small hotshop

**Sparkey** · 08-31-2010, 10:24 AM

I have this wild dream of having a small hotshop in my studio. The hardest part will be getting a house with a decent size shop or garage...hopefully I can swing that in the next year or so. The second part is saving up the $5-10K to install the furnace/glory hole/annealer/etc.

A friend of mine recommended this DVD on how to build a furnace:

http://www.mayneislandglass.com/40poundfurnace.htm

Honestly, 40llbs seems kind of small for doing production work...then again, I'm always good for my eyes being bigger than my stomach. I'd anticipate goblet/cups, small tubes and paperweights.

I'd like to do as much fabrication of the pieces as possible, as this would set me up to maintain the equipment myself.

Anyone have pics of their home hotshops they would like to share? Thoughts on costs and considerations of putting it together?

Thanks!

Josh

**Icarus** · 08-31-2010, 01:53 PM

I don't have any advice, but I hope it works for you, and i hope you'll be so kind as to share pics when you're done with it.

**Sparkey** · 08-31-2010, 02:31 PM

Originally Posted by Icarus

I don't have any advice, but I hope it works for you, and i hope you'll be so kind as to share pics when you're done with it.

It will be a while, but I will definitely post pictures. It would be so much fun to have a hotshop at home.

**somewhere** · 08-31-2010, 02:48 PM

I have much to say but no time right now. I will say it's a wild ride and one of the best things that's happened in my life. I've been at it a long time and it was all built piece by piece. I'm happy to answer any questions and I'll post more later. I have some stuff on glass artists but unfortunately had to pull most of it. Long story.

**loydb** · 08-31-2010, 03:25 PM

The GA glory hole they showed at AGI was pretty amazing. The 20,000 watt 3-crucible kiln was as well. You might want to check into them.

**Sparkey** · 08-31-2010, 03:47 PM

Originally Posted by somewhere

I have much to say but no time right now. I will say it's a wild ride and one of the best things that's happened in my life. I've been at it a long time and it was all built piece by piece. I'm happy to answer any questions and I'll post more later. I have some stuff on glass artists but unfortunately had to pull most of it. Long story.

When you have time, I'd love to hear about it....

**themoch** · 08-31-2010, 04:01 PM

Adam V, 2BA are writing some sweet stuff up for the flow soon.

i hear they had a swanky camera man shoot the whole thing

**Sparkey** · 08-31-2010, 04:19 PM

On putting together a small production studio, or fabricating the furnace/gloryhole etc?

Originally Posted by themoch

Adam V, 2BA are writing some sweet stuff up for the flow soon.

i hear they had a swanky camera man shoot the whole thing

**somewhere** · 08-31-2010, 05:41 PM

I have a quick sec to say something about 40lbs of glass. I have never used a top gathering furnace but with 40lbs of glass you can make almost 200 ornaments or 20 decent sized pumpkins, or 50 dicro paper weights, or 100 small bus vases, or 15 platters, or 15 vases, the list goes on and on. My first furnace was built to melt boro but when I decided to explore 96 Coe I built a 350lbs furnace. Now I'm happy to blow about 60lbs a day with the new addition of two colors pots. I guess what I'm saying is 40lbs is a great start.

Btw: I watched those vids lots of good info but mostly just a sleep aid. Lol

**themoch** · 08-31-2010, 06:54 PM

Originally Posted by Sparkey

On putting together a small production studio, or fabricating the furnace/gloryhole etc?

well fabricating a gloryhole and furnace... gloryhole mostly....

**barefoot stash** · 09-01-2010, 06:48 AM

If you already have a bunch of hotshop experience disregard this..otherwise I would highly recommend looking into renting hotshop time first if at all possible in your area. That way you can develop your skill and product line without the stress of running the studio. You will also be able to get a feel of what you really need in your shop. Just like everything else in glass, the initial investment ends up being the cheapest part. Keeping it up and running is what gets ya, and it's nice to be able to hit the ground running.

**Icarus** · 09-01-2010, 07:04 AM

No ones mentioned Henry Halmes book yet, but get yourself a copy of Glass Notes. It's all about fabricating the equipment needed in a hotshop. I've never even been in a hotshop and I've found the book incredibly helpful.

Somewhere, I'd also love to hear the story. Shame you had to pull down your pics. Looking at those when I was first building my studio and seriously getting into glass was a great inspiration to me.

**N~DARK** · 09-01-2010, 07:38 AM

Hit me up with any Q. you have! Just PM me and I'll tell you whatever you want to know. The hot shop you want for Boro or for Softglass?

I have a furnace that runs 110lbs crucible for softglass. 2250 is cooking temp. and work between 2050 and 2100degrees. I built it from scratch. wildglass.com has vids. of us working you you want to see. The furnace in the vid's is a converted octagon kiln. I have 2 GH's I built 1- 18inches around and 33inches deep. the second is a 10inches around and 14inches deep. I have 3 annealers, 1 pick-up oven for color bits. Pipes, match puntys, bit puntys, Cup shears, Diamond Shears, Jacks, Cherry Blocks, Paddels, are just a few of the tools you will need.

Took me 5years of hard work to get everthing I needed to get started. One of the best things I've ever done for myself. Not cheep though- not to buy, build or run. But the creative freedom is well worth it!

Also both of Edward T. Schmid books are worth the money for info on the subject of off hand softglass work!

**Sparkey** · 09-01-2010, 08:24 AM

Thanks for the input everyone! I used to do some hotshop at Chicago Hot Glass when I was living there...I had a tech slot on Monday nights and still haven't used all the time I accumulated there.

Using an octagon kiln for a furnace is the best idea yet! Don't ceramic kilns ramp up to 2200 pretty easily? Wire a switch to the lid to kill the current with it is opened and you're good to go?

And I'll definitely check out the books that have been suggested in the thread. Anyone wanna post some pictures of their setups?

Originally Posted by N~DARK

Hit me up with any Q. you have! Just PM me and I'll tell you whatever you want to know. The hot shop you want for Boro or for Softglass?

I have a furnace that runs 110lbs crucible for softglass. 2250 is cooking temp. and work between 2050 and 2100degrees. I built it from scratch. wildglass.com has vids. of us working you you want to see. The furnace in the vid's is a converted octagon kiln. I have 2 GH's I built 1- 18inches around and 33inches deep. the second is a 10inches around and 14inches deep. I have 3 annealers, 1 pick-up oven for color bits. Pipes, match puntys, bit puntys, Cup shears, Diamond Shears, Jacks, Cherry Blocks, Paddels, are just a few of the tools you will need.

Took me 5years of hard work to get everthing I needed to get started. One of the best things I've ever done for myself. Not cheep though- not to buy, build or run. But the creative freedom is well worth it!

Also both of Edward T. Schmid books are worth the money for info on the subject of off hand softglass work!

**frillcappa** · 09-01-2010, 11:54 AM

I worked in a hotshop for about a year, and its one of my best experiences. i say take a class, or just rent time at a studio like said before if you have experience already. i would love to one day build my own hotshop aswell. i find it more fun than lampworking, but way less lucritive. i would try to build as much of the equiptment as possible, its not too hard. good luck man.

**justiceglass** · 09-02-2010, 08:03 AM

i have been slowly putting together a small setup just as the one you describe. the last component i need to build is the furnace and i am building from the video you linked from mark laukners page.

here is a few pics of some of the equipment that i have finished. just waiting on a bit more fundage for the few parts i have left to buy for the furnace.

http://www.justiceglassworks.com/theworks.html

as a few others have offered, feel free to pm me with any specific questions you may have about anything involving soft glass and my small setup. always willing to help!!!!

oh and by the way, my first furnace atempt was a failure(hard lessons learned) then a few years down the line(bout a year ago) I bought an old octogonal ceramics kiln and wrapped it in 6 inches of frax. it worked great for about a month when the orginal elements crapped out and i decided to build laukners 40 pounder. 40 pounds of molten glass is quite a bit for someone just starting out. plus if you ever decide you want more, you can use the 40 pounder as a color kiln and build urself a 100 lb furnace.

**N~DARK** · 09-02-2010, 08:25 AM

Hop on Wildglass.com and check out the videos. You can see my set-up there.
I buy Bigger gauge element wire than a normal ceramic kiln. The basic elemnts will last a short time but to cook properly you have to take them to 2250. That is about there max. They will not last long though. I run 5 or 6 elements in the furance. 6 is best! It pulls about 45-50amps and I have it on a 60amp breaker. I also have the curcible surrounded by hard Brick to reduce the empty space inside and give more material to hold the temp in when the lid is open. I do not use a kill switch on the lid. I have seen this cause a ton of problems on other furnaces and so I don't use one. This can cause control problems as well as a large loss of temp in the kiln. Crucibles can crack from thermal shocked. That is just BAD News! Can cause a full rebuild. I've had one crack spill 50lbs of glass into the kiln @2200, @ that temp the glass is like lava... destroys Everything it touches! I've been to CHG and they have a lot more space than I do. I have my studio in a 20 x 24 space...
Also I built my Bench, Marver,Yokes, Pipe cooler, and more or less everything else. This is an easy way to save yourself a few thousand buck! DIY..... Best of luck in this prjoect. I hope this helps a little.

**Sparkey** · 09-02-2010, 09:57 AM

Great to see Illinois artists doin' their thing :-)

So what kind of welding torch would I need to cut and weld angle iron together to build things?

Originally Posted by N~DARK

Hop on Wildglass.com and check out the videos. You can see my set-up there.
I buy Bigger gauge element wire than a normal ceramic kiln. The basic elemnts will last a short time but to cook properly you have to take them to 2250. That is about there max. They will not last long though. I run 5 or 6 elements in the furance. 6 is best! It pulls about 45-50amps and I have it on a 60amp breaker. I also have the curcible surrounded by hard Brick to reduce the empty space inside and give more material to hold the temp in when the lid is open. I do not use a kill switch on the lid. I have seen this cause a ton of problems on other furnaces and so I don't use one. This can cause control problems as well as a large loss of temp in the kiln. Crucibles can crack from thermal shocked. That is just BAD News! Can cause a full rebuild. I've had one crack spill 50lbs of glass into the kiln @2200, @ that temp the glass is like lava... destroys Everything it touches! I've been to CHG and they have a lot more space than I do. I have my studio in a 20 x 24 space...
Also I built my Bench, Marver,Yokes, Pipe cooler, and more or less everything else. This is an easy way to save yourself a few thousand buck! DIY..... Best of luck in this prjoect. I hope this helps a little.

**ornametalsmith** · 09-02-2010, 01:38 PM

Really enjoying this thread. Great info fellas.
Sparkey....I'd suggest a small 110 MIG welder(just like the one used to fab the unit in that video)........could be one of the cheaper models. That and an abrasive saw(like in Vid) or band saw will cut the material. You could use a "cutting torch" to cut the angle iron..but there would be clean up before welding.

**Icarus** · 09-02-2010, 03:35 PM

Originally Posted by justiceglass

here is a few pics of some of the equipment that i have finished. just waiting on a bit more fundage for the few parts i have left to buy for the furnace.

http://www.justiceglassworks.com/theworks.html

Great stuff man. I'm really impressed. I'd rep you, but it looks like I gotta spread it around a bit more.