"Repairs" do or don't?

[Aaron Ellis]

Since I started lampworking people have asked if I would fix there broken shit and I was wondering if anyone else had to deal with this situation and what other lampworkers do if asked. Personally I tell people to get an aquarium and sink the busted shit to the bottom but I will do some repairs.
Aaron

[B-Rye-oNeR]

I will only do em if it has some sentimental value, or if I or someone I know made it, or if it's a nice/notable piece.

[somberbear]

If its something i did... i will repair it ...

just make sure they know it will not be 100% brand new ...and probably cost the same as when they bought it... i do know people who do repairs and i send that work on...

[p.j.]

i do repairs. i don't touch them without telling the people it is 50 bux just for a simple repair

[Forche]

I do them on stuff I feel confident about. It's an easy way to make $$. I have a buddy that charges a min. of $20 for him to even attempt a fix something. If it breaks he still has $20, if it doesn't he knocks the 20 off the repair price.

[The Bigles]

Don't try shit that's clearly beyond repair but other than that, if someone has some money you should take it.

[drew1492]

I was told by a guy he wont do repairs or everything that comes out of the kiln will have a distinct smell that most of us are familliar with. He said it gets soaked into the fire bricks. But there is a shop out here that a guy does tube repairs all the time right in the head shop.

[Kevin Bumble]

Tell em "Yha I fix shit." the last one blew up. there is a non refundable deposit. if they go for it just take that money and drop that shit in the flame when it blows up, quick money, give em the pieces back. if it don't blow up fix it till, it does.

[apixdesign]

Tell em "Yha I fix shit." the last one blew up. there is a non refundable deposit. if they go for it just take that money and drop that shit in the flame when it blows up, quick money, give em the pieces back. if it don't blow up fix it till, it does.

hahaha
:D

[maui greenstone]

I never fix pipes...always smells like burning ass rez and only brings about all sorts of wankers wanting you to fix their broken tube. I will fix scuptural stuff and I guarantee my pendant loops for life. Very seldom I will fix someone elses work, but if I do I always leave my mark on it somewhere ie reshape fins, add expression to face, tack an extra marble on.
I do have to say tho, I wish I had taken Kevins approach from the beginning :/

[Aaron Ellis]

Ya no shit ^^^ Kevin I like ur approach. And Drew I've repaired a lot of shit and if u get the piece spotless clean u won't get that burnt res smell, but getting some one to clean it b4 they bring it to u is impossible so I charge $20 just to clean it too.

[Kevin Bumble]

^^^^^^^^^^^^^$30 for me to clean it !!!

[STROKER]

i have been doing repairs here and there and find them to be good money.
matter of fact, i am picking up 3 tubes and an ashcatcher today that i have to put new joints on.

$80 per glass joint fix and i make no guarantees. if it breaks, oh well. not my problem. havent broke one yet...

they are phx and syn pieces that cost a fair bit of coin originally and the owners love the idea of spending $80 to get a $500 piece back in their collection.

i will make all the repairs in a few hours which in turn is pretty good money. and as far as that smell, if it has been cleaned properly with alchohol and salt, then there is almost no residual to burn off in kiln. certainly wouldnt put a dirty piece in kiln...

personally i think they are great money.

[innervision]

I tell the customer , it needs to be 100% clean
there is a 50% chance it will break

*and I always add a marble or milli , so the piece now has some unique history..

[Aymie]

My thoughts exactly.

Most people are very attached to the piece they want repaired and are willing to pay to revive it.

[RamblezMarblez]

I fixed a few...made a tube into a steamroller...Shit was a chimney of rez smoke but it worked....Fixed a couple pipes where the mouth piece was fixed...one pipe busted the whole time...probably china glass....I warn them first it may work, it may not...you clean it (the hard part). I don't even attempt to fix it until they stop by with a blizzy asking about the progress...Then I fix it after we smoke. Then theyz gotta come back the next day to pick up...hopefully with another blizzy!

[earlbacher]

$25 non refundable to start, and depending on the fix, more on top of it... a charge to clean it, if it's not already clean.. and i always say that there is a possibility of total loss...

[Mecha]

Some of the easiest money in glass is from repair work. Jay is spot on in regards to high end glass especially.

It's good practice too.

[derekg0]

Anyone near western mass that does repairs, i got a feurer tube with double tree percs that i've had for 5 years, 2 years ago, it got knocked over and developed a crack near the glass joint, haven't used it since in fear that it might be destroyed with repeated use or some type of additional stress near that crack.

I'd try to fix myself if i had a huge kiln and another year of experience, but this thing is like almost 3 feet tall, so thats not going to happen any time soon,

I'd gladly pay 50-75 bucks for someone experienced to fix this bad boy up for me, understanding that it's non-refundable and no guarantees. Hell, make it $100 if I can watch and hang out for a bit.

[re-vit]

people are really grateful when they get a repair back, even if the broken piece shatters on the reheat and you just melt a little bit down into a marble attached to a new piece.
the downside is when the cops confiscate the repaired piece a week later.
i've repaired at least three "this was my dead mother's" pieces... next time i think i'll melt the dead mamma piece into a big nasty pendant so the cops won't want to take it.

[mer]

i don't fix other people's work without talking to the artist first, and if *god forbid* any of my glass crosses any of your benches i hope you would do me the same courtesy.

[maui greenstone]

i don't fix other people's work without talking to the artist first, and if *god forbid* any of my glass crosses any of your benches i hope you would do me the same courtesy.

there are way too many artists out there to possibly be able to identify or recognize someones work just by looking at it unless it is signed. If I recognize it and can identify whose it is I send the person in their direction. Repair work is a pain in the ass, but if i absolutely have to do it, I'm goin to have a little fun with it, especially if it's due to poor craftsmanship (which would definately never be the case with you mer)

[brettodie]

ive fixed 100's of pieces over the years. mostly for stores and wholesalers. ive fixed pieces made by tons of various artists. for stores and wholesalers ill only fix higher price point items. smaller stuff for a consumer ill fix if it seems to have alot of sentimental value. i never add anything to the piece unless its a part of the repair .

$25 up front with a estimate of the repaired price. no guarantees. ill offer to make into a marble any piece that becomes unrepairable.

as far as touching an other artists work,meh. i dont know everyone,i dont have contact info for most. if its being brought to me that means the owner doesnt know the artist in question either. ive fixed pieces by many well known artists. mostly because of breakage in the mail. those are normally the easiest to fix since they were well made in the first place. some anyways. ;) lol

[Julian]

Most of the repair work I've been asked to do is far from the 'painting over the Mona Lisa' level that would raise the ire of Mer, I do believe. Mostly, someone has some janky piece that is realistically worth only slightly more than the glass it is formed of, or less, but it has sentimental value. Rarely can I do anything for these people, except maybe make their deceased spoon into a bead or something.

[Aaron Ellis]

Ya I agree with u Mer but if it's just standard prodo I'll repair with no questions needed heady pieces should be diff in my opinion ur reshaping someones art no matter what you've changed it if you can contact the artist it's polite to do so. Someone should start a thread and we can all show a pic of our signatures for reference.