Hollow Ornament Annealing

[D. dino i ninjah]

I seal mine and have dropped them quite a few times ... occasionally the loop breaks. but not one bulb has exploded .. 5 years... I do mine a lot like the guy in the video only for bulbs I don't seal at the bottom I seal at the top while making the loop.. holding the bottom with grabbers .... Look in Glassline Search Kevin Ivy ...

[Nomad]

I was told in school at The Studio in The Corning Museum of Glass that Pyrex is self annealing up to 3 mm thickness. So if you blow really thin all the time you don't need to anneal it.

If you don't leave a little hole in your ornament they will implode or burst and you will have a defective ornament.

[RamblezMarblez]

A sealed ornament will be much stronger and durable then one with a hole.

Proof?

[D. dino i ninjah]

If you don't leave a little hole in your ornament they will implode or burst and you will have a defective ornament.

You don't have to leave a hole at all... that is what Im saying ... No hole is needed ... they will not implode or explode .. Think of hollow goblet stems ... or hollow marbles ... or well anything sealed in glass ... they don't explode .. and neither will a Christmas bulb. just heat the blow tube last and make your loop out of it ... never go back into the hollow area with the heat once it is sealed .. only heat the solid mass left by the blowtube as you closed it ..

[talonst]

You can see how this ^^^^ is done in Steve Sizelove's video - he constricts and gathers the glass at both ends of the sealed hollow stem that will be connected to the cup and foot. The thickened area simultaneously keeps the heat away from the thinner glass and resists blowing out or sucking in when closed. I don't think he states in the video but it's also seems like a good idea to make sure there's not a pointy shape to the inside of the closure as this can cause a crack later. Again I've not heard this stated explicitly, but it's my understanding that if the majority of the piece is not hot the small amount of heating at the end won't appreciably heat the air inside causing any pressure or vacuum if it's too cool.

[somewhere]

A sealed ornament will be much stronger and durable then one with a hole. Proof?

Yes I have proved it. For me it's been easy to deduce. I make ornaments like a machine and have produced literally thousands of them off hand. I can say for a fact a sealed ornament because it is under constant tension will be far stronger then an ornament with a hole. This is simple logic the same as a tempered piece of glass will be far stronger because of its constant tension. Really do your own test with two bubbles you will be amazed.

That said. There is nothing to say an ornament needs to be durable. Traditionally ornaments have been made with paper thin glass and a open system.

[RamblezMarblez]

I was hoping you tried a Letterman experiment by tossing them off a roof onto carpet a floor below....I'm just saying my ornaments are built to last 100+ years..where's all the pictures people? There are so many basic tutorials that no one has covered yet...

[NUBBLET]

I do them fully sealed all the time. Ive had several drop lost one loop thats its. That one was on tile brick from about 4 foot. It bounced around and right at the end the loop caught just right and went flyin. Anneal as if the wall is double the actual thickness.

All but maybe one fully sealed.