help me make a pink pipe

[ReLo442]

Got a chick who wants a "pink sparkly pipe". Im new to pipes and most I have done were clear base with outside work.

I have some 38mm chinese pink tube that I like working with but have found that the color is really light/transparent and after the pipe gets used a bit, it starts to look more burnt orange instead of pink.

I do have some pink color rod and pink borostix.

Heres my idea, tell me what ya think.

I was going to pull a point about 4" long from the 38mm pink tube. stick that puppy in the kiln to keep it up to temp. Then I was thinking of coil potting some pink rod onto the end of a 12mm tube, blow out into a small bubble then roll it in some unobtonium/steel wool/disco spark frit. Then heat this all up, put it inside the 38 and blow.


I have a few questions:
Do i need to do anything to the color tube before i blow in the coilpotted color? (it will be at 980* from the kiln).

Should I try to blow hard enough to bust a hole in the color on the handle side of the point or keep it sealed off and just shrink the tube down and tear a clean point?

Should I coil pot the pink rod just around itself, or should I close off the 12mm, then CP around that before blowing it out?

I though I remember seeing a guy with a beard and overall's doing this but I cant find the vid.:D

[Uriel]

why dont you try what youve just explained how to do there.. let us know how your explorative escapades end up..

[Bo Diddles]

I would personally use white fumed with gold - that's the best pink imo.
Also, maybe you should make a couple hundred pipes before you start taking orders.... just sayin'.

[ReLo442]

lol I figured someone would say that. Actually I went to try this last night/this morning and realized I only had 20 cu ft of oxy left. Not gonna try something like this with that lil oxy so I just pulled stringers and made some quick onies.

Bo - Im trying to find the gold hookup right now. Ive called at least 20 jewelers in my town and noone has any unless I pay $80 a gram for a coin. I just found out today that my friends mom makes gold jewelry so I think thats the answer. I did see a pipe that was gold fumed white and it damn sure does look pink. more pink than any color ive seen. Oh and also...Im not really taking orders per se... My buddies gf asked me if I could make her a pink pipe. I said id try but promised nothing! Cant get any better unless I try new things right!

[Bo Diddles]

wow that was fast! seriously though, use white for the pink....

[Jeffs Pieces]

just make a pink clear pipe out of that tubing, done! on to the next project. A little advice, too much time on 1 project slows you down, bust out as many as you can the tips and tricks will come, so will a little loot, if 02 is a concern forget gold. make 1000 silver fumed pipes and a $80 coin won't break the bank.

[Master Yoda]

Sounds good to me, do it to it!
Make sure we get to see the results:)

[BrassMonkey]

if its a spoon can you name it "the pink sock" for me.

[dOprah Winfrey]

I've had requests for the exact same thing before. I used persimmons strike mixed with disco sparkle. Mixing it by hand wasn't really worth the trouble, I'd suggest using a drill.

Mix colors, then pull back into a rod,
coilpot onto a slightly flared blowtube,
take point of clear thats been in kiln and heat it to a very light glow,
with point in back of flame heat up coilpot of color till its wet hot
stick coilpot into warm point of clear and blow
pull blowtube off blown in coilpot and clean up the open point end
if color didn't pop on the inside, shoot a sharp flame to pop it, leaving you with an open point handle for a blowtube
close up point and shape
kick yourself for wasting all that time and color on your first blow-in. they usually take a while to get right.

best of luck, post your results.

[Lucius Emanuel]

clear and gold fume works for me...

[jedi glassworks]

gold over white is the way to go if you want a poppin pink.

Bryan

[2wheeler]

i used a color called liver spots... bought off a buddy not sure who makes it. If you decide to do a blow-in.. i recommend coiling the color onto your blow tube, not coiling off the end of it.. This helped me a lot with control and saving color. (Taught from another forum member.) I wouldn't recommend doing a blow in with pink chinese... make a big blob and blow it into some clear 38, 44, 45. It doesn't take much more effort to make two pieces at a time if you can keep more area hot... plus i recommend blowing hard enough to pop the hole when you do it. Then your ready to go, blowpipe in each hand...split it in the middle, put one in the kiln and finish the other.

[AYHEM]

heres that vid of gibson doing the blow in, ive been doing some double layer blow ins lately, definently gotta mix down the steel wool just incase.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmScmdCNG1k


I've had requests for the exact same thing before. I used persimmons strike mixed with disco sparkle. Mixing it by hand wasn't really worth the trouble, I'd suggest using a drill.

Mix colors, then pull back into a rod,
coilpot onto a slightly flared blowtube,
take point of clear thats been in kiln and heat it to a very light glow,
with point in back of flame heat up coilpot of color till its wet hot
stick coilpot into warm point of clear and blow
pull blowtube off blown in coilpot and clean up the open point end
if color didn't pop on the inside, shoot a sharp flame to pop it, leaving you with an open point handle for a blowtube
close up point and shape
kick yourself for wasting all that time and color on your first blow-in. they usually take a while to get right.

best of luck, post your results.

[steven p selchow]

just make a pink clear pipe out of that tubing, done! on to the next project. A little advice, too much time on 1 project slows you down, bust out as many as you can the tips and tricks will come, so will a little loot, if 02 is a concern forget gold. make 1000 silver fumed pipes and a $80 coin won't break the bank.

I use silver ingots at current silver prices thats about $20 bucks, what are you using for fume? I met Mel Fisher, the treasure salvager who found the Spanish treasure Gallion the Atocha which sank in a Hurricane off Key West in 1622, he was kind enough to give me a little of the hundreds of pounds of 50 Lb bars of silver recovered.

steve

[NorthWoods Glass]

Those silly Spanish! Always loosing their treasure.... Reminds me of my grandma and her dentures... :chilling:

[steven p selchow]

I agree. I lived in Miami as a kid, went to Key West almost every weekend to fish with my dad. I made him buy me a shovel so I could dig for treasure. I found a brown bottle about 4 feet down on the beach, I couldn't see out so it was deep, but the bottle said St. Johns medicine New York with a 17th century date. Amazing how a bottle like that could end up 4 ft underground in Key West. I found several bottles. Bach then (around 1966) there were no laws about digging up the beach, I remember the guy in the next hole had maybe 30 bottles, all intact..just thought I'd share a little history with you. To Bad Mel lost his son and good friends looking for the Atocha, it took him 17 years to find it and millions of dollars in investors money, but estimated worth 400 million. I had a friend who invested $1000 dollars and ended up with several coins and 7-8 uncut green emralds..well worth the investment. I had the chance to do it, but my loss now for not.

steve

[Jeffs Pieces]

I use silver ingots at current silver prices thats about $20 bucks, what are you using for fume? I met Mel Fisher, the treasure salvager who found the Spanish treasure Gallion the Atocha which sank in a Hurricane off Key West in 1622, he was kind enough to give me a little of the hundreds of pounds of 50 Lb bars of silver recovered.

steve

so sweet! I use 99.9 silver bar troy oz. I use to get wire from mountain glass, that stuff is pretty ez to work with so I start wire wrapping pendants then the wire really wouldn't last.

[dOprah Winfrey]

plus i recommend blowing hard enough to pop the hole when you do it. .

Be careful doing this. When popping the bubble on the initial blow, its not unheard of to blow bubble trash into what will be your blowtube. Then you either don't know and risk getting it in your mouth, or you have to blow it out the end of you point, but how likes to blow bubble trash into the air. You can also just get the bubble trash back into the point and melt it in, but with some colors it can leave a little area of extra color that sometimes doesn't look nice.

I personaly find I have better luck and control with these if I give my coilpot a second to cool before puffing it out, which keeps me from popping my end into the blowtube, and gives me more control allowing me to get a more even dispersion of color. Then just shoot a little flame up there to pop it.

[ReLo442]

Thanks for the awesome responses. Crescent your post was really helpful. I still havent been able to track down any gold but im going to try to white over fumed clear as well as a blow in. Ill try blowin the hole, and try flame poppin the hole. Im having a electrician come tomorrow to run me a dedicated circuit for my kiln so Im not sure if ill be able to use the electricity while he is there.

THATS the exact link I was looing for! overalls and a beard!!! Rippin rippin hot awesome thanks

[steven p selchow]

WWW.riogrande.com has gold shot, silver, platinum what ever metal you need. Its sold at market price. I bought the little round shots years ago when gold was maybe $800.00 an ounce..abr sells gold to. I use silver wire to now, shit lasts forever and cheap. I use to get it from Kristen, mountian glass is a good source, I recommend them too. Nice looking piece up there.

steve

I see the shot (casting grain) is $72.80 per penny weight as of today) looks good..riogrande.

[BlueLilyStudio]

If the young lady you are trying to make a spoon for wants a sparkly pink then I would suggest doing an inside out dichro spoon with some pink dichro. You can find pink sections in the Rainbow dichro from cbs or use the green/magenta. When you are looking for dichro look to see what color is reflected to tell what color you'll get after backing the glass. Then back thin strips, about 1/4 inch wide or less, with onyx or turbo cobalt and stripe the inside of a flare of 44-48 hvy with 8 or more lines of the dichro. Then gold fume and fill in the open areas with white or pink before you melt down and shape the spoon.

[menty666]

crazy question, but I think I've only attempted a blow in once, with disastrous results.

With the point you're blowing the color into, that should have a closed end right? That way you're not blowing all that heat down past your hand?

[Bo Diddles]

^ Nope it should be open to give the air a place to escape

[menty666]

Thanks!

[LifeGlass]

Blue lily, that sounds so blangin. Way to go.

[ReLo442]

first 3 attemps at a blow in were a utter discrace. Maybe im laying the color on too thick or something but it seems like when i finally get the thing hot enough(inside blow in part), its almost meltin outta control then i put in inside the encasement tube and blow and it expands but not enough to fill the whole tube. twice in a row I had a 3" tube of 25mm for the outside, and had a blow filling about 1" worth of that tube. I then tried a smaller blowtube (12mm) to make the blowin on, what I ran into then was the glass was getting so thing that it had little ripples in it and you can see those between the 2 layers of glass.

Im not too sure what im doing wrong here but ill keep tryin it.

I was able to make one finally tho. I will get pics of it later. I left it in the kiln and I may not go to the shop before leavin town today but if i do ill post up pics.

[Albino Sasquatch]

maybe try iso with some disco stringers or lockness that way you can get some sparkels in the pink tube. make sure you use bigger tube so you dont tack the blowin to the wall when you start. and you may have to do two blowins sometimes one on the back end then close up and attach blow tube open other end and blowin on that end too then close and condence and sape.

[BlueLilyStudio]

Here are a few tips that help me when I am making a blow in...
first when you are coilpotting the color I find that it helps to have a large clear collar on the blowtube first before you start coilpotting. Something that will fit easily into the cup that you are using...for instance if I was blowing into a tube of 50mm I would use a 32mm collar to coil onto. Then after I have made a coil pot to my liking after melting it all smooth I blow a hole in the end and then coilpot about an inch of clear on the end and melt it smooth so that it is even with the color. Then when melting the coil in preparation for insertion don't heat the clear collar very much, this will help you stabilize the tube that you trying to drop into the 50. Get the color section all super floppy and wet hot but let it cool to manageable before you try to insert it as to not tack the inner wall...try to drop it all the way in to where the clear collar is going to meet up with the cup edge... If all goes right then blow in like a mofo and hopefully the clear that you added on the bottom of the coilpot helps you get a more manageable section that has no waste because the color won't blow down into the neck of the cup where you can trap air. That should be where the clear you added to the bottom plays its role. Just try to get the color to attach only to the smooth straight sides of the cup not the whole point.
if you still have trouble lining up the drop in you can leave a small punty on the coilpot section end that fits down into the blowpipe of the cup and use that to guide you in. Its a little different to do it this way but It can be done...


first 3 attemps at a blow in were a utter discrace. Maybe im laying the color on too thick or something but it seems like when i finally get the thing hot enough(inside blow in part), its almost meltin outta control then i put in inside the encasement tube and blow and it expands but not enough to fill the whole tube. twice in a row I had a 3" tube of 25mm for the outside, and had a blow filling about 1" worth of that tube. I then tried a smaller blowtube (12mm) to make the blowin on, what I ran into then was the glass was getting so thing that it had little ripples in it and you can see those between the 2 layers of glass.

Im not too sure what im doing wrong here but ill keep tryin it.

I was able to make one finally tho. I will get pics of it later. I left it in the kiln and I may not go to the shop before leavin town today but if i do ill post up pics.

[seanwise]

I've noticed if I don't keep the whole point hot enough right after the initial blow-in, the color will start to shrink back away from the larger tube and trap air underneath--and get a little messy. And you definitely need steady hands when inserting the coiled color into the larger tube to stay centered and get it in at the right depth, and not stick to the side.

[menty666]

if you still have trouble lining up the drop in you can leave a small punty on the coilpot section end that fits down into the blowpipe of the cup and use that to guide you in. Its a little different to do it this way but It can be done...

That's freakin' brilliant :)

[LifeGlass]

Yup blue lilly knows whatsup man. Only tip I can add is drop your point low and stabilize your elbow with the coil pot on your knee, droop it in......blow.

[Shatner]

first 3 attemps at a blow in were a utter discrace. Maybe im laying the color on too thick or something but it seems like when i finally get the thing hot enough(inside blow in part), its almost meltin outta control then i put in inside the encasement tube and blow and it expands but not enough to fill the whole tube. twice in a row I had a 3" tube of 25mm for the outside, and had a blow filling about 1" worth of that tube. I then tried a smaller blowtube (12mm) to make the blowin on, what I ran into then was the glass was getting so thing that it had little ripples in it and you can see those between the 2 layers of glass.

Im not too sure what im doing wrong here but ill keep tryin it.

I was able to make one finally tho. I will get pics of it later. I left it in the kiln and I may not go to the shop before leavin town today but if i do ill post up pics.

Use some 44! 25 is way too small to blow in to, imo.

[Din]

25 is way too small. Also, the blank you're blowing into should have the shoulder leading to the point or blowtube puffed out a bit, or it will trap air. Try to make the blank sort of a long funnel shape. With those points taken care of, you'll trap less air. Have the blank warm, and the coil pot ripping. Once the surface is worked in a bit, I'll puff the blow in before working into a tube shape, and that helps the consistency of the inner wall.
Also, if you have bubbles, pierce them with a tungsten rod from the inside. That way if you've fumed the inside of the cup before blowing in, the fume will fill the gap where the bubble was.

[ReLo442]

so i had one turn out the other day. This is the one im givin to this chick. Ic since made about 10 diff pipes using the blow in method. Im still having a problem getting the blow in section to fill more than 1.5-2" of tubing. I switched to 44 and it worked a lil better. I will keep tryin it and will post up some of the better ones. the one in the pic was made on 38mm heavy, blow in was made on 16mm heavy. The color looks brown in this pic but its steel wool/disco sparkle...I forget which one. I also picked up some dichro this weekend and have been playing around with it on pendants and pull cane with it. Way cool stuff. Cant believe I took this long to buy some. How would I use it on a pipe tho? cut a long skinny strip of dichro and lay it on the tube?

[BlueLilyStudio]

I also picked up some dichro this weekend and have been playing around with it on pendants and pull cane with it. Way cool stuff. Cant believe I took this long to buy some. How would I use it on a pipe tho? cut a long skinny strip of dichro and lay it on the tube?

don't lay the dichro on the tube...cut yourself some strips of dichro about 1/4 inch wide and as long as you feel comfortable with working. place them so they are about 2-3 inches in the kiln so the ends are prewarmed, then take them and connect them to puntys at the prewarmed section and place back in the kiln at +1000 degrees to warm up. Then take the pieces and flash them in an oxygen rich flame while simultaneously preheating the 5mm color rod you are using to back the dichro strips. I like to allow the flame to splash onto the back of the dichro, not the face, until it has been thoroughly crazed and preheated, then proceed to back the strips by heating only the color rod and avoiding hitting the dichro coating with the flame. Stripe the color down the entire length of the strip maintaining a deep angle of color rod to flame to make a wide strip cover. the trick to getting a good backing onto the dichro strips is to have the color coming into the flame at an aggressive inward angle while the dichro is running perpindicular and also on a different plane just below the line of the flame. its takes getting used to but with practice you can quickly stripe several pieces of dichro at a time with no warping or cracking. Then you take the backed pieces of dichro and use them like stringer inside the flare.

[ReLo442]

will try that blue thanks alot for the great description.

[Grape]

persimons strike over white is a crazy pink!

[Harry Paratesteez]

whats the difference between pink and purple?





Your grip.

[gn0me]

whats the difference between pink and purple?
Your grip.

And here I thought it was something to do with how hard you strike your rod.