Newbie Brit

[Squirley2005]

Hi guys,

I'm Ryan and I live in Leicester in the UK. Are there many other Brits on this site or am I destined to a barrage of jokes about tea and The Queen? :)

I've just been offered my first 9-5 job as an Engineer so I need a new hobby that I can do at home and in my garage, and seeing as my garage is too small to build a mini ramp I'm thinking about taking up blowing.

I smoke a little and I've always been fascinated by my pipes and bubblers and lurking through some of the posts here some of the stuff you guys can create is awesome. I've been in talks with the glass blowing workshop at my university and the guy there seems more than happy to show me the ropes of a torch so I'll let you know how I get on.

I'll no doubt lurk on here until I can contribute or have a question but I'm looking forward to learning more about this amazing artform.

Cheers!

[HOSS]

We've got 2 brits that I'm aware of, Uriel and Swampy (who doesn't live there anymore.) I'm sure there's a handful of others. I get the impression that the glass pipe scene hasn't quite caught on there like it has in the US, at least not yet. Maybe you can help change that. :)

Welcome, and good luck!

[Bo Diddles]

^ Also Charlotte, who has attended the last two A.G.I.'s. I swear she said she's from Leicester too, but I could be wrong.

[jac1961]

There's also Aussie... he's almost a brit... right? :evilLaugh

Welcome

[Swampy]

Hiya mate welcome to the forum, you came to the right place.

You're a lucky man, sounds like you are well placed having the glass technician available for your tube welding questions.

Whilst I was born there, what with military service and living overseas I haven't lived there since 76 apart from a short stay to get the kids settled, so it's a foreign place to me. Although saying that, I still claim allegiance to my Norse ancestry. Consequently I continue to exercise the vocabulary of my ancestors by saying cunt (http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/657/Cunt.html) and fuck (http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/695/Fuck.html) as frequently as or whenever necessary.

Uriel is Welsh.

[SAGE]

Hello mate, I'm a newbie Brit too - in fact I'm worse than newbie as I've not bought the kit yet - but I hope to graduate to newbie status soon! That said, I'm definately a Brit - so solidarity! :)

[raul24]

Hi Ryan,

I,m the glassblower at the University of Glasgow, been making pipes and tubes on and of since 97. The scene for pipes in the UK is shit, all shops want your glass at import prices and most people think its only students and neds that smoke.
Had a lot of times i've been in a shop trying to sell glass and a customer in the shop will be like " you can't smoke out of glass it will shatter" or "glass is only for crack". The UK needs more pipe makers so that the market place can become more educated and finally change. If you have any questions PM me. Is it Gayle at Leicester Uni thats going to help you.

John

[Shmart]

Amazing, I didn't realize there were any UK Glassblowers here, I have searched but nothing came up.
Hello to you all!

I've been making Scientific Glass since 2001 and only recently started playing with colour.

I agree with raul about the UK market, it is shit, i think thats half the reason I ignored it for so long. That and its all junk, It was only after seeing what these guys were doing that i got inspired.

If either of you do get set-up at some point let me know and i'd be willing to help you out with some basics.

[Shmart]

Raul, have you been to any BSSG symposiums? I may have met you at some point?

[raul24]

Hi Shmart,

I've only been to 1, the 2009 symposium in Glasgow. Might try to go to the next one but only if Arnold are brining lathes and burners to play with. What company do you work for. I used to run Phat Glass Designs, doing pipes, tubes, wine goblets, jewlery, dildos, scientific and anything else that customers asked for but the market killed it.

John

[mellofello]

now then mate another fellow brit here on the boards. I hover around in the background not posting much but this here forum is much better than any of the UK based beading forums I found. Uriel is indeed a welsh man and a friendly one too. Gave me a wee intro to pendants and marbles before I got all my gear together.

Rather jalouse of you having your uni glass blowing workshop guy to show you the ropes, finding some one to teach me scientific glass blowing even an introduction is proving hard in the uk and been thinking about hoping over to the US myself

not sure what the forum rules are so if you want to know where I have been getting my suplies from hit me up wth a PM and I will drop you some links.

[Shmart]

Hi Shmart,

I've only been to 1, the 2009 symposium in Glasgow. Might try to go to the next one but only if Arnold are brining lathes and burners to play with. What company do you work for. I used to run Phat Glass Designs, doing pipes, tubes, wine goblets, jewlery, dildos, scientific and anything else that customers asked for but the market killed it.

John

I work for Radleys in Essex, I started at what was Bibby Sterilin (Scilabware). I haven't been to a symposium for a while but i think Arnold were there last year. Jepson Bolton are the UK dealers for Arnold, you could e-mail them see if they're going. I was thinking of going this year.

Is it just you at Glasgow Uni?

I wonder how many more UK Lurkers there are?

[raul24]

It's just me at Glasgow uni, I should have an assistant considering the amount of work that comes through the workshop. I did my NVQ's at Bibby Sterlin. Do you know Craig Martin he used to work for Radleys.

[codeflunky]

Hi guys, another one here; I'm in north Staffordshire. Have a look in the torch room for my thread about the new torch I've just set up. I started with soft glass and am now making my first tentative moves in to boro'. I scored a case of 15 x 1.5 tube on ebay for a tenner and got a small amount of silver delivered yesterday so that's what I've got to play with for now. I'm self-taught so far and still finding my feet. Good to know there are other Brits out there, we may get a decent pipe scene going yet :-)

[Shmart]

Raul, no i don't know Craig Martin, he must of worked there a while ago. there's five of us there at the moment. I'll ask around. We' probably did the NVQ's with the same people then, they don't really have much turn around of staff. When were you there? I was there for six years then moved down here just over four years ago. I didn't really enjoy that level of production with the emphasis on time but i got a lot from it.

Codeflunky, where in North Staffs are you? I'm from Stoke originally. I've seen your torch review but i didn't notice you were from the midlands, i just presume everyone is from the US.

[codeflunky]

Codeflunky, where in North Staffs are you? I'm from Stoke originally. I've seen your torch review but i didn't notice you were from the midlands, i just presume everyone is from the US.

I grew up in Newcastle-U-Lyme, I've bounced around Europe a fair bit since then and I'm now on the southern edge of the Peak District. It seems Ryan introducing himself has lured a few of us out of obscurity :D

[raul24]

I was at Bibby in 1997.

[Shmart]

I grew up in Newcastle-U-Lyme, I've bounced around Europe a fair bit since then and I'm now on the southern edge of the Peak District. It seems Ryan introducing himself has lured a few of us out of obscurity :D

Its a small world, i grew up in Clayton to be more precise. I still go up that way quite a bit to see my folks so just PM me if you want to meet up and i can help you with some basic clear techniques.

[codeflunky]

Small world indeed. I may well take you up on that offer at some point, very generous of you.