Pogo's Killing Spree

Well, I have got to start this thread off by saying this place is very educational, and that you glassheads are very cool people.

Since I have learned more from here than anywhere else (At this point I'm a newb) I figured I would document my advancement here, for corrective criticism and so you guys could laugh for a year or two.
I will also document where and how i got my equipment for the betterment of other newbs.

I have a buddy whos family owns a stained glass studio, and he wants to get on the torch also. He donated a kiln for this little endeavor. I'll get a pic when i can and give you a brand name, as it is not at my house right now.

First, I did some horsetradin for some crap I already owned to get $350 to give to Kool for the redmax and 3 extra tips he was sellin for a friend right here in the members glassifieds. Kool really is cool, and threw in 25+ little points and a righteous handful of shortys and color. I know to you legends thats just scraps, but in a newb's eyes it is like having the keys to the candy store. Since I already owned the crap, my total investment thus far is $0.00!

Then, I was going to Austin to see a concert and made a post asking if anyone wanted to hang and school me for a couple hours. Met local legend Aymie M, and was given an awesome instructional on the redmax. Watched her make the immaculate spoon, then got to make a boro-turd myself. Being the awesome human she is, she bestowed upon me her VERY FIRST pair of didz. Then hooked it up with a torch mount L marver for my new baby. Then gave me her FIRST BOWL PUSHES. Then 2 Large pairs of tweezers. Then some clear shorts so i could fuse rods and use them as punties.
Some of those sentimental items are prolly worth like a billion dollars, so I am very grateful and owe her BIG TIME. Investment so far $0.00!

Told my uncle today about the tooling i had acquired, and he said he could loan me one of his extra sets of regulators and an oxy bottle and a prop tank (he's got all kinds of shit he doesn't use).

Also, a buddy said hed give me a 48" long peice of stainless that already has a folded front lip and splash guard, with a 21" depth of work area. I'm not sure how thick it is, but it is rather thin. My old man said he'd weld up some legs outta square tubing he has and make a frame on locking casters. Will make top out of hardibacker before attaching stainless top, and hang PVC under bench for rods and tubes. Will take pics as I build this and post. Already have most of the materials, so this project should be cheap. Total cost so far... $0.00!

Here is the pipe I made at Aymie's studio. I'll start the ha ha's with "It looks like a whale boner."

*Account on melting pot - zero dollars
*Free trip to Austin to see death metal show - zero dollars
*Lots of cool tooling for lampwork - zero dollars
*making a whale boner that you can show your friends- priceless

*edit - need to mention this is the FIRST thing I've EVER done on a torch

geez thats ur 1st attempt at a making a pipe? thats awesome ur a natural for sure is that fumed?

good job on the first,, looks like your going to be having fun..

but I would advise against the stainless just use the hardy backer, stainless heats up and gets your tools hot and makes your bench hot heheh,,, I was so glad to get rid of metal..

Looks alot like my first whale boner!
Great story

Wow that's a nice first piece! The mouthpiece in particular looks excellent compared to my first try.

interesting... I've found the people can be super supportive when you're first starting out...

good luck on your journey...

I'm just getting to the point now where I can start to payback some of the favors done for me over the last 4 years...

Wow! Congrats! You're really lucky! Some of us like myself have stories 180 degrees opposite of this for our first experiences- skill wise and ease of learning from others or lack there of. Keep up the good work!

The meticulous nature of this thread gives me a clue that this will a successful venture for you. Have fun!

^ Thanks to all for your support and comments thus far.

boygotskills- yeah Aymie let me fume that piece with silver. The whole experience was awesome.

cripskillz- thx for the advice!! The thing that keeps me interested in the stainless is the fact that it is easy to clean. How's hardibacker?

easy enuf.. but i dont clean my bench to often.. heheh is your rough or smooth texture?? I have a smooth hardy board. like $7 at home depo only came in 3 x 5 i think but that was perf size to fit in my car too lol

Hey awesome start!!! Just keep making that piece a bunch of time and really focus on getting things even. It may not seem at first that there is much change but believe me, over the course of time you will have so many breakthrough moments that's what will keep you going(and the forum!). It did for me. You got yourself a good torch that you should be able to use for a good while and wont grow out of. The mouthpieces look great too! Nice and even.

7 bucks for hardi board?? I gotta get me some!!! I'm all wood right now! haha:crazy:

I like your attitude and if people like Aymie and Kool treated you good, that says a lot too.

Looking forward to seeing your skills progress, good luck mate.

Aymie says:

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And hate to break it to you, but those were not my first pair of glasses...the set of bowl pushes were what was my first. My first glasses were the pair you wore when you were in the studio. Someone will have to pry them out of my cold dead hands right along with the red max.

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Oops! One(four?) too many safety breaks on sunday. Still awesome to get hand-me-downs from a pro....

Great job dude. Thats honestly a fat hookup to have all those pre pulled points and shit. Sweet first piece, way better then my first 5. Try pointing the bowl up when puffing into it so your head kind of squashes down. and try pushing the bowl away from you instead of towards you. Great mouthpiece, and fume looks good.

^Thx Bovice... I guess I'm like a GLDG bastard child : )
Everyone on here I've met so far was cooler than a frozen hippie.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Searing Sands

GLDG bastard child

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Sounds like a good user name:D

When things fall into place easily, I usually take it as a sign you are headed in the right direction... Well done, Bastard child.

^Way appreciating all that positive energy, guys! Im trying to get all my here's and theres together (really could use flashback arrestors) so i can take off!!!! Just hope Aymie's instruction holds up against my short term memory when the time comes for the first sitting by myself piece!

Heat it, fume it, cook in the fume, shape in this order:mouthpiece, neck, head, bowl, carb, flat spot...polish everything...then pull that bitch off the handle and you're in business.

AND NEVER STOP SPINNING!

I find myself spinning my beer bottles in my hand from time to time.

Well, I've managed to scavenge more tooling. My Uncle gave me regs and hoses, and I immediately attached them to the neighbors oxygen and prop bottles. I did not yet have flashbacks, but felt safe for a short initial run. I then went on an hour long rampage trying to shove this 1/4 hose onto my RedMax's 3/8 hose barbs. Knowing this was going to be an issue, I made a post days before called Hose Vs. Barb that was going to solve my dilemma. Needless to say, it didn't. After literally blistering my thumbs tryin to force the hose boiled in water on the barb, I got a spark of ingenuity and took a sharpened drill bit (undercut for rubber) and bored the hole out a bit. Went on much nicer. :) Oh and my barb is like 1 inch long and I only drilled out like 3/8 deep. I then went to open up the tanks to check for leaks, and much to my dismay the propane regulator pissed out a hiss of gas out of the back.

Life lesson reinstated: patience.

Broke everything down, took regs back to Uncle, exchanged for known working victor set (Higher quality than first pair of old craftsman) and decided to wait on more tooling.

Sold my Pappy my 5-string Ibanez bass for $100 (knew i could get the cash, i could borrow it whenever i wanted, and I play guitar and own 3 of those anyway) towards flameworking equipment. Ebayed new flashbacks for $25, then got a pm from my glassified for used equipment from forum member TheHead. Scored a 2" pair of solid brass 6 claw grabbers and a 8" tungsten pick for $35 shipped. They arrived quickly and I am stoked to own them. Thanks TheHead!

Due to the recent drought and oppurtunity, the remainder of the fundage went towards safety break supply (also a necessity). Bass I NEVER play outta my sight; flashbacks, tools and good fun ahead. Total investment thus far, $0.00

And that leads us to Sunday mornin', comin on quickly and an event waiting to be brought into fruition. It's my very first "Torch on the Porch," where me and my friend from the stained glass studio will talk shit and melt glass. All the makin's of a righteous mornin. Of course there will be pics to follow.

Stay Tuned

Hey man i'm cleaning the studio and have a bunch of clear shorts, some color shorts, broken tubing still usable(colored/clear) a bunch of 12.7 tube that's too short for handles but ya could weld them together, there are some skull milli in there as well. It's all usable glass. Hit me up with a address and i'll send it to ya if you want it. Hopefully it'll help ya out. Just pay the shipping and it's all yours.

damn am i jealous, hope you learn good and have lots of fun with your new toys

*update*

The torch on the porch flopped. I did, however, get a chance to get on the torch on my lonesome at my uncles boat shop.... Made about 4 wonky little pipes, ruined about 3 perfectly good points (due to inexperience, and me tryin to jump into color when i can't shape or pull a stringer :) ). at about 3:30 AM, decided I should leave for the day and pushed a little mushroom pendant to see if i could.. it came out decently, for a newb with less than 5 hours torch time, if I do say so myself...

Then chayes posted that he was cleanin' out his studio on this thread... He sent me a 38 LB. box o' glass scrap for just the shippin.... WAY righteous!!!! Will sell PS2 to cover shippin costs... Father-in-law came to stay for a week and a half, when he left I FINALLY got to crack into it... what a playground!!!! Took me 'bout 3 hours to sort all the rods, tubes, shorts, millis, latti's, and "oddities." Some Oddities I'd like to especially thank him for are :

My fave - This little glass eyeball with a skull in the pupil that is like smaller than a dime.. the skull is like 2mm wide. MINDBLOWING. hope one year i can do some shit like this, as it has been praised by ALL.

a couple little horns were badass

a glass matchstick?? the rod is yellow(almost like silver fumed yellow) but the head is red. not sure if color is from flame atmosphere or frit or what, but i stare at this thing often to let my brain get tired.

this little 1 inch long cone (like 3mm on the large side) of a blue glow-in-the-dark rod... waiting till i can push shroom pendants all day to play with this.

a rasta ribbon, and some punties with some cool shit still stuck to the end that didn't make the finished product.

this slightly broken hollow pulled tubing with rods encased in clear.

a chunk of 50x9. The sight of which made my nuts climb into my stomach. I feel it will be a while before i can tame this hunk of glass.

and my second fave - nice newb milli kit with some sick skull milli-vinilli.

also found a little millie with a honeycomb in the middle that is fun.
Thanks again, Chayes!!!!! that shit is rockin'!!!!

Got to get set up at my brother-in-laws garage and play. Made some wonky pipes and could not quit itchin' to use color so lost a couple more points to inexperience (I believe its in my rotation when the glass gets liquid... I get scared, it cools and folds.) But did make 1 decent pipe with color... had the mouth piece flattened before i blew the bowl, but got too excited and popped the bowl hole 90 degrees from where i wanted it... took some inspiration from a friend's square onie and squared the mouthpiece. and made some other wonky clears... made a very sweet chillum out of this purple tube kool sent me with my torch and put some warts on it... gave it to a friend for a b-day gift and forgot to take a pic of it :(. too late now i'm sure :) Got back in playroom last night and pushed 3 shrooms, for a total of 8, with only 2 being newb-pic-worthy. will post shroom pics tonight, but here are two pipes i kinda liked... I know i should post my mistakes for CC, but they get contaminated quickly if they are ugly! (I'll quit doin that by the way.) The clear one was my first attempt at warts, i didn't melt 'em in good but i'm already doin better.... and the other is the ONLY colored piece to survive and have the color melted in. I'm now at $0.00 and about 8 hours... by the way, these are my BEST not my average. Any advice, CC, or shit-talkin'/fun-pokin' welcome.

Hey, looks like you're off to a good start! Its a wonderful addiction isnt it?

Sorry I missed you on your last trip to A-town. Maybe we can meet up next time, I'm probably not much more than a mile or two from Aymies. Just from reading some of your posts, I get the feeling we'd get along just fine.

Anyway keep it up and KEEP IT SPINNING! :D

hey ill be in corpus for most of nov. so if you want me to show you some stuff hit me up. also i could bring you some glass from flameworks if you needed some. anyway let me know...

I think the match stick is dble amber purple veiled cane i could be wrong.
There are some handmixed color shorts in there too. Have fun.

wow must be nice to get it all free haha sweet
go to town son!

^Thx to all who have posted and read so far.

@Hoss: Would love to see you work, your sculpty shit is inspiring.

@Cdot: I'm on the way to Corpus.... pm me and we'll talk shop!

@Chayes: There is more cool stuff in that box than i know what to do with... no complaints here, however.

@ckauhane: yeah my crazy knack for getting shit for next to nothin is why my wife lets me have my shenanigans.

First is my 5th shroom(my fav) with a 2nd pic for detail.
Then the first one ever - shot from a cell phone before giving away.

:D This game is fun :D

oh and I forgot to mention i burned the shit out of myself twice... learned one lesson about heat base and another good one about remembering which end of the glass is HOT. :D

First use of a background color, pic doesn't do it justice....
Then my first scupty pendant on a ball chain... why I chose a mushroom i don't know.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Searing Sands

oh and I forgot to mention i burned the shit out of myself twice... learned one lesson about heat base and another good one about remembering which end of the glass is HOT. :D

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Just remember to ALWAYS set things down with the hot end pointing AWAY from you. Then you never have to remember which end is which, and you know its always safe to grab the end nearest you.

Good lookin shroomies there!

Made this shirley today... first attempt at shirley bend... lots of things I could have done better but this one was a rookie obstacle course!!!. It started as a 4.5" section of like 25mm heavy cobalt that I welded to a blow tube then sealed the end... immediately after entering very bushy annealing flame to pre-heat, a huge crack forms and takes off... managed to heal it.... then the blow tube end cracks along the OD and falls into 2 pieces (hence the maria by the mouthpiece; didn't want a problem to form after welding that little piece back on....)
Probably shoulda blew the bowl first, then bent to get better shaping... also, I don't have a marvering pad that is flat on the table, only the little one which is angled on my redmax, so when i tried to flatten the bottom so it would do a headstand, I must have guestimated wrong and it doesn't stand :D
When going to cut the blow tube off I realized the importance of keeping the piece warm during working, as my beautiful mouthpiece shattered off and i had to fire polish it short :)
Still happy with how it looks, as it was formed from scraps, and it will bring $10 from someone.. hahaha.

Brother in law advanced me some cash to get Lewis Wilson's 5-DVD Boro sculpting set, and I already got it headin this way soon from Greymatter Glass.
Also, Sold 2 little shroomie pendants for $10 (hey that's like a $1/min!) so I've already started to pay him back with my glass... :D This game is fun :D

Lastly, met this little guy... he's an anole... people call them chameleons cause they can change from green to brown. This lil fella was way young, and I managed to get this macro from my cell phone comparing his body to my fingernail. (I am not a big guy)

Right on man! Good start! Here's how I do my sherlocks:

1. Attach your blow tube to a 4-5 inch blank. Make sure your blank and blow tube lips are nice and molten when you attach them to assure an even seal. Take out of flame and rotate till true.

2. Turn to a bushy flame and heat up the first inch and a half from the seal of the tube, up on the blank. This will assure your tube wont crack and fall off. Kinda like a flame anneal. You want to get it just about to move, but not moving.

3. Fume blank and lay in color, I use stringers in squiggly patterns. Make sure you are constantly soaking your whole blank with heat to maintain heat stress.

4. Shape your bowl head first. Usually I just melt in the color until even and round and just give a little puff to just a tad bit wider than my blank. Maintaining thickness.

These next two steps are pretty much together. I'm just breaking it down.

5. Punty up start to melt in from the end of the bowl head down to the blow tube. Once you get a nice melt in and condensing pull out of the flame rotating, holding vertically switching sides. This helps gravity redistribute the glass and pull it.

6. Once you have your neck pulled to length and still hot like taffy, take your punty, which should be horizontal, parallel to the ground along with the blow tube, and bend it up vertically while lightly puffing to make sure your bend doesn't crimp, then as you do that take your blowtube, and slowly pull it up and slightly bending downward to form the mouthpiece. It should still be moving then just look at it at a couple diff angles to adjust to even.

7. Slowly heat back up your bowl head, push bowl and rush.

8. You can flatten to head stand, or I usually add a "tri" type stand by adding glass warts on the bottom in a triangle pattern to help it stand. It's a little tricky to pull off, you just gotta place em in the right spot to oppose to the weight.

9. Slowly heat and polish the whole piece, paying special attention to the end towards the blowtube because it is probably cooler from working on the bowl.

10. Once hot, tear off blow tube, or heat it, and kinda pull thin, then give it a quick puff to pop a hole and tear off. Then pick with tweezers and clean up.

So there ya go, sorry if it's a little too much! I just had to complete it! It's harvest season right now so I've been in a haze for a good while!:chilling:
Maybe I should post this in the tutorial too! I'll name it, "One piece shirly in 10 easy steps!!". Good luck man and hope this helps!!

^Would make an awesome tut!!!
+rep and thanks for some printable wisdom FGA.

1 slightly corn-fusin' part - bear with me, I'm a newb.
in #7 do you mean the carb when you say push bowl and rush? or do you mean hurry?
Also, I've never heard or read the term "melt in".... enlighten me please.

Yeah, haha rush hole, sorry. I'm used to saying that. But yeah, it's just pretty much making your bowl head, poping your carb. Melting in would be melting in the colors. That is a vague term, but what I mean by that, is you pretty much get that piece of glass so molten, that your colors would melt in with ease. Excuse that term and just replace it with condensing. Believe me, you'll know when you're condnensing something. The glass will be moving very fast and want to go all over the place which might freak you out, (it did me) but just keep spinning keeping things even, and usually when you pull it out of the flame to shape, it'll smooth it out and even things up if you do it right.

*update*
Not much to post pic-wise, I'm kind of on a bum streak.... Some douchebag lifted some of my very limited supply of glass, including a zip-lock bag with a shitload of latti's that chayes sent me... Also, some 12mm tube and some punties... i keep all my shortys in a plastic coffee can so i wouldn't even know if they were gone...Very disappointing. I'm fairly positive who the culprit is, and we had our disagreement. At least for the cost of glass I got this douche away from my torch, etc. Put me in a bum slump.

Then, for like 2 days in a row EVERYTHING i touch thats glass turns to shit.... I find that i have little successes here and there but the end results were piss poor. Damn my newb skill.

The only good things I have to post is that i learned how to weave a hemp necklace so I can add $$$ to newb work, and that I've got to chat with some fellas from here in glass chat and on stickam to ask some Q's.... And that I got a cute girl to model said necklace.... my daughter.

(oh and ahead of time to anybody wanting to say "cute kid" - Thanks... I made her myself :D)

I would say the hemp makes her look cuter!! If you already didn't do this, if you take the finished hemp soak it in water for about an hour and let it dry, it will soften it and it'll feel better on the skin. Damn these cute kids!! Sorry to hear about the glass man! I had a similar incident, where a fucker I know, drained all my o2 tanks, smashed all my color and clear rod, and took my torch. Luckily I got my torch back, but I'm a firm believer in karma, more like fucking payback, but he'll get his in the end. Moral of the story is, don't make sports bets with Steelers fans, or just pittsburgh yinsers in general!! No offense yinzer!

What a doll your daughter is!!

Homework - make a clear square, sphere, and semicircle. Get back to me when you have pics, if you want to do it of course. it's a great lesson in shaping and basics. :D

Thx for yet another nug of wisdom, FGA. And yeah, karma is a MF-er.

Will do Misha, need all the homework i can get :)...

Oh and right before the the pic above, Della (daughter) said "I gotta put makeup on, dad!" and smeared chapstick ALL OVER her face and neck... that's why she's so shiny... :D