Complete noob with drive

[GrantH]

Hello Forum. My name is fairly obvious from my user name (Grant H) and at the moment I am staying in Asheville but will only be here until the 9th. I have to go back to Mississippi sadly. I plan on ending in Denver for a while come new years time so I hope to make that home and meet the local artists as the time comes.

Since I have been in Asheville for a month or so now I have come to love glass more than just looking at it. I want to learn the craft. I am looking at getting a kit this weekend from Mountain Glass here in the city and get my bottle back home. They have a Nortel Minor setup for 569 that seemingly includes everything needed except bottles and gas. I will buy glass as well at the point of buying the kit.

I want to make pendants and basic pipes at first as I am an advocate as well as having learned a decent bit on making hemp jewelry in the recent months. My goal is to make it to Denver and refine my techniques and polish my style and hopefully my brother and I can open shop withing a few years. We dream; It's fun.

I just wanted to say hello and give some background. I love the site already and have come to learn quite a bit through searching the older posts as well as the newer ones. Gaining a lot of beginners knowledge so hopefully I can make some smaller works in the coming weeks.

[Headdi Retti's Glass Art Studio]

Awesome Grant, I know your stoked enjoy the journey!..

[GrantH]

Thanks headdi, what size glass can be called standard for a beginner to make pipes? I've seen tons of different sizes mentioned by people on the forum soil not sure what I should order.

[Headdi Retti's Glass Art Studio]

I will let others with more experience than I, Can give you a better idea than I . I will say get plenty of blowtube stock not to thick like 9x2.5 or 3, ofc you need to pull points, you will probably like blow tubes too, try both ways, you probably don't need anything bigger than 16-18 to start, however you will probably grab some 32, its a nice size for when your ready. You can gain some coil potting skills and skip tubes alltogther, except some blowtubes if you like.. .NS and others have nice variety pack of color that's usually priced good, also check glassified's sometimes lampworkers clean out the shop and have a ton of glass just make sure you know what your getting. People here are awesome at giving deals to new lampers/pipemakers. Just watch out for S&H costs cause glass is heavy and it adds up fast..Dave @ abr imagery has specials all the time if your getting a lot , they can send full tubes out on pallets for shipping to your door..or mga you can drive and pick up if your close they to are great to work with. Check vendor glassifieds they to run lots of good deal for members.
Others will comment with good ideas to start making your art with....enjoy man stay stoked!..

[Jeffs Pieces]

I would say 32x4 and pull a bazillion points

[RedToroBoro]

^^and some 25x4 and do the same. Then look at trevs glass for NS shorts. It is a good way to get some color and learn about the different colors you may like.

[GrantH]

Thanks for the info guys, I finally have internet again. I am out of NC now and have a steady connection for the night until I make the second leg of my trip home to MS.

Few questions now that I can type a bit easier than on my cell phone.

For pipe making I should focus on something in the realm of 25 & 32, but x4. I will be sure to order that...but a "good bit" means what? Am I looking at going through 20 tubes or 100 tubes quickly.

I plan on picking up some glass for bead making, so I will try out the glassifieds for an assorted lot of colors. Should I be looking for soft or hard glass? I have my book in my luggage so I promise to read that asap. I just want to order my equipment and such tonight or early morning. I'm getting itchy!

[GrantH]

One other quick question, I just looked at the sundance glass arts page and their nortel minor kit is 469 dollars and the only difference that I can find is that it leans more towards bead making. This is where I want to start out...pendants and beads with pipe work after a bit. The 100 bucks (in my eyes) seems unjustifiable unless sundance just wont ship out my stuff hahaha.

Sundance doesnt have the larger tweezers and doesnt have the wheel cutters. But it does have mandrels and bead release. Am I losing out somewhere more than a couple tools I can pick up later by going to sundance instead? Are they based overseas rather than stateside?

[Greenhorse Glass]

Did you not go in and talk to the guys at Mountain glass?

[GrantH]

Actually, I wasn't able to oddly enough. I was a bit upset about that too haha. We went to the city on Friday I believe it was and they were closed still. They opened at 10 rather than 9 like I was hoping. I would have waited had I been alone but company wanted to head out back to the house.