Christmas Ornament question (I know it's still way early.)

[Satori]

So I'm doing an arts and crafts festival this weekend and I tried a day or two ago to make some christmas ornaments to sell there. I have no trouble making the ornament, it's when it comes to putting a loop on it and sealing it off. I can make a loop just fine, it's the sealing a hollow piece part that gets me. I always end up with negative pressure inside so that when I try to melt in the loop, it gets sucked inside the piece. I don't want to just cold seal the loop on because I don't think that something like that would be "quality glass." So who's got some info on this topic? I don't want to leave a hole, I want a completely sealed, hollow piece.

Can someone help me out?

Thanks!

[Sol]

ok..heres the trick..your gonna owe me...a doller. lol.. leave a tiny little hole right next to the clasp or just about any where on the piece...with out the hole you will ALWAYS have the implosion problem..trust me.

[Greymatter Glass]

after you get the shape done, but there's still a way for the air tyo get out through the blow tube / point let the whole thing cool to room temp. Alternately you can anneal it at this point, then let it cool.

Then using the smallest flame you can use, and working quickly heat up JUST the area you want to be your loop.

2 ways I do loops: One is a pull out the point to a taper and leave a very small constriction, then after it's cooled I break off the point at the end of the tapered bubble, seal the constriction, and fold it over into a loop.

The other way is I pre form a bunch of loops on a 6mm rod (running stitch, loop stich, however you make your loops) then I can cut them off one at a time with my nippers. I then seal the ornament, and attach the loop in one motion kinda....



the idea is to not let the main body of the ornament get hot. Eventually you learn to balance the air pressure so that the area you do have to heat up will stay stable.

once the loop is formed and the hollow sphere is sealed you can anneal it if it's thick enough. If they;re super thin they probably dont need it, but if you were to anneal them they would probably explode in your kiln (I know a few of mine have)

When I started making sealed ornaments I was lucky to get one in 3 to come out...but it gets better. 7/10 come out right now.

have fun

-Doug

[harpentuan]

double post

[harpentuan]

If you leave a small hole at the top you
can later cap it with a small ornament cuff/hook.

http://www.aftosa.com/ornamentcaps.html

hth.

[lucidvisions]

Just blow a tiny hole to the side of your open point, condense down the point until solid and pull the loop for it. If you want a major horror story that I'd hate to see repeated, PM Micha Evans to learn what can go terribly wrong with sealed pieces, not saying it will happen every time but you never know. Plus I thnk a small hole looks much sharper than some cheaply made metal clasp thingys that go on the end. Just my opinion.

Josh

[lucidvisions]

Just a Post Script, probably a bit early for retail customers to buy Christmas ornaments but most of our wholesale gallleries bought their's months ago. Jan-April is most popular time for them to buy, just a hint if you're headed that way at all, we learned the hard way for a couple years.

Josh

[Mike_Aurelius]

Never too early to start making them, though.

A couple of years ago we started the day after Thanksgiving. Never again. We got behind in 3 days and never caught up.

Now, I start making them usually around the 4th of July or so and have sufficient stock. If I sell out, I sell out, no biggie.

[Satori]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I may just forget about sealing them completely...it seams like it could end up more trouble than it's worth. Though I must say that those ornament caps really do not do it for me. They're ok for store bought ornaments, but for something hand made, you don't want a chunk of cheapo metal on top of them (just my opinion.) For now I think I'll stick to icicles and maybe some stretched, sealed ornaments (the kind where you put the loop opposite the blow tube and then carefully stretch the blow tube off to seal it.) I know I can do it that way...was just looking for an easy way to do plain round ones sealed.

Thanks again!