It finally clicked

[gravdigr]

So after about 25 spoons, most of which were unusable, I finally had the moment where it all clicked and I understand what I have been doing wrong and what I need to do. I'm so happy. I know there's still a lot to learn but damn this feels good.

Here is where it started to click with this lil peanut.

4331

So I experimented with some sample colors we had and made this spoon. The colors didn't work quite the way I thought but it still looks ok.

4332

Then my pride and joy. My first lampworked piece I would call good, but still not great yet.

4330

Still, not bad for a months practice learning mainly from books and dvds. I really need to find a way to go to agi hehe.

[petto]

From the 1st to the third, great improvment. I like the last one.

[beachglass]

ya the last one looks fat.....way to work those crayon colours bubble free, nice raking too

[CripSkillz]

Ya that sweet tohes look good, I bubbled the hell outa that yellow the other day i guess thoes colors will be best on insideout?

[ech]

Thats pretty darn good for playing around for a month. I really like the third one. It doesn't look like you boiled the colors at all and those are some pretty boily colors. Your starting to get the shaping down too. Excelent.

[gravdigr]

Ya that sweet tohes look good, I bubbled the hell outa that yellow the other day i guess thoes colors will be best on insideout?

I used to have trouble boiling the yellow but I was trying to string it on. The yellow rods I'm using are thick, like 8mm. So when I put it on I only heat the one side where it bonds with the clear. It will bubble a bit on the bottom and sides but the bottom never gets seen (unless doing inside out) and I cover the sides with the next color I wrap on. Then when working it I keep it well away from the torch so it's just hot enough to work.

normal stringing (heating the color and spinning it on the piece) boils pretty bad but I found if I pull a stringer I can just heat the clear tube and lay the stringer on using the heat from the tube.

White to me is the worst for boiling. I love doing 2 shades of the same color, like a light and dark green, separated by white but that damn white sniffs a flame and bubbles like crazy. I'm just using a bunch of color rods of unknown origin and some sample packs we have trying everything out. One thing I noticed, some of the colors have labels stating to work it cold then fire it in the kiln...what does work it cold mean?

[FredLight]

"Work it cold"....Work it further away from the torch face is what that means.

Those pieces are nice. I like the peanut.

I hope you don't think AGI will be piper's heaven?

AGI is awesome and a great learning experience, but you won't find anybody doing pipe demos there. Unless something changed, but I doubt it. Go anyways!

[gravdigr]

no, pipe technique I have pretty good, at least spoons. Plus I have the humboldt videos about making smoking devices. I need to learn, and I learn best by watching, more fundamentals. Making spoons I am basically a parrot mimicing what I saw on a dvd. But ask me to do an implosoin and you will get a blank stare. I have so much to learn beyond what I can do now.

[FredLight]

Try putting dots on the end of a bubble, like the outermost hemisphere only, puff it out gently until the dots go flat, then condense it back into a thick ball. You'll see the dots implode and that'll be a start.

[PortlandGlassBlowers]

Try encasing the boiling colors also before working with them. I like the third one.
Good job..

[gotglass?]

All three pieces look good ... i especially like the peanut great shape. You would definitely benefit from AGI or any other place you can watch multiple lampers work. When i started on the torch i knew 1 other lamper but once i started meeting more lampers my knowledge base grew exponentially. You start to see how other people accomplish certain tasks different from you. It is invaluable to have more than one way to skin the proverbial cat.
The hardest part about knowledge is learning how and when to use it. Not only is there a right tool for the job, but often there is more than one method to get the job done. It all depends on the situation at hand.

[Brian Newman]

White to me is the worst for boiling. I love doing 2 shades of the same color, like a light and dark green, separated by white but that damn white sniffs a flame and bubbles like crazy.
White boro is usually made with tin oxide, and sometimes titanium dioxide (borostix). The best way to work the white you have (tin oxide) is by heating a section, and stirring the bubbles out of it as it boils. You can then pull the blob out into a stringer, and have no more boiling as long as you don't overheat it.