Looking for Lauscha

[midniteburner]

Hi,

Does anyone know where to buy Lauscha tubing?

Sara

[richsantaclaus]

I wonder why you want to buy soft glass tubing. Have you ever tried using it before? I have tried using Moretti 104 soft glass tubing with absolutely NO success. It thermal shocked instantly when it hit the flame. Even warming it up in my kiln resulted with the same thermal shocking.

If you do find it, I'd LOVE to read how it reacted for you!!!

[matte eskuche]

wow, you mean everything isn't made out of pretend glass aka borosilicate..?

i don't remember the distributer, it may have to come direct from germany, but they take out an advert on the inside of the cover of every Glass Quartely Magazine. (put out by Urban Glass) i think it's actually the manufacturer of the tubing that takes out the ad.

check for them there or i'll try and send you a message when i get back in town and look up the company.

[Icarus]

Try Marcie Davis over at http://www.fireladyproductions.com/Site/Lauscha_.html

She may not have it, but she will be able to point you in the right direction.

[Zed]

You can make some sweet goblets and xmas ornaments out of Lauscha if you have the skills. I love how easily soft glass flares open up vs. borosilicate.

C&R Loo has it but its spendy at around $40+ for larger tubes. Plus a lot of the tubes are scratched from their transatlantic voyage.

[Swampy]

I stopped using Lauscha when the manufacturer stated he couldn't promise the compatibility of their clear with the other colours in their product line.

[Racer X]

Zed quit frontin'. Laushca doesn't flare out easily at all. lol JK.

Very time consuming glass and you better have the right gear to work it like an arnold with air or one of those old fischer burners. You could maybe use a regular torch, but it's a bitch. I have some, want some more but can't afford it.

Marcie can get it for you.

[midniteburner]

Hi Rich, nice to see you here.

I just want to play...

I will try Marcie and see...

Nice to meet the rest of you!!

Sara

[Zed]

There was a video I saw once of the tubing getting hand pulled. Homeboy puts a 80 lb hot gather on a blowpipe over his shoulder, another guy punties up real quick and the first guy starts booking down the hall. Pulls like 80 ft. of tubing at once.

Someone in the US should make a comparable product at a reasonable price. I'll bet there's a market.

[menty666]

I wonder if those japanese air torches would be gentle enough on the stuff

[Robert Mickelsen]

Someone in the US should make a comparable product at a reasonable price. I'll bet there's a market.
Any glass can be flameworked. You are not restricted to boro or Lauscha. One of the first types of soft glass I ever tried I still believe to be one of the best options available. It is the same stuff Shane Fero and Fred Birkhill use... lead glass neon tubing. It is compatible with Kugler and Reichenbach... about 90... and is relatively easy to work. You can buy the lead glass tubing by the case and pull points exactly like you would clear boro... it is much more hear tolerant than the Lauscha tubing. You can roll the points in Kugler powders, do encalmo and complex stuff just like boro. And it is relatively cheap. You can get it from Tubelite and you can get Kugler and Reichenbach from many sources.

I suggest trying this before tackling a glass as touchy as Lauscha.

- RAM

[J Howard]

another thing you could try:

pick up some kugler bar and knock off a 2-3" chunk, preheating it to about 930-950

pick it up with a boro punty and warm it up in the flame. dimple the end and attach a blow pipe (metal or boro) and blow a bubble into it... then go from there.

keep your fuel pressure really low. you could try manifolding air into the outer fire of your torch (if you do both the inner fire, and outer fire, its really easy to blow the flame out)

[midniteburner]

Thanks Robert, I like that idea since I have plenty of those frits.

I have worked with Lauscha before but not the tubing.


keep your fuel pressure really low. you could try manifolding air into the outer fire of your torch (if you do both the inner fire, and outer fire, its really easy to blow the flame out)

I am not sure what you are talking about here but I am sure I will find out. One way or another! LOL!!!!!

Sara

[susheke]

I've worked Lauscha tubing. If you work soft glass you'll know what to do. Don't listen to these guys..... :D


Two more lauscha links for you:

glassdaddy.com
lauschalady.com

[Greymatter Glass]

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Lauscha%20Germany

[matte eskuche]

i say go for a trail with the lauscha tubing, the harder the glass is to work, the more you will learn about glass.

i'm such a jerk, i just have to point out that an 80 foot long tube of glass pulled from an 80lb gather would put each foot long section at a lb each. if you've ever put a piece of soft glass tube in the flame you've noticed that it needs to have an extremely thin wall so that you can introduce it into the flame at room tempurature. i don't mean to chastise you Zed, it's just my nature to promote thinking a bit harder about what's involved.

[kbinkster]

I've worked Lauscha tubing. If you work soft glass you'll know what to do. Don't listen to these guys..... :D


Two more lauscha links for you:

glassdaddy.com
lauschalady.com

Su, that was priceless!:D

Sara, I was going to suggest Frank and Grace, too. You can also look at flamedame.com and see if Paula has any or can get you some.

[midniteburner]

Oh Grace has got some new HOT colors in...no tubing listed.

Marcie wrote me but hasn't sent a price list yet.

Hi Susan, nice to see you here.

Kim, nice to see you too. How's that cute baby?

Sara

[Zed]

i'm such a jerk, i just have to point out that an 80 foot long tube of glass pulled from an 80lb gather would put each foot long section at a lb each. if you've ever put a piece of soft glass tube in the flame you've noticed that it needs to have an extremely thin wall so that you can introduce it into the flame at room tempurature. i don't mean to chastise you Zed, it's just my nature to promote thinking a bit harder about what's involved.

Not necessarily true, as there was large gathers left on both the punty and blowtube ends that were not straight tubes but large cones of glass, and I guess were either scrapped or recycled... but your right, I was just taking a stab at the amount of glass and length of tube. Basically a guy pulled out a huge gather screaming hot, another guy had a large disk shaped punty of glass ready, punty attachment was quickly made and the blowtube guy started booking ass down a long hallway. Cool thing to see, it was in the video library at Pilchuck that I saw it.

I learned to work Lauscha tubing also at Pilchuck from Carl and Hans Ittig, who I think had a lot to do with putting together the Eugene glass school. They do most of their work using the Lauscha tubing and showed me some cool things to do with it. I never really worked it much past the class as it was hard to come by and expensive. If I had a steady supply like the Germans I would use it though, it required alot less fuel to work, and is easier on the eyes. I can pass on some cool surface decoration techniques involving pottery glazes if anyone has some of the darker colored tubing. The dark tobacco colored tubing is my favorite.

[Zed]

EDIT: one super cool things that the Ittig's did as a father/son collab was Karl made a series of tight ass montage multicolor cup things, and Hans warmed them up in a kiln in the hot shop and dropped a hot gather w/ color into the cups and blew them out offhand style. The end result was a 2 ft. (approximately Matt) roundel with a color fade out to the edges and a super tight lampworked center section. The best cross school (lamp and furnace) application I have ever seen.

They told me they specifically asked Pilchuck to batch Spruce Pine plain 87 as the furnace glass while they were there as it is a exceptional furnace glass for lampworking and is compatible with some Lauscha. Food for thought if anyone is interested in batchand and pulling their own lamp supplies. I'd do it if I could afford it.

While hanging out as a hotshop one time that had a small lamp station I managed to blow some ornaments from some hollow floor scraps the furnace guy wasted. The scraps had colors in it (homeboy was making soft bongs IIRC) that thined out when lampworked but still held up and ended up making nice pastel colored ornaments. I have no idea what type of batch or color he was using, but it did work, and I warmed the scraps up from cold off the floor without a kiln (several cracked b4 I got a handle on this) and it worked.

[Zed]

Sorry for triple posting, but I found this very cool video about Lauscha and the new studio. They pull some rod by hand similar to the tubing but not as hurried, and there's some lampworking content as German lampers make some prodo items with Lauscha. Explore their website, as there is some examples of the glass (both furnace and lamped) and some cool history stuff.

http://www.farbglashuette.de/englisch/huettenrundgang_e.html

[matte eskuche]

nice work on the research tip Zed, i was assuming that whomever was pulling 80 lbs of gather into a tube wouldn't leave 2/3's of it on the moile (sp?) but hey, it was on the internet, so....

haven't checked the farbglashutte site but from what i can remember from having one of their catalogues that's the manufacturer/distributer where folks can find the complete line of rod and tube.

[DavidR]

I've burned through several cases of 25mm neon sign tubing. Started using it after taking a workshop with Shane and Fred many years ago. It is very easy to work with, and I use a Carlisle. I use it for Christmas bulbs because I love the Kugler colors, and their cheap! -dave

[PaulaD]

Hi guys. Someone just told me about this thread and I thought I'd update you! I discussed importing tubing with Lauscha and decided not to do it. We just don't think there is much of a market for it here. They did give me 7 new reactive milky ways rod colors and I brought in a bunch of marble stock too. (Not on the website yet.) We have another container of NEW Reformulated clear due here soon. Also as of November 1st Flamedame will be wholesaling rod to interested studios and resellers with Lasucha's blessing!

Paula

[carolanne]

nice work on the research tip Zed, i was assuming that whomever was pulling 80 lbs of gather into a tube wouldn't leave 2/3's of it on the moile (sp?) but hey, it was on the internet, so....

haven't checked the farbglashutte site but from what i can remember from having one of their catalogues that's the manufacturer/distributer where folks can find the complete line of rod and tube.

Hey... I work at the Farbglashuette in Lauscha... We are the sole manufacturer of Lauscha Glass.

It's a 15 kilo gather on one punty, and a flat plate made out of glass on the other punty with a ruffled edge and a small groove to vent, depending on if it's rods or tubes the guys are pulling. Tubing isn't pulled that often, so I haven't actually stood there long enough to see it, but you can see rods being pulled 5 days a week, and other glass production 7 days a week. No jokes about rods being pulled please - sorry, very tired...

There is noone carrying a FULL range of the tubing in the US. It's true that it's a pain in the patoot to ship. I know that Paula Flamedame has been fielding interest from people. I am already at home so cannot say what she currently has in stock. Give her a ring.

You need an air/fuel/oxygen torch to work the tubing cool enough.

Let me know if you need any more information. I can't resize photos to post them here tonight, but I have some great pics of the process, and also of the crucible being changed. :-)

Lauscha flameworkers make awesome montage vessels out of tubing, so it's not like it can't be done... It just can't be done on a teeny torch without compressed air. Not easily anyways... :twitch::devilish:

Smiles,
Carol Anne