Nuka Glass Highway To Glass Progression

[Nuka Glass]

I am an AC/DC fan, hence the title. Finally got time on the torch and I am in love with it. Had a lot of fun messing around and getting a feel for things.

This is the first marble I did on 10mm rod. I taught myself a valuable lesson. Do not put hot glass on a cold stainless steel bench. The marble ended up cracking while I was working on it.
I was trying to get the colors to compress but not sure what went wrong.
Any ideas? I melted the color in after placement then I heated up half the marble and pressed it on my marver pad. Maybe I didnt heat it up enough and it was too cold.




Here is the second marble. I believe I had used dragon's blood and raven. On this one. Got the shaping a little better.




Then I was making a small marble. When I went to go burn it off the rod, the way I had pulled made it look like a sperm. Had it on my tweezers and it fell of onto the concrete. The tail broke but I was able to take the head and make a new tail. Not as good as the first.



This last one I was working on and my first tank of propane ran out. So I put I had placed it in the kiln with the punty still attached. I have to shape the one side a little bit more but so far I think this is my best marble. It was made with half blood and colbalt 5 or 6. The colbalt doesn't look right. I will try to get a better picture of it. The half blood is awesome.





Thats it for now. Today its extremely cold so I wont be melting but if tomorrow is better I will try to.

[Aymie]

When you are doing an implosion, you don't want to heat up too much of the gather or the color will get pressed out flat. Flatten the end of the gather, apply color, heat the edges of the gather and then the center, drawing the glass from the edge to the center. Heat what you want to move, then heat where you want it to go, and the glass will follow the heat. As the edge gathers toward the center, the color in the center is pushed up in to the gather. If you mash it again, get down level with the marver so you can see what is happening. The color starts to go up, but when the solid part of the gather hits the melted part, it will push down in the center and flatten the implosion.

[Nuka Glass]

Thanks Aymie. I did some work yesterday and I did get the color to move deeper into the clear. I had a lot of issues yet, a lot of glass cracking. I was making two spoons and watched one shatter completely on my blow tube. The other hit the cement and shattered. I did make a chillum. The shape is wonky but it is functional. Will test it later today. I think my main focus now is to learn to heat the glass properly. I think I am using too much oxygen and the glass heats up really really fast. It's almost impossible to have any control of the glass.

Oh I also has a marble the had split in two. Clean cut. Wondering if the colors I had used yesterday had any effect on this. It looks like it split where the two colors met.

I will post pictures when I get home.

[istandalone24/7]

my best advice (and it's also Drew Frittz's best advice) to a fledgling marble maker is, to make ten marbles each (be them 1/2" or 1.5") of clear, black, white, cad (crayon color), a/p etc. each of these glasses work differently, and if you get the feel for each color groups consistency, you'll have one hell of a head start.

[istandalone24/7]

looking good though....you should see my first mibs and beads...horrendous!!

[Aymie]

my best advice (and it's also Drew Frittz's best advice) to a fledgling marble maker is, to make ten marbles each (be them 1/2" or 1.5") of clear, black, white, cad (crayon color), a/p etc. each of these glasses work differently, and if you get the feel for each color groups consistency, you'll have one hell of a head start.

This is really great advice. Throw a red striker in there too. That stuff gets soupy.

[istandalone24/7]

oh yeah...gotta have ruby or a copper based red to top off the list. learn how not to liver it.

[Nuka Glass]

my best advice (and it's also Drew Frittz's best advice) to a fledgling marble maker is, to make ten marbles each (be them 1/2" or 1.5") of clear, black, white, cad (crayon color), a/p etc. each of these glasses work differently, and if you get the feel for each color groups consistency, you'll have one hell of a head start.

Thanks for the advice. I have a couple reds I will try this out next time. I just ordered a new table, so I will be able to sit down now. I think this will help me out a lot too. My back was killing me at the end of the day.

[Nuka Glass]

Here are some of the pieces I made yesterday. Well the ones that didnt completely shatter.

First here is a marble. While taking these pictures I now realize I need to work on keeping bubbles out.




Here is the marble that decided to split in two. Clean cut between the two colors. I cant remember the colors I had used. I know there is some kryptonite in there. I'll have to check the colors to see what they were.




Last but not least, my wonky chillum. I'll definitely be working on tubing. Might take a while to get the hang of it.






Most likely this Saturday I should be able to get back on the torch. I should have my new table by then.

Until next time, happy melting

[istandalone24/7]

My back was killing me at the end of the day.

just a tip...but you may want to raise your table. mine is low, and every time i go to another studio to work, the tables are higher, which gives my back less stress.
i also keep a rolling bar stool (with the pneumatic raise/lower) close by...stringer/detail work i sit, when raging something heavy i stand.

[Nuka Glass]

just a tip...but you may want to raise your table. mine is low, and every time i go to another studio to work, the tables are higher, which gives my back less stress.
i also keep a rolling bar stool (with the pneumatic raise/lower) close by...stringer/detail work i sit, when raging something heavy i stand.

My table is high right now and after working for a few hours I get a sharp pain in my upper back. I have some spine issues and I am prone to back problems the rest of my life. Sitting will definitely help me out a lot. The new table I am getting is height adjustable. So if I ever feel I need the table to be higher, the next time I torch I can always raise it up. I'll play around and see what works best for me.

[istandalone24/7]

perfect

[Nuka Glass]

perfect

I checked out some of your mibs and they are amazing. I really like the Chaos one but all of them are stunning. Nice work!

[Joe Userton]

Here is the marble that decided to split in two. Clean cut between the two colors. I cant remember the colors I had used. I know there is some kryptonite in there. I'll have to check the colors to see what they were.

I get this same thing pretty much any time I forget and set a marble down for a minute and let it cool outside of the kiln.

[istandalone24/7]

I checked out some of your mibs and they are amazing. I really like the Chaos one but all of them are stunning. Nice work!

why thank you

[Nuka Glass]

I get this same thing pretty much any time I forget and set a marble down for a minute and let it cool outside of the kiln.

This cracked in two while it was on my punty. But I know what you mean, my first marble I had set down on the cold stainless steel bench and I heard it cracking a minute later.

[istandalone24/7]

keep some kevlar (or in a pinch, denim) under your torch on the bench, it'll keep the hot glass from touching the cold table. or set it down resting in the marble mold you used to round it....or a hot marver etc

[Nuka Glass]

Just got the new table. If at the highest it can go, I can still sit in my computer chair comfortably. I think it is taller than my current table. Which means I could of used my chair the whole time... Oh well.

[Nuka Glass]

Got some torch time in today. Unfortantely it was cut short because my oxygen ran out. I did make my first spoon though. The stem/neck came out good. So did the mouth piece. The bowl on the other hand is where I had some issues.

I didn't get to blow out a carb because when I put the bowl push in to block the hole it ended up knocking the spoon off my blow tube. I also experienced problems running too much propane in my flame. It ended up charring the pipe, making parts black. I took out the charred parts. Can you just heat up that area and get rid of the soot?

I learned a lot from doing just this one pipe. I started making a chillum also and it looks really good so far.

[Nuka Glass]

Yesterday I was quite pleased with the work I had done. Played around with color some more. I now know how to melt the color in.

I had a lot of problems with cracking though. On both spoons and the last chillium there are cracks on the bowl.

This is the chillum I had started last time. When I went to push the bowl out, it ended up bending and the bowl hole is touching the bottom. Still functional just have to inhale twice as hard.




This is a marble had started a while back and just decided to try to shape it a bit more. Still a wonky shape.



This is a penguin I am working on. Decided to take a break on it though.



Here is a color spoon attempt. I was worried about boiling the colors so they are not fully melted in. But this is the outcome. It kept cracking near the bowl. Not sure how long it will last.


Another clear bowl. Again the bowl is wonky and ot kept cracking. I tried to heal the origin of the crack but it didnt work.



Last but not least. Is my mini chillium. Thus one I melted in the color. Learned how kryptonite and blue dream work. Pulled my stringers too thin and can't see those two colors. Really lole the half blood on this one. The piece is no bigger than a finger.