Noob lampwork setup progression

[Greymatter Glass]

So it looks like you're making marbles on a mandrel? That's... unorthodox...not unheard of, of course...

I wouldn't normally "play" marbles with marbles I make... but to each their own... I'd totally make a marble to play with tho, if that makes sense? I wouldn't worry about cracking marbles... chipping, yes... they get little bullseyes in them when they clack together. That ruins their monetary value and makes them undesirable to collectors, but if you're just in it to have fun, knock yourself out. But if they have a hole in one side of them from being build on mandrels, then they're not really marbles in the purist sense... so... I dunno.

As for the glasses, my first pair of Aura lens's have cost me under $20 a year to own, seeing as they've lasted close to 16 years and are still kickin'. My latest paid were about $250, but they're gonna last another 20 years I suspect... certainly an investment.

[bowlpusher]

This is where I find you huh? Trolling the noobs? Come on Doug, get out of the quicksand before it gets too late and they take you down with them.

So it looks like you're making marbles on a mandrel? That's... unorthodox...not unheard of, of course...

I wouldn't normally "play" marbles with marbles I make... but to each their own... I'd totally make a marble to play with tho, if that makes sense? I wouldn't worry about cracking marbles... chipping, yes... they get little bullseyes in them when they clack together. That ruins their monetary value and makes them undesirable to collectors, but if you're just in it to have fun, knock yourself out. But if they have a hole in one side of them from being build on mandrels, then they're not really marbles in the purist sense... so... I dunno.

As for the glasses, my first pair of Aura lens's have cost me under $20 a year to own, seeing as they've lasted close to 16 years and are still kickin'. My latest paid were about $250, but they're gonna last another 20 years I suspect... certainly an investment.

[Shaper]

Drew Fritts uses steel punties for marble making. If it works for you, and it looks like it does, go for it.
I would anneal them for sure.
Have fun.

[hullguitars]

The puntie is stainless and is attached via cold seal to the glass. The ends of the steel have been ground and polished and they seem to work great. I Have all different sizes of stainless rod left over from machining jobs and I took this technique straight from drew Frit's book.
I was under the impression that boro wouldn't chip easily while the marbles are in play? (Given a proper kiln process of course)
Considering my son is 12.... some of the marbles he is making are bound to get played with

[hullguitars]

This is where I find you huh? Trolling the noobs? Come on Doug, get out of the quicksand before it gets too late and they take you down with them.

I wouldn't consider helping someone as "trolling".

[dustyg]

The puntie is stainless and is attached via cold seal to the glass. The ends of the steel have been ground and polished and they seem to work great. I Have all different sizes of stainless rod left over from machining jobs and I took this technique straight from drew Frit's book.
I was under the impression that boro wouldn't chip easily while the marbles are in play? (Given a proper kiln process of course)
Considering my son is 12.... some of the marbles he is making are bound to get played with

Soft glass, being softer, probably doesn't chip as easily as boro. Kind of like steels for knives - hardness keeps an edge and keeps scratches out, but with hardness comes brittleness. That's not always true, but it's my experience that a boro stringer is easier to snap than a similar soft glass one.

[Greymatter Glass]

I wouldn't consider helping someone as "trolling".

No worries man, he's just screwing with me, we're old friends. I'm not sure what he's actually doing in here tho, since he doesn't blow glass, he just poses with giant ass checks and raises pheasants in an office building.

[bowlpusher]

No worries man, he's just screwing with me, we're old friends. I'm not sure what he's actually doing in here tho, since he doesn't blow glass, he just poses with giant ass checks and raises pheasants in an office building.

Ultimate hype game. I am following in the footsteps of Chihuly. I will no longer blow glass, but direct the action with my brush and canvas.. lolz. I see you.

[hullguitars]

Man I'm beginning to think all you glass guys Are stoned ��

[Greymatter Glass]

Man I'm beginning to think all you glass guys Are stoned ��

WHAT? I haven't smoked anything since last year some time...

[hullguitars]

We haven't had a huge amount of time to experiment, but things are going rather well. We are almost through our second big tank of oxygen so that's about 15 hours work in the past few weeks. Not a lot but we are wrapping up our home remodel tomorrow and that will give us a lot more time.

I've made about a dozen marbles, all of them have been beautiful failures in someway, but I am getting a basic understanding of the elements used to shape hot glass. Here's a picture of the marbles I have made (that survived), included are a few shots of my sons first two marbles. He made the big red white blue and clear one in the top corner. That was his second marble by himself. It's borosilicate and I had to flame anneal it because the Kiln program wasn't up and running yet. I'm amazed it didn't crack but it will go through a normal annealing cycle soon. We are getting better at it, but it's pretty damn hard to keep them round without squishing them into an oval shape. I made several more that didn't survive.
But that really doesn't bother me considering these are just learning exercises.


As I stated I haven't been using the kiln to anneal them… Just been throwing them under a hot fiber blanket. The larger ones never make it. However I've got this flame annealing thing down pat. It's pretty straightforward to keep the outer surface of the marble hot long enough so that the inner workings can cool without stressing the glass. Similar to flame annealing thick pieces of steel while blacksmithing or heat treating.

I tried to upload a few videos but I can't seem to get them to go through.

On another note,
My wife has a massive polymer clay set up with every tool, jig, and fixture. She even has a small rolling mill that simulates the old machine made marble machines. It looks just like a miniature version of the machine JaBo uses now. I'm going to try and reproduce some of the old akro marbles using polymer clay. I feel like this will give my son and I a way to learn more about the color manipulation, new designs, and bridge the gap between hot glass and marble collecting. From what I understand it's easy to sit down and make a few marbles in 15 or 20 minutes using polymer clay, and there are some amazing results being made. Considering we need at least an hour or so to make marbles at the torch, this would be a good way to make a few marbles with a limited time.

if you haven't heard of him, look up Carl Fisher and his polymer clay marble reproductions. It's some of the most beautiful work I've seen, and since a lot of my interest is in old machine mades… I think it would be a good way to start down that path. to keep up the Hobby when we don't have as much time.

I've also made a few upgrades to the work area. I bolted a sheet of steel to the top of the desk and hung it over the edge 15 inches so that we would have an easier way to work side-by-side and give our legs a place to go. Since were both working at one desk, we have to sit in front of the drawers which was pretty uncomfortable.