Things that bubble in the night (made by Swampy)

Made these two pieces on Monday, just getting the chance to upload.

I was having fun...

Sweet work. Love the bowl color combo on the second piece.

Big ups, I am really digging the shape on the first one

Nice maria on the joint there swampy, nicely done. Is that a clear GOG on the bowl? never seen one like that. Is it not ground?

Looking good man!

heh heh thanks you guys yeah like I say I was just having fun putting these together, going through the sequence in my head then actually doing it. good fun.

Petto the clear GonG joints are how they came, I scored a whole batch of them and a good amount of strange colours from a friend that was closing up and moving on.

I considered sandblasting just the joints but that would have been fake right I mean I would have known it ain't true. But they're airtight and seal good anyway so.

Thanks for your comments guys you know I appreciate that, thank you so much. Onward and upward then, I guess :-)

Looks like you were having fun for sure, those are pretty cool swampster. That fire slide looks pretty sweet for sure, and those clear joints are crazy.

Pretty unique man - great work!

I am digging the first one. It just looks like a fun and powerfull thing.

Pimpin pieces swampy.. like the shapes sick,,

I forgot they made the clear joints,lol I used to use them when I lived in NJ and they were available. You can still get them, but they are taxed up! I think Chemglass or Labglass makes them.

nice work, Swampy! cool shaping and those colors are way sweet.

Yo big ups swamp.

I like them does the can on the first one have some sculpture action mid way down the can.

Dude I am going to have to make a horn bottom bub I like !




Sweet table did you blast or etch that yourself I know you have that skill set.

mmmm bub.

Thanks and yes, the table top/disk is about 5mm x 600mm diameter, etched then toughened, as described over on TC;

The patterns were originated and translated from decorations on various ceramic pieces from Messopotamia and collated on this one disk. I've engraved and painted the centre glyph with two fish on mirrors, pendants, incorporated it in fused glass disks and stained glass windows. Nice to look at, significant.

I like making tactile stuff so the can on the first one is fumed then layered with clear, melted in then blown out a bit, it's a nice effect and shows better in the sunshine, you know what I mean. The mib halfway down is the wali (water level indicator).

While it's nice to look at it's a twat to clean. Which is another reason I put a GonG, to help keep it clean.

When it's assembled it looks a bit gangly though. Would be nice to build with a flush 18 socket on top of the can, push in while it's hot, finish cold work it with a brass reamer, slots down the side, silicon carbide & water...

Meantime I'm looking at using out the 14 males and sockets to make slides, and holders for slides. Then scoring a shed load of 18 males and sockets for the top of the can. Makes it easier to install a bigger bore diffy plus keep the thing clean after use.

Both items breath well, despite the small bore 9.5hw diffusers, there's three holes in the end of each.

I wanted the second to stand by itself when there's the correct amount of water in it, which it does very well. No nasty tasting splash back =:-)

Great I like the idea of pushing in the top joint so its top is flush with the can.

I have seen them like that here or there.

I also use clear or any color surgical tube or grommet or rubber cork with hole to drop in a joint on the lower end one's

It makes them glass on glass which the kids that are cheap don't care.

I live in a rual type area and the lower price ones sell nice and then I can sell replaceable parts for those.

I know its cheesy but with the economy I have been doing well with solid color tube and clear stuff with diffused stems and gog parts.

I make them both ways but have not pushed one in yet!

If you push a few let me know how it goes

Making coloured tube from scratch and converting that into functional work was a challenge and it's a mark of my skill at this time.

I've been trying to master this technique for a while. Something 'clicked' and I'm just getting it now. It's a big step for me.

nice one, I love those moments of epiphany which make you go "Aaaaaaah soooooo!" Lookin' good, keep it up!
Love the sunset colours on that slide, too.

oh, one more thing, those clear fittings may get stuck (there's a reason both sides of a GonG fitting are ground), I'd say get onto some grit (around #220 or #240 or #400 for a finer fit) and grind them into a female fitting to get a neat ground surface, it doesn't take much. It might sound obvious, but the reason they are clear is just that they haven't been ground (as opposed to unground for a specific purpose) .... (if you know what I mean).
Don't sandblast, because it could lose the shape a little and become untight.

Nice swampy, i still cant do that well , but i dont try often.. :) now lets see the piece.. weeeeee

i like how that piece sits, its fearless!

very cool work!

i dont remember seeing any functional work from you swampy?

do you have other pics i can look at of this style? it is very unique and i like it quite alot.

as for the vacstack/wigwag mission. damn i can relate to that. i love the tube i am making but figuring out the ins and outs of the reversal work is all about practice,practice, and fucking more practice. i just about got them looking the way i want. terminations are still a bitch to get consistant for me.

are you using 38 mil tube for your pulls? i remember you said your shoulders didnt like the big tube.
if so, how big are the rods inside? i have a bunch of 2-3 mm stuff that i have in all colors from my odd packages i have bought and i was thinking of doing smaller stacks with that.

later, jay

Yes man 44 x 3.2 Simax for the outer skin of the vacstack, sorry I mentioned it wrong before.

25 x 4 clear for the core, 6mm rods for the colours.

The terminations using this setup sometimes have a bit of clear in the centre, due to using such a heavy tube for the core.

Haven't made anything with it yet Crip, still having fun experimenting and doing this prep stuff.


Much respect for you mother fuckers that are pushing the envelope and inspire me so much to do stuff. I really like watching your stuff on GP and the other places, couple of years ago I couldn't get my head around wigwags but like I say right now it's a major step up for me.

Like I wrote on the card I gave to my Missus this morning; to the Mother of my children; if it wasn't for you it wouldn't be Father's day for me. Something like that heh heh :o)

Swampy, your stuff is looking mighty nice! Love the colors you used, and congrats on the milestone! :clap: :kickflip: :clap:

p.s. Happy Father's Day!

Best regards to your other half too Chris, thanks very much.

Thanks Aussie for the ground glass joint tip, (just out of interest) is a clear joint used in any particular way?

Maybe the batch I scored missed the grinding bench, I dunno, anyway it seals okay for this application but now you mention it could possibly sieze itself, I'll definitely give it a going over with some carborundum paper.

Here's a couple of girlie little spoons I knocked during yesterday's session. Made from a slug of 25x 4 cobalt tube I scored from Doug ages ago, puffed out into a mold, heavily fumed, vaccuum sleeved, pulled out and left in the kiln for half a dozen firings before re-working into what's here...

oooooh, pretty!

keep up the good work bro, and keep practicing them terminations, you can get em! Just pull it out thin as hell and hollow, keep puffing it out as you condense the nipple back into a round shape, keeping the heat away from the nipple and kinda letting the piece absorb the nipple into it instead of melting the nipple back itself.

Unground joints are used with grease for vacuum applications.

Nice progression swampy!

Thanks and thanks.