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
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.
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!
(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!
Last edited by aommaster; 02-21-2018 at 03:42 AM.
I do what I know, I don't know what I'm doing
you may want to get an opaque color as well. the cobalt things out a bit for some designs
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.
(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.
Last edited by Shaper; 02-25-2018 at 06:11 PM.
smallest tightest flame you can get for the stringer usually does it for me. not that im a stringer expert so i work slowwwwwwww
(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
(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.
(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.
don't wash your hands with your sammich.
naive
*of or denoting art produced in a straightforward style that deliberately rejects sophisticated artistic techniques and has a bold directness resembling a child's work, typically in bright colors with little or no perspective.
your linework is naive maybe try some fuming?
GTT Phantom on Homefill
first time on torch 07'
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.
I do what I know, I don't know what I'm doing
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