Brand new glassblower. Progression pictures.

[HieroGlass]

Started with my first day behind the torch in January. I took 5 classes with Pete Connell here in Boone and currently at the stage of completing my home studio set up and becoming more familiar with the new torch.

Work from the first five classes in the link.
http://imgur.com/a/2KRDC

My instagram page...I post there more often and would love the support from the community.

https://instagram.com/hiero_glass/

[HieroGlass]

Finally got the ventilation up to par and had my first real day behind the torch in a month. Made this marble cap dabber and a bell style carb cap. Made some other spoons and finished up some marbles just to get back in the swing of things. I was gonna try to make some spoons using a blow tube instead of pulling points like I was initially taught but ran out of oxygen in the middle of the prep. Curious if to how everyone started in the beginning (pulling points vs blow tubes). I do understand the importance of a centered point and cable of creating them. Also if anybody has any progression exercises of what you think I should learn first in the early stages. Thanks!

[Aaron Ellis]

Hi and welcome to tmp. I started on 9.5 blowtubes for handles.

[HieroGlass]

Hey, thanks for your input Aaron!

[art vandelay]

Curious if to how everyone started in the beginning (pulling points vs blow tubes).!

i found points easier in the beginning. i still do points unless im doing heavy iso work. my first attempts at pipes i tried attaching tubes becuase all my knowledge came from revere videos. but i think properly attaching a tube isnt the easiest thing to try when first starting out. i found it rather frustrating until i became more comfortable attaching tubes cleanly.

the spoon in your imigur link (last picture, spoon in the top right of that picture ) is really clean. really clean bowl angle. great carb placement. welcome to the community it looks like your doing great so far.

[HieroGlass]

Thanks Vandelay. Yeah seeing Dustin nonchalantly attach a blow tube definitely played a part in wondering about using that tech haha. I'm still in the learning curve stage of getting used to working on a bravo. Was working with a Carlisle before with a mentor tuning it at the times needed so getting that flame right when needed has been throwing me off lately.

[BlairArtGlass]

Hey HIero looks like you've got a great start here! I've been working on a torch for just over a year now, and I've been full time pipe making since I got my bravo in November. I have tried to pull a few points, but I was taught by using blow tubes. It takes some practice to get them welded on straight and strong but I'm glad that was how I learned. It seems like I save glass not pulling points, typically I get about 16 spoons and 1-2 implosion pendants out of one tube.

[HieroGlass]

Awesome! thanks Thundercat. The wasted glass from pulling points is a little discouraging. I think I might try these next few days on attaching tubes...wasting too much glass and besides I need to practice attaching tubes sometime Hopefully I will have some spoons from today's agenda posted up here soon.

[BlairArtGlass]

When I first got my bravo I spent the first 2 weeks just making onies with scrap 9.5 and 12 mm blow tubes (mostly 9.5) because there wasn't any 25mm tube in the shop. I really think it helped me prepare for using the 25mm. I got much better at opening a small tube, and learning to control my flame setting on the new torch. It gave me some experience flaring the tube and obviously welding them. I made about 40 onies probably before the glass order got in and I started trying spoons. I also got my foot pedal right about the time I started making spoons which was awesome! I love being able to just tap my foot and get my outer fire.

[HieroGlass]

Yeah I've actually haven't made any onies yet. Defintiley going to try the constriction chillum tutorial I found on here. I was gonna try and make a hundred spoons before moving on but looks like I will start on making a few dozen onies before mastering the spoons. Saving up to by the foot pedal right now...should save me some money in the long run on gases.

[glassmax]

Awesome! thanks Thundercat. The wasted glass from pulling points is a little discouraging. I think I might try these next few days on attaching tubes...wasting too much glass and besides I need to practice attaching tubes sometime Hopefully I will have some spoons from today's agenda posted up here soon.

Don´t do that.
Usually these parts dont have the shape and evenly thickness to be usable for attaching.
Until you have shaped these remains from the pulling points to the state that you can use them,you waste not only the scrap glass but also money for oxy,gas and a lot of time.
You can easily find this out by just trying it.

To "waist" glass is an essential part of any glass blower.
When you work a couple of hours on one piece and it somehow cracks during the process,that feels shitty.
If you wanna learn the many techniques of lampworking,you´ll go through that many times.

Some of the crap glass I use sometimes for pendants,marbles,dabbers or for creating air trap bubbles.

so long,Glassmax

[BlairArtGlass]

Don't do what? I think hiero was just talking about trying to learn to attach blowtubes.

I havn't been doing this as long as you, but I try not to waste glass. I do my best to use all my glass in the best manner I can. Pulling points seems to create pieces of glass that aren't used well in other ways which is why I prefer tubes.

[HieroGlass]

I was just talking about attaching blow tubes like thunder cat said. Not really understanding what you (Glassmax) meant by the waste of gases to get my points with even thickness and a nice round bottom...isnt that necessary use of gases? But if I stayed with practicing attaching tubes it would seem like I would save time and glass by already having a nice blank and just attaching and making a round bottom. I'm not saying wasted glass is a problem if I am getting something out of it like of course practice. Just wanna be able to get as much useful practice out of as much glass as I can. Thanks for your input everyone!

Last night I practiced attaching blow tubes and made some blanks ready to go for today. Needed a break from all the stressful learning curves I'm riding on, so I spent the last part of my time in the studio making a "face" implosion pendant. Somehow I managed to skew that up a little as well. Haha. Put my backing on a little too aggressive and early and disrupted my picture in the pendant. Still looks decent but than I totally phased out and put my loop so it feeds from front to back besides the normal left to right....that mistake won't happen again. Should have pictures of it later tonight.

[istandalone24/7]

depends on the application. quick simple fumer.....made on point. something that i'll have to stripe color onto (or wrap and rake) i want a sturdy handle.
honestly though, once you get used to attaching a blowtube, it takes seconds. quicker then pulling a point ime.

[HieroGlass]

Thanks istandalone24/7. That definitely gives me something to take into consideration! Thin walls on the points always get me feeling sketchy at the start.

[dplaza]

if ur gonna pull a point condense it down a bit before pulling so its not thin. scary and a waste of time if a point snaps in your hand, if your lucky enough not to get cut.

i use blowtubes all the time on 25, i pull points on 38 about half of the time. its funner than just flame cutting or necking down imo.

[HieroGlass]

Thanks dplaza! Yeah that would definitely help me create some thicker walls. Yeah those 25 walls were freaking me out last night haha

[glassmax]

Don't do what? I think hiero was just talking about trying to learn to attach blowtubes.

I havn't been doing this as long as you, but I try not to waste glass. I do my best to use all my glass in the best manner I can. Pulling points seems to create pieces of glass that aren't used well in other ways which is why I prefer tubes.

Sorry,this is a misunderstanding.

I am not a native english speaker and that makes it sometimes difficult to explain,what I mean.
What I meant is that it makes no sense to work much on an uneven leftover from a pulled point instead of starting from a new tube.Does this make sense?

[HieroGlass]

Had a stressful couple of days. I have been using the blow tube tech for making spoons on 25mil with 12.7 blow tubes and seems to work really well for me...until I have to take the blow tubes off. Its the basics that are messing me up with timing and having things prepped where my work doesn't cool down in the mean time. I will be garaging the tubes from now on for a few mins before detaching the blow tube. I've also had a few spoons crack from spit running down the blow tube after creating my bubble for the push bowl.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated regarding kilning spoons before breaking off the blow tubes and maybe your easiest way of going about that?
Thanks

[art vandelay]

yeah that was one of the best parts in the beginning. it took me months to realize i needed to continuously reheat. i learned most of what i do from revere, and he never shows himself reheating.

i would spend ten minutes working on the bowl side of the pipe. popping the hole pushing the bowl, popping the carb, flattening the bottom, then when i would go to work the mouthpiece boom. it was so irritating. i found that pulling points made it happen less frequently. especially when working all clear like above. i think the blowtube attachment puts some stress if not done perfectly.

on the plus side the shape of that broken piece looks good.

so anyways just always keep the other side hot. pop bowl hole reheat mouth piece, push bowl reheat mouthpiece, blow carb reheat mouthpiece, flatten bottom reheat mouthpiece.
the garaging thing takes too much patience for me, but it does work