pulling points

[Aussie]

I wish I was closer to the states sometimes. There's always shit goin on over there! Like the AGI ... I'd be able to whizz over and be back home in time for the flameworker's exhibition which opens on the auspicious date of 9 september 2008 :/
anyway, I checked out the agi site and saw that Roger Parramore is going to talk about the "evils of pulling points". He was in Australia at the start of this year but I missed him because I was busy watching sunsets and sunrises over Angkor Wat in Cambodia at that time. I heard from a couple of people who attended about Roger's techniques in regards to not pulling points etc.

so it got me thinking about pulling points and the two sides of the argument, and also wondering what the argument actually is. personally I pull points every day for almost everything I do and I don't feel one bit evil about it ... actually, I think it's the shizzle that allows me to do anything I want.

so what's the story with you guys? .... do you pull points or stick handles on or both?

[bc]

points for prodo. Pretty sure everything else gets a handle......

[jr23]

I use both why be tied down with one tech. What if your out of blowtubes? Do you not work blowtubers?

[matte eskuche]

point pulling is the most significant movement in american glassmaking history.

and it is badass.

[The Lorax]

i never pull points i prefer blowtubes.. and i don't run out of the the tubes... muahahahaha

[Jones Art Glass]

I'm primarily pull points. I think that I can get a much faster rate of rotation with a narrow point... I use handles for heavier seal work and stuff, but 90% of my time I'm busting down tubes one point at a time...

[nafglass]

I use points almost always. At this point (no pun intended) I have more confidence in pulling an almost perfectly straight point than I do in sealing a blowtube on well. As always, more practice is needed.

[mer]

i used to just pull points but i desperately want roger to think i'm cool and i cried for a week when he told me how stupid i was being.

factory tubes are slightly out of true so i make my own blowtubes by pulling 12mm tubing down to 9.5mm, that way it's totally straight and i still get credit for a blowtube since i weld it on.

[Galaxie Glass]

lmao ^^^^^^

[MUPH]

make my own blowtubes by pulling 12mm tubing down to 9.5mm

heavy wall or standard?

[Swampy]

I pull and work off points whenever possible.

Reason being I always get tied up with rubber tubing and I only use it as an absolute last resort.

Trying not to burn the tube whilst doing flip acrobatics in mid-production, spending time looking round for something that fits and then make sure the fucking thing doesn't drop off at a critical point, what a fuck around that is. Rubber tube is pants.

Points are badass, if it was good enough for the *Egyptians it's good enough for me. They never used rubber tubes either as they didn't have the technology to make the brass swivel.



*page 227, Book of the dead

[somberbear]

your thinking blow hose swampy.....

[Aussie]

good lord, swampy, everytime you post and I see that sig, I gotta go and pull a point ...

[MUPH]

I gotta go and pull a point ...

I usually always pull points for the sexual innuendos but I have blow tubes on hand tho, I mainly use them for colored tubing.

When Parramore gets wind of this thread all you point pullers are going to get scolded, including myself.

[SouthernFume]

i love points, i just hate pulling them all the time. blowtubes i save for more of the heddie stuff. if i break one then i'll either attach the same handle or weld on a tube either way like roger says shut up and blow glass!! haha

[Lurch]

I use both. Most prodo get points pulled... but the heavier the piece the more likely I'll weld on some 9.5

Headdies always get blowtubes welded on

[pacosaki]

Blow tubes. I don't make pipes or vessels. It's for marbles and pendants.

[Dom]

Blowtubes are for newbs, unless its a huge heady piece, then its 12.7 every time

[Robert Mickelsen]

I once heard Roger attribute global warming to pulling points. He really feels strongly about the superiority of his way and that is fine with me. Personally, I like points and rarely have any of the problems most often associated with them. Mine don't break because I know how to pull them strong.

When I teach, I teach points because that is what I use. When I get someone who has taken one of Roger's classes I tell them, "Try it my way. Try it his way. Use the way that suits you best." I don't pretend to know what the best way for anyone is.

Finally, the skills involved with pulling points are the very same skills... heating, timing, rhythm, and balance... that are present in every single tubing technique you will ever use. Learn to pull points and you learn it all in that one technique, even if you decide not to use them in your everyday work.

Just my 2 cents.

[Ben Burton Glass]

I use both... Big stuff usually gets a blowtube, and smaller stuff get's points pulled...


Swampy your sig is the BOMB!!

Aloha!