surface of the glass) Youll find this technique works well for making hollow corkscrews and just about anything else you can think of as well. Have fun!!!!!!!!!

[misticglass]

my cat knocked over a $200 bubler off my photo booth area, right after i took pictures and told the kid i made it for that it was done. i really needed to cool off after that one. it was worse than cracking while still working on it for me.

morgan

[Jerry Gash]

my cat knocked over a $200 bubler off my photo booth area, right after i took pictures and told the kid i made it for that it was done. i really needed to cool off after that one. it was worse than cracking while still working on it for me.

morgan


Well, that green piece i made, that i was so proud of, right after my gf said "somebody is gonna be pissed if they break that" i put my foot up on the table, causing the piece to fall over and snap in 2. Turns out, i was the "somebody". DOE!!! I beleive it broke cause i am an inpatient person, rembmeber that thing we do called annealing? Well, lets just say i will let all my pieces anneal properly and never rush the process again.

Gonna see if i can repair it today, got it in the kiln right now.

Wish me luck.

[fumalicious]

I think that most people have problems with seals not so much becuase they don't use a bridge or whatever... it's because they haven't trained their eyes to know what a clean seal looks like. That may sound stupid but the reality is, I've had countless people come up to me and ask, "Is this seal good yet?" I'm like.... well LOOK at it! NO ITS NOT :lol

I've never used bridges and I've always gotten compliments on clean seals so the bridge thing isn't nessecary- just a matter of personal preference. Just like as has been said- make sure the holes are the same size and thickness... the way to really think about it effectively is to realize that basically it needs to be as if it was already one piece and you cut it in two with a saw right where the seal "would be"... THEN both holes would be the same size and thickness, eh? Make it so it fits together, melt the shit out of it, and LOOK at it to make sure there is no thick/ thin spots/ ridges... don't stop until it's all smooth on the inside/ outside. If you're having a hard time seeing if it's smooth or not- use glare/ reflection from a light to trace the contour of the inside surface. That said, if a seal is giving you a particularly hard time and is taking forever- melt off one of your blowtubes (leave a bit in case you need to attach something to the nub) throw the piece back in the kiln and ramp it up a little for if you need to go in on a completely unmelted part of the seal it WILL crack UNLESS it's heated sufficiently in the kiln.

[Jerry Gash]

Well, i got that green thing fixed and is annealing as we speak, the seal actually looks better now than it did before, i worked on it and got everything smooth. Can't wait to do a few more tommorow, i may try a 3 piece.

Thanks for advice, you guys rock.