Aommaster's Progression

So I'm finally done setting up my workspace. It took way longer than I was expecting, and surprisingly, hooking up the gas took the longest amount of time. Apparently, people over here are quite ignorant on safety safety standards and fitting standards.

At the end, I just decided to buy my regulators and fittings from the US and I couldn't be happier. The regulators from National Torches were infinitely better in quality and safety design.

Here's a photo of my workspace.

Attachment 92115

I'll be posting up photos of marbles/pendants I make as I go along. I am still very much a beginner, but I thought it'd be really cool to see how far I get, say, 1 year down the line!

beautiful work area.. I would put something down on that floor just in case of droppage.. but looks like a very clean area to work.. maybe install a disco ball above your head with some lasers.. lol

Thanks so much. And LOL at the disco ball idea. This room was initially a dining room, but eventually, my family found out we hated our relatives, so the room ended up empty. So, one thing lead to another and now, it's my workspace. At least I can say I'm putting it to good use!

I'm not too worried about the tiles either. They can withstand a fairly high temperature I found out, because I did end up dropping a marble off a punty and have it roll off the table. Very terrifying to see a ball of glowing-hot glass rolling around on the floor towards you! 0/10 not recommended.

Nice clean space. Where is your exhaust fan? Make sure you have somewhere for make up air to replace exhausted air.

Hi! Yes, it's actually off the shot, on the wall to the right. It's an industrial-sized exhaust and can clear the entire room's air volume in 60 seconds. Pretty noisy too!

Attachment 92129

(0.75" diameter)

This is the first marble I have made since I set up my workspace. I decided to start off with Cobalt Blue (as many of the artists here recommend) as it doesn't boil easily and allows me to learn more about the heat base of the glass. I went for a simple design, a swirl pattern on the inside (make two lollipop-shaped paddles with your clear rods, apply some stripes, and then stick them together, with rods off in opposite directions and then twist).

As far as shaping goes, I'd give it a 6/10. There are a few punty scars but in general, the rounding is decent. I think I don't appreciate how hard of a bond glass makes with itself, so I end up using a thicker connection than is needed. I think it basically comes down to practice and experience for this.

The other thing I did (or to be more precise, did not do) was pull a termination on each end of the marble. I believe pulling a termination sets the axis of the marble, and gives it a little more structure. I avoided doing a termination because after doing the twist, I realized that the stripes I put were a little too short. If I were to pull a termination then, my marble would be around 0.5", way too small for what I wanted to end up with.

If anyone has any tips, advice, suggestions, pointers, comments, please do let me know.

Thanks!

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Originally Posted by aommaster

I think it basically comes down to practice and experience for this.

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Long story short, you got it. If it crosses your mind “I wonder what would happen if...” do it and see what happens. Read this forum in depth, there is a ton of info, make sure you scroll to the bottom of the page and check the Similar Threads box.

you may want to get an opaque color as well. the cobalt things out a bit for some designs

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Originally Posted by Jackass Glass

you may want to get an opaque color as well. the cobalt things out a bit for some designs

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Noted! The marble I did today is in the kiln, but I think I'll try out some Red Elvis next. I'm trying to find some colors that are a little more forgiving when it comes to heating. I still need to improve my heat control before I start working on the slightly more difficult-to-work colors.

looks pretty good, let the fun begin

Attachment 92139

(0.75" diameter)

Decided to try something different and try an implosion (or as John Kobuki calls it, a compression marble). I studied his video from CMOG here very carefully. I think I've watched it at least four times and every single time, picked up something new and subtle I didn't notice earlier. I know he has another video from CMOG here, however I don't think it's as useful for a beginner, because his hands a little more shaky in that one.

The rounding on this one is significantly better. I don't believe there are any noticeable punty scars which is great. However, I did miss a spot when rounding and there is a small dimple. Oh well!

But I really want to get my implosion technique down and there's a lot of room for improvement. The implosion I have right now is lopsided, because I believe the rod was not perfectly centered on the maria. So I'll take another run at it.

I also tried a different color, Asian Jade Green as sold from ABR along with the Cobalt blue, not as good as I was expecting it to come out. That's another thing I need to improve upon: picking colors! As Jackass Glass advised earlier, yes, the cobalt does thin out (it looks a lot worse in person than in the image) and so does the Jade Green. I have some TAG Red Elvis and Northstar Millenium Moss. I think those colors can handle heat fairly well so I'll take a run at using them.

Another thing I found I need to improve on is my heat control, particularly when working with stringers. I was working too near the candles, causing my strings to melt and drip instantly, making it a little more difficult to apply the design. I believe the stringer has to be just soft enough so that you actually "deposit" the glass on the maria. I think turning my flame down and working further away from the torch head should allow me better control.

As always, if anyone has any tips, advice, suggestions, pointers, comments, please do let me know.

Thanks!

I do my stringer work off to the side of the flame with the stringer just barely touching in the flame to heat it up.
Also I've found this chart very helpful for color selection.

Hi!

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Originally Posted by Shaper

I do my stringer work off to the side of the flame with the stringer just barely touching in the flame to heat it up.
Also I've found this chart very helpful for color selection.

file:///C:/Users/r-d-h/Downloads/MurrineColorChart-4.pdf

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The linked file is to a file on your PC.

smallest tightest flame you can get for the stringer usually does it for me. not that im a stringer expert so i work slowwwwwwww

Attachment 92145

(0.75" diameter)

This was my second attempt at an implosion marble and to be honest, I think it's come out significantly better than my previous attempt. The colors I used here are TAG Red Elvis and Northstar Millennium Moss. I didn't have a problem with the opacity issue I had in the previous one when using the Cobalt Blue.

Again, the issue here is the maria was still not centered on the rod. I think it might be due to the fact that I'm using a 10mm rod, but trying to make a really large maria. The gather I'm making kinda flops around and makes it difficult to get a proper maria when I finally flatten it. I also managed to trap a little bit of an air bubble at the top. Not sure how that happened, but it's something I should be paying attention to.

The one, somewhat unexpected, issue I had with this is the Red Elvis. My understanding is that it's a Ruby color (similar to Northstar's Ruby). That is, it is red, turns clear in the flame, and then can be struck either in the flame or in the kiln. The striking temperature for this color happens to be the annealing temperature of the glass.

Now, for smaller marbles, my annealing time is only about 15 minutes. But for larger pieces, I have annealing times of over 2 hours. This means that this color ends up striking much longer than expected and you get this dark, livery color. This is purely due to a longer striking time. At least, that's my understanding when I read the Northstar Newsletter on the Ruby family. Any advice on how I can prevent over-striking this color? Or is it purely a limitation of the color and something I should be taking into account when working with it?

As always, if anyone has any tips, advice, suggestions, pointers, comments, please do let me know.

Thanks!

Ok Here is the link to some colors reaction to encasement It's the link in Pyro Chicks post," Murrine Color Chart".

http://www.talkglass.com/forum/showt...ne+Color+Chart

Attachment 92152

(0.75" diameter)

Extremely disappointed with this marble. I think the only thing I got down was the shaping. No punty scars, no dimples, perfectly round. However, everything else pretty much went badly. I had a few air bubbles trapped when doing the backing, the dichroic glass I applied (difficult to see, but it's near the bottom of the marble) had burned because I hadn't encased it properly, and the Red Elvis turned livery again, despite a shorter annealing time and the stringer work left a lot to be desired. Not straight, not consistent. I need to figure out how to prevent the Red Elvis from turning like that while its in the kiln, I think.

Lots of room for improvement, but that's what art is all about!

As always, if anyone has any tips, advice, suggestions, pointers, comments, please do let me know.

Attachment 92155

(1" diameter)

Decided to try an air trap implosion today. Kept it very simple, and used the cobalt blue to make sure I didn't end up accidentally boiling the color.

Overall, it looks quite nice, but again, it is a bit lopsided. I'm almost certain it's because the 10mm rod is simply not thick enough to be able to build a large enough gather and press into a perfectly balanced maria (please correct me if I'm wrong). I think I'll buy some 16mm rod and see what happens.

This was a good learning experience for me too. Seeing how to air bubbles implode into the maria gave me a little bit of a better understanding on how implosions work and how to glass moves as you implode and compress the pattern.

I won't be doing any more implosions (I don't think!) until I get the larger rods ordered. Unless I'm doing something wrong. Can a large maria be made and imploded perfectly on smaller rods?

As always, if anyone has any tips, advice, suggestions, pointers, comments, please do let me know.

I'm not the one that should be answering marble making Q's...but I think you can just gather your 10 mil rod into a bigger rod.

Make a large gather in the MIDDLE of a 10mm rod, let it cool a bit then make another gather next to it, like a sideways 8. Cool a bit then heat between them and gather together, you will have a fat gather in the middle. Cut one side of the 10mm rod off and you have a much bigger maria than is easily done on the end. Also, shape that big maria into a pear shape rather than a ball. Watch the John Kobuki video on YouTube, it’s lesson #1 for marble makers.

Hi Cerberus!

Yeah, that Kobuki video is fantastic. I've watched it more than four times so far. This gather in the middle idea is something I haven't seen before so I'll give it a try and see what happens (took me a few reads to figure out what you were describing). Funny thing is, I was trying something like this earlier today for a completely different design.

Thanks for the tip!

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Originally Posted by Cerberus

Make a large gather in the MIDDLE of a 10mm rod, let it cool a bit then make another gather next to it, like a sideways 8. Cool a bit then heat between them and gather together, you will have a fat gather in the middle. Cut one side of the 10mm rod off and you have a much bigger maria than is easily done on the end. Also, shape that big maria into a pear shape rather than a ball. Watch the John Kobuki video on YouTube, it’s lesson #1 for marble makers.

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Hi! Just wanted to give you an update as to my progress. I cannot thank you enough. The "pear shape" comment you made was one of those things that's so obvious, but needs to be pointed out to you so that you pay attention. I tried a marble yesterday again, without using the gather in the rod technique you mentioned and managed to build up a really large gather without it flopping around. I think I learnt a lot about heat control on that.

Then I flattened it into a maria and just as I was flattening it, everything just made sense. I think I learnt more about heat base, heat control and technique in that one compression. I didn't get a perfect maria, but it was far better, and infinitely more centered than any other maria I had ever made. In fact, I was so excited that I got it centered properly, I forgot to complete the implosion, so the flower ended up near the bottom of the marble.

But, today I've done it again, and tried to modify the size of stringer I'm using so the colors get a little less transparent. I'll post a picture later once it's done annealing.

Thank you so much!

Attachment 92176

(1" diameter)

As promised, here is my latest attempt at an implosion marble. Thanks to Cerberus again, I am really happy with the way it turned out. Shaping was perfect, the implosion was centered, the termination was nice as well. The stringers I used were a little thick, as I noticed from my previous attempts I was using really thin stringers. I've been experimenting with stringer thickness, and I think just a hair thinner would be the sweet-spot for it.

One minor question: The green I'm using is Northstar Millennium Moss. Is there a green that is a little more opaque? If you look closely, you'll notice the edges of the leaves start to fade away. I'd like to have a more defined edge on that if possible.

Very nice!

Looking good. Flowers and cremation marbles and pendants are my main money maker.

You are on the right track. :)

great work man!

I like to use jackpot, but its a little on the dark side.
maybe a mix of the two would be good.

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Originally Posted by Shattered Dreams

I like to use jackpot, but its a little on the dark side.
maybe a mix of the two would be good.

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Jackpot is the Glass Alchemy sparkle color, right? Does the sparkle show up on the leaves when it implodes? It might make for an interesting effect in itself!

Attachment 92201

(1.2" diameter)

Decided to try out another floral implosion. This time, I wanted to try it with multiple layers of petals. Overall, I think it came out pretty well. The only issue I'm still having is my stringers are a little too thick, which is something I need to work on.

Additionally, once all the patterns are done and imploded in the right position, I think I need to give one last compression to ensure the petals all open up.

But other than that, I think I have the technique nailed down now when it comes to larger pieces. Now, it's just a matter of practice!

Here's something a little different. At some point, I'd like to be able to sell my work. I've already designed a website and the best way to have people look at your work is to take great photos of it.

So I decided to try and take a product photo of the marble above. With a little post-processing in Photoshop, this is what I was able to come up with.

Attachment 92206

It's the exact same marble as above, just shown off a little bit more!

I can't stand photo shop or filters. Drives me crazy, just looks fake.

Glass always looks best in hand IMO. Pictures never do justice or hide all the flaws...

I don't buy glass but when I look at others glass the photos are worth 1000 words.

Its almost like the advertising and presentation is a whole other art IMO.

I just like to make stuff selling it and advertising drains my life force.

Nice pics, can't wait to see your site. Good job!

Retouching in Photoshop is a necessity if you want to take professional-looking photos. However, I do agree that some people do go overboard. For my needs, I only retouch the image so that I remove aspects that look bad - particularly, dust. It's really dusty here in Dubai and the acrylic surface is a nightmare to work with because it reflects literally everything. And let me also add that this acrylic surface is brand new. I literally removed the protective wrapping around it 15 minutes before the shoot.

I used Lightroom for color correction to get the black to pop out. Cameras don't see color and light the way our eyeballs do, so you use Lightroom for a "color correction", if you will. You'll notice the changes are very subtle, because I used a very controlled environment to take the photos, which reduces the amount of post-processing required. If one chooses to not take care of how they're taking the photos, a lot more post-processing is required. But I generally prefer to get an almost-perfect image right from the camera. Saves me a lot of work later on!

To give you an idea, here's the raw image, straight from the camera:
Attachment 92208

And here it is with the color correction applied:
Attachment 92209

And this is the final again for comparison:
Attachment 92210

You might try using a sheet of window glass with the back side spray-painted black, instead of using acrylic. Plastics get static-y and attract dust like crazy.

Attachment 92228

(1" diameter)

A slightly different thing planned for today. I wanted to try and learn how to use an Amber Purple. This is Northstar Amber Purple that I first pulled from a tube. I got very little purples from it. I have a few questions that I'm hoping someone experienced with using this would be able to help me with:

1. I burned off the haze that was formed, but I noticed it developed again while I was working it in the flame. What causes the haze to reform? Time? High oxygen?
2. To work the purple, I first burned off the haze, waited for it to cool so it was not glowing anymore. Then I heated it just enough so it started glowing. Then I waited to cool again. Rinse and repeat. Is this the correct way to get the purples out? I was using an oxidizing flame.
3. Can an Amber Purple be "unstruck"? Ie. if I had purples, could I make it go back to amber again? Or is it just a one-way process?
4. Is it normal for the haze to redevelop so quickly? I noticed I had to keep reburning it off every few minutes.

If anyone could answer my questions above and give me some working tips, I'd really appreciate it. I feel like I'm doing something wrong, but I'm quite sure what.

the haze would be coming from too lean a fuel mixture. up your oxy to keep the haze at bay! yeah you can unstrike it! if you threw your marble in the kiln for a cycle it would strike from amber to purple.

ya try 1075 for an hour.

Thanks for your replies! Is kiln striking the only way to get purples out of NS Amber purple? Or can I also flame strike?

On the subject of striking, how do I deal with colors that strike at two different temperatures (e.g. Amber Purple and Red Elvis)?

Edit: The reason I ask about flame striking Amber Purple is because I'd like to use the whole range of colors available in one piece.

Flame striking is better IMO

It sounds like it is too hot.

That's why you aren't getting the strike in the flame.

AP will go through cycles of struck and unstruck. But it needs to cool down after being unstruck before trying to strike again.

Try holding the piece in question in a dark or dimly lit area.under bench works good. Make sure the piece isn't glowing at all red/orange.

Then, reheat in the very back of flame oxidizing, until a faint glow.

That should strike it.

I'd say the haze maybe from the same reason. The glass maybe a lot hotter than you think, causing a slight shift on the surface, and a scuzz in return. From movement of glass.

Yo Fai, since ur so nice with the camera can we get some " post strike" photo's?

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Originally Posted by Mute

Flame striking is better IMO

It sounds like it is too hot.

That's why you aren't getting the strike in the flame.

AP will go through cycles of struck and unstruck. But it needs to cool down after being unstruck before trying to strike again.

Try holding the piece in question in a dark or dimly lit area.under bench works good. Make sure the piece isn't glowing at all red/orange.

Then, reheat in the very back of flame oxidizing, until a faint glow.

That should strike it.

I'd say the haze maybe from the same reason. The glass maybe a lot hotter than you think, causing a slight shift on the surface, and a scuzz in return. From movement of glass.

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Thanks so much for the tips. I'll try it out (hopefully today) and let you know what happens.

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Originally Posted by Sparko

Yo Fai, since ur so nice with the camera can we get some " post strike" photo's?

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Thanks so much!

I'll definitely be happy to take a "professional" photo of the marble. Assuming I can get it to strike! :D

But don't expect the marble to be a work of art... I still have a long way to go!