estimate of US glassblower population???

[$$$$$$$]

has anyone else ever thought about this? feel free to throw out some numbers..

[NUBBLET]

43

[Ravio11i]

nah it's at least 48

[NUBBLET]

nah I would say , members we have is like 1118 , then add a bunch , you could maybe say 4500 . I really have no clue . I also included furnace workers and whatnot in my thought , hell it could be way off in either way .

[Mr. "Awesome!"]

tons

[borealisglass]

1,000,000,000.....what do I win?

[Mr. Whale dick]

1,000,000,001...................

[borealisglass]

damn....Is this the price is right....BOB I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[wifebeader]

I read somewhere that it was about 70,000.......?

[Chris Carlson]

i heard 2500-5000 just in eugene/lane county.

[rumplephorskin]

5,000 In Eugene Alone????? That Cant Be Right. Do We Count The Drug Dealers That Front Like They Blow Glass Too?????

[PyroChixRock]

actually there was an "official" (who knows what the hell that means) count taken in eugene a couple years ago, but it included anyone involved in glass (offhand, stained glass, etc) and it was about 10% of the population there. (around 13,ooo people)

As far as in the us, nubblet is right, it's 43.

[glasspapi]

if there are that many in eugene, would there be more or less in portland?

[PyroChixRock]

less here, as far as glassblowers...

[skip]

well thye formula I use is to take the

(given number of forum participants divide by half) - the number of torches for sale in the classifieds= total amount of Lampworkers in the USA, Canada+ 1 for Israel

[steven p selchow]

How many are left handed that are right-eye dominant with one lazy eye and a leg that is shorter than the other? :lol

[smutboy420]

I want to Know How many lamp workers there are that are NOT using pedals YET!

[bc]

5,000 In Eugene Alone????? That Cant Be Right. Do We Count The Drug Dealers That Front Like They Blow Glass Too?????

:rollin :rollin

I knew this flake that decided to 'get into blowing cause it was the in thing to do...he quit an went back to just selling drugs, still gives the glassblowing ref to anyone that will listen though.

i say it's around 1500, not including sweat shop folks or cornbread..... :rollin

[Sharp Glass]

144.235
I would post the equation I used to come up with this figure, but my dog ate it.

[harpentuan]

250,000-500,000.
<shrug>http://www.cindybeads.com/images/Patis_2.jpg
Those bead makers that use a torch count, right?

[Abe Fleishman]

I would think the number of lampworkers in the USA is around 300,000-500,000. This would include soft and hard glass.

[steven p selchow]

those bead makers look like their table is covered with paper

[jokersdesign]

I would think the number of lampworkers in the USA is around 300,000-500,000. This would include soft and hard glass.



I read on another forum that the author of a well know book sold 80,000 copies of her book over a period of 3 years.

I know that is not a vaild way to measure the estimate number of lampworkers in the US. But I would think if the population was higher then the book would of sold a higher count over 3 years.

[jokersdesign]

I read on another forum that the author of a well know book sold 80,000 copies of her book over a period of 3 years.

I know that is not a vaild way to measure the estimate number of lampworkers in the US. But I would think if the population was higher then the book would of sold a higher count over 3 years.

Oh yeah I just remembered that 2 years ago a glass vendor that gave me some lessons told me that he estimated that there was about 1500 full time artists in the us.

Now this was for lampwroking not glass blowing and he did not count the at home hobby people, only full time business artists.

I don't know if that information helps.

Maybe a manufacture or supply vendor can come online and give us an idea?

[somberbear]

Hum ...... sale of books arnt the best way becouse some people just buy books for no reason etc....

but i would say around 500,000 glass workers are right

it also depends on who you count.. dont forget the sci glass guys, the beaders, etc...

its hard to say i would say there are around 100,000 active workers

and only 42 pipers (its the answer to life the univers and every thing after all) once you take out all the people who front as pipers =P

but im just making it all up any way

[Robert Mickelsen]

I have actually thought about this a great deal and done lots of figuring and estimating and have come up with this... I have absolutely no idea how many people work glass in a flame in the USA. These would obviously include all pipe-makers, beaders, flamers, wannabes, hobbiests, etc. The number is undoubtedly in the tens of thousands, but I could not pin it down accurately between 10000 and 100000. Either number seems equally credible (or incredible) to me.

It might be interesting to ask someone who serves the industry such as Dave Winship or Northstar to get an idea of how many customers they have.

Or we could just chalk it up to 43 and think about other things...

- RAM

[smutboy420]

Its got to be a lot but tend to agree its hard to even begin to nail down.
I'd love to see # for the amount of durabel goods sold for glass blowing. like how many this or that torch or kiln made each year.

[jokersdesign]

I read on another forum that the author of a well know book sold 80,000 copies of her book over a period of 3 years.

I know that is not a vaild way to measure the estimate number of lampworkers in the US. But I would think if the population was higher then the book would of sold a higher count over 3 years.


I found the post I was talking about on the other forum and the author said she sold 13,000 copies not 80,000 copies. It to her an investment of $80,000 to get a first run print of her book.


I also posted this question on that forum and only one reply, but the posted had an estimate of 35,000 glass artists that use a torch.

I would think that upto 500,000 would be more of a figure of art glass buyers population.

[HippyJayM]

$1 Bob

[Greymatter Glass]

8,675,309 for teh w1n

[fattubes]

of the 43 how many tried ordering the craig bellinger video from ross????

[VinE]

Ill bet there is 20,000 active lampers in the u.s .

[yinzer]

dude whats with the doug bringin up old shit....i though that was anti- doug-ish......

[Hunter]

thousands upon thousands


H.

[csouthworth627]

6.022 E23

[budman8778]

just find out how many people puff danny taught, that number is your answer...

[Abe Fleishman]

I have also thought about this alot and I did do a market study last year to try to figure out and idea of how many lampers are out there in the USA. What I came up with was about 300,000 active people useing glass. I spoke to many distributors and also many artist and this number is based on people that bought supplies and are useing them. The bead community is huge there was at least 200,000 of them in the USA, some might just make stuff once a month or they work every day. This number might not be right but I think it is really close give or take 50,000 people. It would be cool to try to nail this number down some how.
Abe
Northstar Glass

[Izzy Spun]

I would have to guess that about 10-20 thousand people in this country earn a significant portion of their income from glassblowing. I think there are probably a few hundred thousand hobbyists.. Just guesses, really.