The Laughing Man - Progression Thread

[The Laughing Man]

Hello TMP,
The name is Stew, I am from Melbourne, Australia. A friend of mine introduced me to lampworking about 6 months ago.
I helped my friend set up his studio, getting more intrigued by what he was making. He gave me a few lessons and I was hooked.
I'm a metal fabricator by trade and I've mostly been making commercial art and the like for the signage and interior design industries, lighting, sculptures, signs, machines etc. I've been a maker all my life.
At the same time the wife and were planning a road trip around Aus in a camper van. I setup a small portable studio
(Mini CC + oxycon) as sort of a practice studio till we got back and I could setup properly. I've just been playing around with mostly Chinese glass plus a few bits of nice stuff my friend gave me. It is just the perfect mix for me. Focus, technical skill, fire, unlimited possibilities, all from a single bench.
Long story short, we had van troubles and had to stop for a month. It was good in a sense that I got to practice flat out for the last couple of weeks. Got the van fixed but it sent us broke so we're cutting our trip short and heading back home. At least now I can setup a proper studio earlier than expected. My mate has a spare redmax waiting for me at home. (sshh don't tell her I'm mildly happy this happened, pretty much only interested in glass these days)
Anyway blah blah blah, Here are the last couple on months of bits and pieces. Mainly making marbles and pendants at this stage.

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First implosion flowers

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A few from a couple of months ago

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Some new stuff

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I think this is my cleanest/nicest one to date.

Love this forum, hopefully I'll talk to some of you guys soon.

[Aaron Ellis]

Welcome to the pot the laughing man looks like your well on your way. Keep up good work.

[PyroChixRock]

Awesome first post. Welcome :D Looking forward to watching you progress. :D

[The Laughing Man]

Thanks guys! Having a whole new direction in my creativity has got me super pumped to work hard at it.
I owe it to my mate who introduced me, the way it all played out felt like serendipity. For the first time
it felt like this was exactly what I was supposed to be doing with my life.

TLM

[Swampy]

Welcome aboard and keep at it, looks like so far so good :-)

[James M]

Ahoy hoy good buddy,

Your work is already super clean, I wish my marbles and colors would stay that crisp.

[glassdocnc]

Hi and welcome!

[The Laughing Man]

Thanks James,
Digging those mushroom pipes of yours, cool stuff.
For the most part I have just been using chinese white encased with chinese transparents. The blue is the only one I get really good color from on its own.
I have a couple of NS colours I have been using, the red exotic is nice, been using canary yellow also. I had a few pieces of various NS silver colours my mate gave me but I'm not sure what they were, the main one is a light transparent green before it flame strikes. Yeah I honestly couldn't say where the colour control comes from. I'll probably start doing some basic colour tests when I get some more rod, I've only really played around with flame chemistry on the red exotic thus far.


TLM

[The Laughing Man]

So this is how I have been working for a couple of months on and off. Not an ideal setup, it's a bit limiting but it got me started.
We are/were living in the van also so it was a setup/packdown every time I wanted to use it.
I got all the gear down to one cupboard in the van.
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I have the oxycon running off a mains power inverter that's connected to a battery bank in the van, combined with solar panels on a full sun day I could get around 2-4 hours work time between charges.
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Heading back home in the next couple of days. I'll be able to start setting up a proper studio which will be nice. It was an interesting project though, I'd like to upgrade in the future to a studio on wheels. Would be nice to travel it around festivals.

TLM

[Yeef]

sweet mobile setup man!

dig the GitS avatar..

[Zero]

I just came in to say your picture is awesome. I've got the same profile picture on my facebook, i wonder if i've seen your work there.

[The Laughing Man]

I just came in to say your picture is awesome. I've got the same profile picture on my facebook, i wonder if i've seen your work there.

Thanks Zero,
I've even got tattooed on my leg ;) A picture of which ended up on some top ten worst tattoos "list" floating around the internet.
I'd have been a bit upset except all Ghost in the Shell fans that trolled the poster no end. Sweet Revenge!
Your studio looks like it is coming along quite nicely.

TLM

[Zero]

Ahhhh well atleast the fans had your back, thanks man you seem to be coming along nicely as well.

[The Laughing Man]

Well it's been awhile, Got back home after traveling, returned to regular life/work
Haven't had a chance to set up the torch properly until last week.
Planning studio build with a mate as soon as we get a new place to live, hopefully by the end of the month.
Here is some of the new stuff.
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