KellyPowell progression thread

[KellyPowell]

Hi! I had a little experience with glassblowing, but have been off the torch for four years. Getting started again and would love to get some feedback and advice.
Thanks everybody!

[KellyPowell]

<a href="http://s61.photobucket.com/user/KellyPowellGlass/media/20170415_114605_zpssch16efv.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h42/KellyPowellGlass/20170415_114605_zpssch16efv.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20170415_114605_zpssch16efv.jpg"/></a>

Practicing marias by making some dabbers. Have never used a dabber myself, would love feedback on shaping, sizing, and anything else. Thanks!

[KellyPowell]

<a href="http://s61.photobucket.com/user/KellyPowellGlass/media/20170322_0828521_zpsug9jmk8f.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i61.photobucket.com/albums/h42/KellyPowellGlass/20170322_0828521_zpsug9jmk8f.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 20170322_0828521_zpsug9jmk8f.jpg"/></a>

Couple of pendants. Silver dust on the left, blue caramel frit on the right.

[mandoziller]

Welcome back. Your on your way.

[snoopdog6502]

Super nice for a warm up.

[KellyPowell]

90047900489004990050

A few efforts from this weekend. Practice, practice, practice.

[PyroChixRock]

Digging those marbles. You coming up soon?

[KellyPowell]

Thanks Misha!! : )

Broke at the moment, but once I have some spare cash and some time off, nothing would make me happier.

Maybe in a couple of months?

[PyroChixRock]

I'll be here :) Looking forward to having you.

[KellyPowell]

Two from last night. Fumed the skull a little heavier than I meant to.

[PyroChixRock]

nice, they look nice and round. :)

[KellyPowell]

A couple of efforts from the past week.
Skull marble is about as big as I've gone so far, 1.8" approx.
The chaos fume/opal marble pic is from the best possible angle : )
From another angle you can see a big flat air bubble trapped behind the opal...
Still pretty stoked about it.
90456
90457

[Cerberus]

those look great!

[Jackass Glass]

Really great job on the fume, I'm jealous. For opals I just work it as slow as possible to reduce air chances.

[KellyPowell]

Last night's effort. About 1.7"
90520

[KellyPowell]

My biggest marble so far. Opal encasements are getting cleaner.91425

[KellyPowell]

Working on flowers after watching the Sabina Boehm webinar.

[PyroChixRock]

very nice!

[KellyPowell]

Another vortex marble.

[OceanMelt]

Nice looking work! :)

[KellyPowell]

Thanks! : )

[KellyPowell]

Another flower attempt : )

[KellyPowell]

A couple of wine stoppers

[KellyPowell]

Flower marbles are hard : )

Mine tend to "telescope" upward, stretching out vertically instead of blooming open.

Any advice? Thanks!!

[hashmasta-kut]

elbow down, keep it more horizontal when imploding, not so vertical. Maybe stretch it some first with more of a downward angle, then flatten it by using less angle, pretty much horizontal. experiment with the angle and see what happens.

[Shattered Dreams]

usually get it to bloom as you press lightly on the marver to flatten it. by the end, you dont need to press much at all, just the weight of itself will be plenty.

[KellyPowell]

My best flower so far, woohoo!
Thanks for the tips. I also read and re-read this thread http://www.talkglass.com/forum/showthread.php?57317-Flower-power!/page21
and got the implosion tutorial from Ron Bearer.
All that helped. Still lots of work to do, but feel like I'm making progress : )

[Jackass Glass]

awesome kelly. i need to find a colorado lamp worker that makes nice flowers and go watch them once

[KellyPowell]

Thanks!!
I really want to take a class with someone good in person, too.
Does John Kobuki do classes any more?

[H1JACK3R]

Thanks!!
I really want to take a class with someone good in person, too.
Does John Kobuki do classes any more?

Yes he does, he was next door doing a two day class at glassroots, and I know he does others. He was really nice, in a surreal moment after a run to the car I found myself and my pregnant wife in a back freight elevator to the stage with him and and bob snodgrass

[hashmasta-kut]

My best flower so far, woohoo!
Thanks for the tips. I also read and re-read this thread http://www.talkglass.com/forum/showthread.php?57317-Flower-power!/page21
and got the implosion tutorial from Ron Bearer.
All that helped. Still lots of work to do, but feel like I'm making progress : )


That looks great!

Certainly makes my best flower look like shit :)

[KellyPowell]

Haha, thanks! I bet yours aren't so bad : )

[KellyPowell]

Last night's marbles91554

[Jackass Glass]

My best flower so far, woohoo!
Thanks for the tips. I also read and re-read this thread http://www.talkglass.com/forum/showthread.php?57317-Flower-power!/page21
and got the implosion tutorial from Ron Bearer.
All that helped. Still lots of work to do, but feel like I'm making progress : )


where did you get the implosion tut? i cant find it anywhere online, even their website.

[magicbobcat2]

where did you get the implosion tut? i cant find it anywhere online, even their website.

ronbearer@gmail.com Send him an email and he will hook you up!

[Jackass Glass]

Thanks!

[KellyPowell]

A couple of marbles and a wine stopper.

[KellyPowell]

91699

[KellyPowell]

First try at a paperweight.

[KellyPowell]

Another try at a floral paperweight. Having trouble getting these round, they're too big for my marble molds.
Have a bigger mold on the way : )

[KellyPowell]

Super stoked to be going to the Glass Craft Expo in Vegas next April.
Taking a flower marble class with Sabina Boehm, and a marble class with Eli Mazet.
I intend to level up : )

[Jackass Glass]

Super stoked to be going to the Glass Craft Expo in Vegas next April.
Taking a flower marble class with Sabina Boehm, and a marble class with Eli Mazet.
I intend to level up : )

yay!

[Mute]

Those are sweet. Looks like they are big ones. How big?

[KellyPowell]

Those are sweet. Looks like they are big ones. How big?

Thanks! Haven't measured, but I'd guess about 2.75" on the paperweights.

[KellyPowell]

Got a new 2.5" marble mold : )

My biggest marble by far, a little over 2.5".
The Chinese black on the back got all rough and scaly. Devit? Any suggestions on that?

[KellyPowell]

Working on my flower colors : )

[Foxy999]

I like the double layer pedals.

I like working with china black tubing, mostly because it's kind of tough to keep it safe.

IMO it's possible to blast most shit / devit out with my hand torch with an oxidizing flame. But that's on tubing where the marks were created by cold stress as black cools quick.

But it's also very easy to create devit that you can't blast away by using cold graphite tools to hot black glass (and china clear). So that may be your issue. You can preheat all graphite tools, to the point where they will glow red (you don't want it that hot though or it will stick to glass).

[KellyPowell]

Haven't updated this thread in a while! Had classes with Sabina Boehm and Eli Mazet at the glasscraft expo in Vegas last month.
Still working on flowers, making some progress.

[Cerberus]

absolutely beautiful!

[KellyPowell]

absolutely beautiful!

thanks so much!

[Shaper]

Flowers are looking good.

[KellyPowell]

Flowers are looking good.

Thanks!! : )

[KellyPowell]

One from last night, tried a new shape when laying down the petals. Pretty stoked, will keep working on this.

[Zukie]

Beautiful!

[BlairArtGlass]

Yes very nice indeed!

[black]

Nice work!

[black]

nice work!

[KellyPowell]

Adding some recent work...9280692807

[Shaper]

What are the colors you used on these 3?
Petals are looking better by the way.

[KellyPowell]

What are the colors you used on these 3?
Petals are looking better by the way.

Thanks!!

Poppy over Chinese opaque pink
Grape and Turbo Amethyst over Chinese striking white
Turboco and Blue Slyme over Chinese striking white

[KellyPowell]

A few recent flower marbles
Making progress : )

[Dicktater]

Wow ! your a true artist........beautiful work!!!

[KellyPowell]

Wow ! your a true artist........beautiful work!!!

Thank you SO much, I really appreciate it : )

[KellyPowell]

They're not ALL flowers : )
930379303893039

[Shaper]

Looking good.

[jeve]

All of these are so amazing! cannot say enough good things about Kelly! Truly inspirational :) Not just that i really enjoy chatting about glass with you! Thank you for sharing your creations <3

[KellyPowell]

You're so kind, thank you! I really appreciate the friendship and advice. Hoping I get to meet you and Eve one of these days.

Posting a few newer marbles below.

[KellyPowell]

9322193222932259322393224

[B.T.G.P]

Really nice work im new to glass and have been working on marbles any tips esp on chaos fume opal one really would love to learn that thanks for the inspiration beautiful

[B.T.G.P]

Wow amazing

[KellyPowell]

Really nice work im new to glass and have been working on marbles any tips esp on chaos fume opal one really would love to learn that thanks for the inspiration beautiful

Thank you so much! I really appreciate it. : )

I'm not the best at those, I'm pretty hit and miss. I learned from an article in Glass Line, v31 no 5, by Matt Faulkner.
I'd recommend checking that out.

Basically, try using a little bit of silver and fuming it onto a clear rod. There are some great discussions on here about fuming.
Switch your flame to be more oxidizing, then draw a few thin stripes of clear over the fume.
Heat up the fumed section and pull it out into a stringer. Gather the stringer onto itself in a chaotic/random way, trying not to
get air trapped into the gather.
Punty up to the gather, and attach a thick clear rod to whichever side looks the best. Gather the clear to form a lens. Back with
a dark color to help show off the fume.

For opals, I blow a small bubble in the end of a tube (small tube like 10mm or so).
I use the tube to scoop an opal out of the bag they come in (this way I never touch it and keep fingerprints off).
Let it drop to the bottom of the tube. Start to melt the tube around it, letting gravity pull the opal down into the clear.
When the opal is almost encased, suck gently on the tube to pull the extra air out from around the opal.
Using skinny punties, detach the encased opal from the tube, and skin/pull the extra glass from around it.
Now it's protected from the flame, and you can attach it to another bigger rod that you'll use for your lens.

There are people that are WAY better at these things than me, so take my advice with a grain of salt : )

Try it out, read more on here, have fun! Would love to see what you make.

[KellyPowell]

Some more recent flowers : )9338093381933829338393384