Thanks guys! Been tough to get some glass time in but it's totally worth it. Highly recommended!
Printable View
Thanks guys! Been tough to get some glass time in but it's totally worth it. Highly recommended!
Been so tired and busy lately but I need my studio time. I got standard wall Simax glass and I hate how thin it is. Having a tough time making pipes with it. getting frustrated yada yada yada. Here are some recent pendants.
Attachment 64021Attachment 64022Attachment 64023Attachment 64024Attachment 64025
That top piece is awesome!!! Fumed honeycomb or what? And have you attempted any implosions with that standard wall?
Thanks AP! That is a honeycomb on amber purple I believe. I have not....hmmmmm :contempla
Jump on it!! It may be worth your time for that acleast, I'm still struggling on what to get for my next order I'm thinking simax 19 heavywall. And maybe some 24, I have a cheetah but I'm not sure if I want to be making bowls or pendants.... so it's in the air
I will give it a try and post my results. My dot implosions are coming out nice but I don't have a decent pic. I was getting Chinese 25 or 26 from MGA and I love it for pipes. Got the 12mm for my pendants and I love that too. Haven't even thought of using standard wall for pendants yet. My brain doesn't work right sometimes. I mean sometimes. I mean most times. HAh!
Congrats on your little one!! Your pendants are looking really nice and your spoon shaping and bowl pushes look pretty good. Nice work. Keep it up.
Thanks smolder! Started making some bubblers. I like how they are coming out and I'm getting the hang of bending tubing on my minor. Saving up for a new torch now and will have to switch to tanked oxy. Looking for a Nortel Midrange I think, my budget is very limited at the moment. Should I just save up for a nicer torch or is the Midrange any good? I've seen people who like it and others who don't. I have my eyes set on a Bravo but it's too pricey right now.
Attachment 64152
Attachment 64153
What would a bubbler like this go for? They take me like 40 minutes on my minor.
Golden Green!! Why'd you change your name brother!! And how did those dot implosions come out? Bubblers on point though!
Nice work.... I got a brand new midrange plus I'm trying to sell if your interested
Just finished looking through your thread. Awesome work man, keep it up. Also, I just wanted to add this. I know everyone has a different way they price their work but I'll tell you how I price mine. I like to keep things simple and easy. So I price my work by the time it takes me to make it.
Hence forth, if I want to make 30 dollars an hour and it takes me 1 hour to make a piece then that piece is 30 dollars. Same idea if i wanted to make 90 dollars an hour and a piece that takes me 30 minutes I would charge 45 dollars. And like I said, I like to keep it simple so all my gas/oxygen, glass, and other supplies is considered covered in selling price per hour. If you are doing 30 dollars an hour and its not enough to cover your expenses then you need to raise your prices.
Now on to what a piece is worth. Lets say you make a piece and it takes you 45 minutes, you're charging 60 dollars an hour (1 dollar a minute) but that piece you made is just way to awesome to let go for 45 bucks. That's okay, charge more if you feel its worth more. On the other hand let say you make a piece but you're like, I don't know if this is worth 45 dollars. That means that you either need to stop making that type of piece (if its a production style piece) or learn to make it faster. If every piece you make you feel like you are charging to much for then you probably just need to lower your hourly rate.
I could go on but I think you get the picture. I hope that helps some ;)
AP I just thought I'd switch things up a bit. My friends call me matty po so I thought why not :) haven't tried any implosions on it yet didn't have much time this weekend
Jar jar I'm sending you a pm
Idoesglass thank you for your response. I have a pretty decent understand of what to price my work at. I listed the bubblers for 39.99 and I'm getting a decent amount of views on my etsy. Got my silver fumed pipes for 9.99 on there too. Might drop the bubb to 35 or 29.99 though.
Thanks again guys!
Just got a message from etsy and no bubblers allowed. Stupid. I guess I'll stick to local sales. Anyone know of any sites online that are good?
made 32 restriction chillums in 3 hours the other day. seeing what i can pull off lately. i need to get myself into prodo mode right now. saving up for a bravo and i'm almost there. i already have one ex20 and would like to keep a similar setup and i heard the bravo is great on oxy consumption. just looking to upgrade a bit. i really am enjoying making these little guys. about 5 minutes each one max. just fixed my bowl push so i can start making spoons again. i need to make some doooooouuuuuugh!
Attachment 64444
Chillums look good. Really digging the top pendants (honey comb on amber purple). Your progress is very impressive. If your going to order a new Bravo, salt city glass still has them for $860 every other site ive seen has them at $975 now. I think the only reason for the price change is a new and improved stand. So if you dont mind the older stand then you can save $115 and no i dont work for them ha
monte thank you for the link. i used to see the bravo at that lower price and was surprised to see them at the price now 975. decisions are tough.
Just ordered a bravo. Can't wait to use it. Deciding on usin tanked oxy for the outer fire and my ex20 for the center fire. So pumped!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Looking good friend! What size tubing you using for those chillums??
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14...7ade87403e.jpg
They are 12mm. They fit perfect in that tiny pocket in a pair of Levi's ;)
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Just made my first sale to a local shop. Told him I would do the whole case for $80. Ended up chatting with him for a while. You guys think I made out okay? I was pretty happy and it paid for my oxy. Getting my bravo in today and can't wait to fire it up :D
Hope to god It wasn't the case in the previous post!!! That was worth wayyy more than 80 in my opinion!
minus a few hitters and pipes but yeah
Well I got my bravo today and was pretty pumped to get to work on it. Spent 4 hours and didn't end up with one friggin thing worth saving! hah I have to get used to working on this thing. Not sure how to mount the griffin marver, seems to sit right above the outer fire knobs, awful placement as I keep burning my fingers when I try and adjust my outer fire (only after I use the marver). I couldn't make shit tonight. The alpha center fire seems to be putting out more heat than my minor. I have a problem with the inner fire though, I am not getting even candles. This might be due to my inner fire running on an ex20. Maybe too much psi? Don't know how to dial it down. I was pretty discouraged when I left the studio today. I thought I was getting somewhere with my minor but now I have the bravo I am back to square one :/
Going to take some getting used to. Full time work week and a new baby I'm lucky to get any torch time at all. Hopefully I can get back on tomorrow.
i charge my buddies 25 $ for a simple bub like that once you get em down you can do em in right around 20 mins
Marty,
Don't stress it man!
Seriously I have been torching for a long time and still have days where things don't work out.
I learned when those days happen to just call it a day. Or do prep work.
Working a new torch will definitely take some getting used to, always does.
More heat always changes the curve, just relax and take your time.
This isn't the goldngreen I remember! You are rocking those spoons man your work is super clean and I'm sure once you get some time on your torch things will clean up for you!
Don't get discouraged for sure man, and about your marver being in the way you could always try putting it somewhere else?
I've got a bobcat and a cheetah and though my bobcat has
a marver my cheetah doesn't it does however have a big chunk of graphite (my marble mold flipped over) next to it and it seems to work just as well! Just a little strange at first because it isn't the same feeling at all. I've also seen marvers mounted Below the torch. Just throwing some ideas out there for you. Innovate and overcome!!!
Dont worry Matt I had a similar thing happen to me when I went from a cricket to the lynx. Im just now starting to feel like I have total control over the flames,but I havent come anywhere close to maximizing its potential. Just keep grinding it out and minimize any distractions you have while working for a bit (music ect.)
Thanks for the encouragement guys! I'm going to get back at it hopefully this weekend. I want to start banging out some prodo spoons, started working on some IO frit and fume spoons. Almost had them last night. I'll get back at it and post the results. AC i tried an implosion on the 25mm simax. It came out pretty cool, my first fume only pendant. I don't have a photo though I'll have to take one. Thanks again guys, looking forward to progressing some more!
Stupid auto correct decided you are now Marty.
Bummer about the bravo being a pain, but I'm sure you'll sort it out.
Your case is consistent, so you could have pulled more than $80 from it for sure but it's a start. Pricing is so hard! One of the worst parts of this.
Looking forward to seeing the fume pendant. :)
OH and btw, we all have bad days. They just get more expensive as time goes on. Keep it up! ;)
Working on some nicer prodo. Going to try and pump these out later this week.
Attachment 65102
Thanks Misha! I have been working hard in the studio and in the office. I came up with a spreadsheet and formulas to price my own work. Counting in my overhead, labor, materials, I did it all. Took me hours but I now can just punch in a couple numbers and get a price for distributors, wholesale, and retail for any piece I make. I am very pumped. Hope to have a nice heavy picture post soon! Very excited.
That piece is awesome!!!! And I would love to see some of your algorithms for figuring out how to price your stuff. I'm sure alot of people on the forum would!!
I've been thinking to do some chillums might just do it tonight or tomorrow thanks!!
That's cool you have a system for pricing. Selling ourselves short always sucks.
Hey...digging the frit piece! I love frit. :D
I'm finally able to get the purples to pop with my amber purple frit! Love it! Thanks guys. Do you think anyone would be interested in a customizable spread sheet? I spent a lot of time on it and it's not done yet but it's very dynamic. Possibly I could put it up for download for a couple bucks? It's pretty damn accurate and I am able to get my profit percentage for each piece.
I would be for sure!!
I bet people would go for that. I don't know how you'd offer it and collect a payment...maybe by sending the dl link once you get the payment and hoping they don't share. I'm sure there are platforms out there for digital downloads that you could tap into, but might not be worth the time.
Your work is really comming along, some really nice looking stuff lately. I am impressed on the inline bubble a few pages back that is pretty damn nice!!
I would be down for a spreadsheet for sure, would save me time on making my own. Which is time I could spend behind the torch.
Thank you James. I am still working on the spreadsheet but when it is complete I might offer it up. I will have to spend more time behind the torch and less in front of a excel spreadsheet because I was sucking today for sure. My chillums are fogging up on the glass surface. I can't melt it away. I have only had this problem a few times before but now with the bravo it is happening all the damn time (last 2 photos). I think it is devitrification but I have never had this problem occur so often before. I don't know what I am doing wrong. Also I can't get a good bowl push on my chillums. The hole seems fine after I pop it then I go and push it in and I get this shitty hole. Damnit I am so frustrated! I am so burnt out I might take a week off to spend with my family. I hate spending 4 hours in my studio and getting nowhere. My first chillum of the day came out great until I noticed a crack it in 3 hours later. I am just going to file the day under 'at least it was some experience'. I am done being negative for the day. some shitty photos of the day...
Attachment 65192Attachment 65193Attachment 65194Attachment 65195Attachment 65196
That stuff happens to me all the time when I work the mouth piece. I am no expert but it seems to me that when I am working the mouth and about done with the shaping, I tend to flex my arm a bit and bend the pipe as it is cooling. I can usually just get it a bit melty again and the it goes away. It appears to me that it is stress from movement while cooling. Also when I do chillums I don't push the bowls anymore, just use a gather technique and leave the tube open. I blow a small bubble on the bowl end then gather right behind it. Then open the top and flare it out a bit, then you don't have to worry about the push on the small bowls. I have had the problem with the crappy holes when I push them, I usually just get a pin point flame on the bowl and it melts back together.
Don't worry buddy, it is not wasted time. Wait until you have worked 6 hours on a sick ass bubbler and you go and put another attachment on it and then BAM!!! the night goes wrong!!