Adrian's Torch Progress - Feedback is much appreciated

[Astevens240]

So... I have been at it for about two months. I owned a Nortel major for the last 5 years, however I have never had a place to set up shop. I moved to San Diego from the East coast back in April. I recently moved into a new house that had an out building that was just screaming for a studio. I built out my shop and have continued to add pieces, parts and make improvements as needed. I am self taught so far, sponging up as much information as I can here and elsewhere on the internet. I have spent much time reading posts here and watching youtube videos in attempt to build my skill set. I am eager to learn so please offer any input or criticism you might have.

I also want to thank everyone for their posts here and their willingness to share knowledge with the community. If anyone is located around San Diego please shoot me a message. I would love to meet some good glass folk!

Cheers,
Adrian


~Studio Build

[Kato]

Great looking space ya got yourself, welcome to the pot!

[Astevens240]

A collection of my better spoons so far... I know its all raked pieces but i need to start somewhere. I have been working on trying to get clean spirals on my bowl and mouthpiece terminations.

[Astevens240]

Practice, Practice, Practice! Lots of scrap but knowledge gained.

[Astevens240]

Studio Upgrades.... Scored a deal on a bunch of Tools, glass, and a Carlisle CC that was in the listing. I ended up scoring the CC only used a handful of times for $350. The CC was not originally part of my plan but at that price I incorporated it into the plan.

[Astevens240]

Some New Pieces. I am still working working on getting even wall thickness on the Wig Wags. They all seem to get squirrelly on me once i blow them out. I believe my problem stems from the actual wig-wagging/condense of the pulled tube. I seem to get some kinks, or unevenness when i condense the tube down. Also overworked the purple a bit.

[Astevens240]

Thanks Kato! The build was fun and I am happy with the way things came out. I'm glad to be a part of the Pot!!

[Astevens240]

sorry just realized this is in the wrong Area> Its too late now but I will move it over to the proper thread tomorrow. DOPE!

[Riley]

the studio looks cozy for sure. welcome to the get down. things to add....when you shape glass, think of it as a sexy woman. the more curvy, the more appeal. dramatic changes in width, and marked transition between bubbles make for eye catching work.


i might also recommend skipping the reversals for now and just work on shaping and avoiding boily colors like crayons or that purple. ( which looks like a color thats just hard to surface work, so its probably not so much a color you want to use in that way)


and....cc's are the bomb fume torches. you could save your color for later, and get yourself a little gold and silver. fume clear, and work with clear rod, and there is alot of range to be achieved. inside out being a great one for fume. in this way you can save your color, or at least supplement its use, and you will have it for when you are ready for it.


again, welcome, and good luck with it. i hope its a hobby, and that money is not a priority. when its a job and bills must be paid, you will choke out your freedom to explore.

[Master Yoda]

+1 for what riley said, having the freedom to do what you want is a real nice phase of learning.

Looks like your having fun and well on your way to refining some good skills.

Cheers

[Astevens240]

Riley,

No this is strictly a hobby. I work a full time job to pay the bills and run the Kiln. I have some silver and I really want to start fuming, however I am all about safety and I am not confident that my inline fan is pulling enough CFM's to fume. It does pull smoke fine but I really want to be sure that it is working perfect before I start messing with heavy metal fumes. I think my fan it has been around the block one too many times. I will be upgrading my inline to a 8" can fan max before I get into it. I also agree with the using less color statement. I am bombing through way too much of it to try to fill in clear areas due to lack of fume.

Thanks for the Feedback,
A

[kc-216]

nice job. one thing I might suggest is that after you condense and pull the middle, going back and constricting the mouth piece then heating up right next to where you made the nice restricted area where your mouth will go and pulling that kinda thin. then go on to finish your spoon and after you are done you will have next to no work to make a nice looking mouthpiece that doesnt go all crazy as you try desperatly to fix it and make it look right.... I hope you understood that because it took me a long time to figure it out and about a thousand shoddy mouthpieces

[T-Rex]

Sounds like good advice, kc-216. How do you go about tearing off the point (or tearing it off the tube if you're blowhosin')? Do you heat it up and flame cut or restrict it with a v-tool or something that leaves a line and then crack it off?

[T-Rex]

Really cool studio setup, Adrian. I dig man. I'm going to be setting up in a tiny little space soon too but can't wait to have a place of my own man. Keep up the good work dude!

[kc-216]

after ive finished making the piece I usually kiln it before I take the point off. I tear the point off leaving a little nipple of thinner glass out past the constricted mouthpiece then heat up just thinner nipple and keeping the flame pretty much off that constricted part, then I use a needlenose and grab that niple and twist and pull, now there is just a reallllly thin cone coming off and I just snap it off with the plyers tap to get glass out and flame polish. works great, and ive noticed that because you can grab that nipple with the plyers before it gets very hot (as opposed to tearing it off where you have to get the glass a bit hotter before you can bond it with your punty to tear off), I seem to be able to get through them way more quickly. although ive never timed myself either way so that may be illusion

[Jestr]

I gotta say, man, I'm a little jealous. I'm working in a studio and I've got to keep production up to keep bills paid so I can't really focus on just what I want to do. It looks like you've got a set-up that would make me want to sing! I guess my shop does that to me anyway, but still, you should be proud. Your scrap bin looks like time well-spent and certainly educational. I kinda wish I had kept something like this just so I'd have it. I agree with the guys up top, though. Spend some time trying to fume (when you feel vents are up to par) and if you try inside-outs, know that oxygen content has a lot to do with the color variation you'll get out of your metals. I haven't much experience with gold, but one good tip I have is to keep your fuming rod with a little bit of cobalt on the end of it. Gold has a tendency to slide around the molten glass while fuming much more than silver does, so if you keep your glob of gold in cobalt instead of clear, the glass is much stiffer so your metal is easier to control. I'd also recommend spending more time on techniques with color application, and maybe try using less. One popular body design is a lot like a wrap & rake that I've had stores go nuts for in the past.

Cut your pod (maybe 3 inches) and fume normally, or maybe go a bit heavy on the silver for this one as you like. Wrap your color around about the top third or quarter of your pod, instead of the full pod as most would. Now, instead of raking straight down with the clear, use some clear 3mm rod, or pull some, and smear in tight ranks in a back-and-forth serpentine pattern all the way down to the bottom of the pod. I usually aim for about five or six ranks to circle around the pod, if you get my meaning. Try to cover all your color as well as all your fuming. Then you can take this pod and shape normally into whatever. This is a pretty cool pattern, and I recommend this to you because 1. It will make your color usage more economical and practice color control. 2. It will give you practice for fuming and will still end up looking cool (as long as fuming is there and even better when it's between layers of clear.) and 3. This pattern will also give you practice with stringer control for when you DO decide to move to inside-outs which are just so much fun. This does take a bit of time to complete especially when just beginning, but when it's done properly it looks really good, especially when being so economical for materials, sells well, and it's one logical step past the standard wrap & rake that I think is a bit more interesting. And when just starting out, I thought it was a lot easier to just wrap part of the pod rather than wrap the whole thing and have the first bit of color start to fall off, but that problem goes away with time & practice. I hope this helps, I do go on sometimes... I can see you've got the right ideas, just keep at it, don't drink and torch, and DON'T TORCH ANGRY. But I'm stoked for you and I'll love seeing how you progress, man. Happy melting!

[leatherneck8541]

thats awesome asteve, congrats and great job dude, what part of the east coast did you move from? Im in Jersey at the moment, been teaching my self for almost a year now and i have done the same as you, just keep reading and soaking up information as much as i can. I have a small studio now and plan to move out to Santa Cruz come this May, deff looking for people in the area to torch with there, or even here before i go. Ive been told i was completely insane for going into glass once i got out of the Corps with two combat tours to iraq. If there is one thing i can take from all of that just remember, when people start nit picking about money, yes money pays the bills, yet can't buy you happiness. I fell in love with glass working, its something you never have to retire from, say goodbye to, and leave behind, like i had to with the Corps. Basically keep doing you, best wishes, and who knows maybe well bump heads in cali one day

[Adapt]

Looking very good! It's nice to see someone starting with the basics instead of making jank oil pieces (had to vent that bit of passive aggressiveness!).

I really like your set up, especially the smooth vent ducts, very efficient. I think you're right to go with the 8" Max Can Fan. I've used the 15" and the 10" and they are the bomb.

Everyone's chimed in with great advice. I want to add that some of your bowls look a little flat. Try pushing your bowl at a bit of angle, so it's easier to see the bowl while using it. Like instead of pushing at 90 degrees, push at 60 degrees.

Good luck, you're off to a really great start!

[Astevens240]

Its been a little while since I have posted anything so I figured it was time to get back at it. Unfortunately work has been super busy and I was slow in placing a glass order so I had a bit of down time on the torch. Since my last post I upgraded my ventilation to a point where I feel comfortable fuming. In addition I also built a foot pedal. I have been stoked with the two upgrades!

Most recently I have been experimenting with different fume techniques and applications. Most of what I have done has been surface work/Fume. I have messed with a little bit of IO, however my results were rather disappointing.

I appreciate the advice that everyone has posted. I have been at a little bit of a crossroads on the mouth pieces. I currently have the most success blowing out the mouth hole after drawing on and melting in my pattern. Then I punty up with a warm/cold?? seal and shape. It makes much more sense to pull a thin part at the mouth, fire cut and pick, however i seem to mess it up when i pick the hole. From a time perspective the pull and pick method would be much faster and streamlined. I need to just keep trying until I make it work.

I have been working on my shaping but it still has a way to go. I like the "Sexy Woman" comparison. Its funny but its so true.

Below are some of the pieces I have been working on. Sorry about the 90's wrap and rakes. i know that they aren't all that desirable, however they are good practice for me.

I am really happy with the last pieces. I started messing around with the air trap lightning effect. I love this look and I feel like they are a nice step forward.

More to come soon!

[Astevens240]

Of the Air traps this little guy is my favorite!