Glass Ear Plugs

[themoch]

So i know this has been discussed here before, but i can't seem to find it in the search.

if anybody can find it please post the link.

Anyhow, I've been asked to make some ear plugs. size 0 (which some research shows to be 8.4mm).

i don't have a lot of time to figure this out so I was wondering how you've gone about making them?

they want something black/red spiral in a curved horn shape. so what i'll probably do is make a twisted cane and try my best to stretch the thickets part to be ~8.5mm (that's going to be the fun part)

taper off one side and make a patty on the other. then bend to curve them out.

so yeah... any hints or tricks would be appreciated.

[Swampy]

Posting on the run so;

Stripe your rod

melt in

twist or wigwag

pull out parallell 8.4mm dia

gather one end, decorate that.

leave a ball or mash a maria, punty up to it.

swap hands, pull out your tapered shape

get the curl bits at a time by (start at sharp end first) heat > push and shape into a marble mold.

keep heating > curling till you get what you want.

hold the curl in your tweezers, crack off punty, flame polish the scar.

done :-)


not saying it's right, just how I do it.

[themoch]

fancy,

last time i tried i had about a year on the torch... it was such a pain in the ass i vowed to never make them again...

but i'm hoping rounding year 6 i'll have some better luck.

[Sometime79]

I always stripe or color rod into a consistent thickness loaf. The end of your loaf should be a slightly larger diameter than you actually want, as the gauge is usually the desired ear hole size so the ends need to be sligthly larger to allow for stretching and pulling. So you have about a 10 mil loaf around three inches long. from the center start heating and pull slowly to your desired thickness and length. so now make a Y bridge the length of the loaf you pulled and punty up your thick sides to the Y. with a bushy heat the middle of you loaf and pull slightly away from the Y. This begins your curl for you horns, and because you are only pulling at the same time the length and thickness should be equal. now form the center separate the horns by cutting or pulling a termination with a rod. So now the spiral is already begun and both pieces are still puntied up across eachother. keep curling the horns as desired, but make sure you curl each one evenly. I hope this explanation is clear enough to understand. Plugs are one of my biggest sellers, and mine are not cheap. What sets mine apart from other glass plugs I have seen is consistency of both pieces. That is why I only use the same pull for both pieces and make them both at the same time with the same movement for each curl. For the type you are trying to make I make around $60 with a little sculpting, or dot work around the thick part. Hope this helps.

[glassdocnc]

Pictures?

[themoch]

http://www.google.com/products?q=gla...oducts&show=dd

this is what i'm looking to do...

but something with a flat end like this:

http://marketplaceadvisor.channeladv...d=12023&dfid=1

[Cosmo]

I've been making them for quite a while in pretty much the same method Swampy described. I haven't made any recently because like everything else there are imports out there that sell for less than I can buy the glass to make them, so I can't sell mine. But, back when they were selling, they sold consistently for $20 a pair. On a lot of them, I made little tiny marbles (usually dichro) to put at the fat end. People seemed to really dig them.

[Swampy]

Hey Sometime79 that is an excellent suggestion for getting two pieces the same style, size, taper. Have to rep you for that...


Yeah for me Cosmo I can't compete with the shite stuff called 'Murano' on the shelves here, it's a shame that the public are being duped with duff stuff. I can't compete because (a case of glass (frinstance) is $100 + $50 freight) x 45% import duty = a lot.

My selling point is that it's made in Belize, they can see it being done. Also the designs are better than the imported shite.

I send speciality items to several places including the US, just because it is a specialised product for animal husbandry. No, not doggy dillys.

[Swampy]

fancy,

last time i tried i had about a year on the torch... it was such a pain in the ass i vowed to never make them again...

but i'm hoping rounding year 6 i'll have some better luck.

That's what works for me Andrew, I return to something after a time and it's like a helix, next time round the experience kicks in and it's better than the last try. You know how it goes.

[Meerkat]

I send speciality items to several places including the US, just because it is a specialised product for animal husbandry. No, not doggy dillys.

Well that got me curious, what on earth do you make out of glass that is used for animal husbandry ?

[Swampy]

Not fucking telling you.

Okay then, glass ear plugs for dogs.

There, I said it was a specialised product.

[Johan]

Lawless...great explanation. I'm def gonna give that a try. I never thought about makin them at the same time with a Y bridge. Thanks.

[richsantaclaus]

lol, and here I thought you needed them for the firing range...lol - silly me!

[Icarus]

lol, and here I thought you needed them for the firing range...lol - silly me!

When I saw the title, I actually thought the same thing, and imagined how uncomfortable they would be.

[Jimi The Don]

i concur with the loaf meth, but i go for a pigskin shape, then i slowly pull it out using mostly gravity to do the stretching so it stretches evenly. hold it down one way and pull slightly, then the other way, pull it up and get it straight and so on, important to make sure it's evenly heated so spin both ways and brush the heat back and forth, then i pull that in half to make my terminations, next heat near the other end and let gravity do most of the curling (or horning) as you heat further down the taper, then when they are both equal i flame cut them off the rod and flatten the end while holding with tweezers but that can be done first as i believe crip mentioned, then i strike them, then i give them to my girlfriend, then i get sexy time..

[CripSkillz]

lol hehe firing range, i have made a few sets too , geting them the same is the bitch ...

[misticglass]

make one nice twisted came that is even diameter and cut it in half with diamond shears and finish it up. bam!

-m

[amanofmusic]

I met someone the other day with gauges and i asked if they were glass. he said no, they're plastic and hes waiting to find a blower he can "trust". he made a comment about something in a kiln leaving chemicals on the glass that are bad for your skin... and then explained something that sounded kind of like flame annealing.

Personally I've never heard of anything like this, I imagine glass is good because it is so nonpourous, i bought my girl some last summer at Camp Bisco.

Plus, rings, bracelete, pendants, etc. I've never heard a complaint

I'm curious if any of you know anything about this, or if this kid just had no idea what he was talking about ( I didnt tell him I knew anything about glass)

[themoch]

The Corning Glass Company of New York was established in 1868. Among their first products were colored lenses for railroads and the earliest light bulbs. Much later they formulated Pyrex® brand glass, one of the most significant developments in glass technology this century. Pyrex glass a.k.a. "Corning 7740" set the worldwide standard for scientific and medical glasses. Its resistance to large temperature shifts and chemical reactions have made it a laboratory mainstay.

found this on a glass jewelry site... i trust it over metals, plastics, or wood any day.

[KahunaGlassArt]

are there any videos out there showing what you guys are talkin about.
I sort of get what SOmetime is saying, but not completely.