Eric's progression

[alelexi]

Been at this a month an a half I feel like a baby reading through everything here. Working on a gtt cheetah. Constructive criticism very much wanted. Glass blowers are a bit of
Rarity around where I am so feed
Back is amazing.
First batch of decent(ish) pendants.
Pushed the bowl at a weird angle
Trying out encasements. I know the mouth piece is off it was way to thick and cracked off (I don't have a kiln yet. It's on it's way)

First bubbler that didn't come out as a coke can with a straw through the side.

Still trying to learn how to
Fume right.
Copper is really tricky compared to
Silver to get it to show
Up. Any tips?

The bowl was coil potted
*snip*
And this little
Abomination was the first thing I ever made. Could post my set up if anyone cares.

[snoopdog6502]

Practice, lots of practice.
I have some cases of my wonky pipes and pendants and have been turning them into jars and marbles so those hunks of glass are good for more then one lesson.

Ditch the copper is just too toxic and realy does not look good so that's the reasons you dont see copper fumed.
Its better when its electroplated on glass.

Where you want to be is making work nice enough to fume with gold. Gold is different then silver in that a little goes a long way.

Keep up The practice , be safe and have fun.

[Cerberus]

Looks great for such a short time behind the torch, keep at it just like you have been!

[alelexi]

Had some time before work today. First one I went over board on the dots
I know lol. Tried
To coilpot the bowl but only did enough for half of it. Oops. Was expecting clear frit to make a cool design with the fuming on the inside but I guess the smallest size clear frit they sent me with the color sample pack doesn't really make the same effect as the larger grains.
The second pipe I cooked potted the entire thing and made the tube a lot
Of fun. But I pulled too much off and the mouth piece became tiny. Shame the Chinese lilac doesn't really have a pronounced color.

[alelexi]

Blow tube cracked off when coil potting I like coil potting but it doesn't like me fucker when right for the kill.

[LRG]

looking good,maybe fatter/thicker loops on the pendys,makes them good for key chains if there big too,the wife has had same key chain pendy for over 12 years now,thing had been dropped on tar tons on times.

[alelexi]

im trying to work on slowing down i pull them too fast and they get thin then i wreck them trying to redo them so i tend to just let it go and take it slower the next time

[LRG]

Sometimes I make a little ball and drill the tungsten pick through them,makes nice loop.I pre make the loop and add it sometimes.When you do make a loop and it comes out thin you can add glass on to that loop and thicken it up,not getting the thin loop too hot draw on more glass and cook it in.I wish I could show you I suck at explaining thing.Heat more of the rod and bend it slow should get you on track.Looking good!!!!!!!!!!!

[alelexi]

Been trying to figure out that tungsten thing still. Watched it happen but doesn't work out for me. I just bend the glass around the tungsten so it can't close up too much. Or around a graphite poker

[alelexi]

It's been awhile since I posted! But I've been working a lot. I see my self getting better finally and I'm proud of a lot of what I've made now. Building up a case of things to sell and have a cute little following of local friends who occasionally buy something from me

[BlairArtGlass]

Looks like your making some progress. I'm not trying to be a downer, but unless you have been able to anneal that work in a kiln I don't feel you should be selling it.

[istandalone24/7]

unfortunately, blair is right. you should not sell un-annealed work to unsuspecting customers. selling to friends, who know it's not annealed, and know not to drop or be rough with it is a different story. i just wouldn't sell to any shops until you can properly anneal them.

great work though, i can see your progress

[mattholimeau]

selling to friends, who know it's not annealed, and know not to drop or be rough with it is a different story.

I'm really not sure that's a different story - unless said friend is a glassblower who actually knows what "not annealed" means (in which case, they probably don't want it). And you can explain the annealing process to a friend until you're blue in the face - but until you've watched so many pieces crack and fall apart, you don't really know what "not annealed means".

If you're *giving* unannealed pieces to friends, having told them "this will possibly break while just sitting on the shelf" - then that's another story, but selling un-annealed pieces to anyone disclaimer just feels wrong to me.

Also, yeah - good stuff you're making! Keep practicing!

[alelexi]

Where did anyone get the idea I didn't anneal my work? I have a glass hive kiln and anneal everything only my first month of glass blowing was kiln free.
For some reason I decided my first rig ever would be a recycler. No idea of it works right yet.

[BlairArtGlass]

I'm sorry if I misunderstood, you posted that you didn't have a kiln yet at one point. I know you said it was "on its way" but that could mean different things to different people. I really meant nothing by it, just a friendly caution. However since you have got a kiln now, congrats!

[alelexi]

I'm sorry if I came off brash or rude with my comment. I should post a picture of my kiln though. Glass hive makes a great product

[alelexi]

[alelexi]

Loving making pendants more than anything now. Starting to see results and progress in a direction I'm really happy with.

[Cerberus]

Nice! Getting more consistent in size and shape, experience with more colors. Looks like you're getting the hang of your bails. Bubblers too, that fume with red hammer will look good dirty. Good work

[East Bay Ray]

hey nice work. Have you watched the John Kobuki youtube video of the flower implosion?