OceanMelt's Melty Thread

[OceanMelt]

Ok cool, I'll pay more attention to that, thanks.

[oG Glocc Coma]

If its the economy reamer than yea, they are kind of cheaply made! Get some 1000 - 2000 grit sand paper and redo the edges(600 or 800 will work but not as smooth!) I just re-sanded all of my tools this weekend and yes my reamer looked exactly like yours! Nice progress, keep it up!

[LooseSeal Baller]

I start with one of these and then finish with fine sand paper or steel wool, then final stage is brown paper towels or wadded up newspaper

[OceanMelt]

Thanks fellas, I have lots of fine sandpaper/files so I'll give it a go! And yeah, pretty sure I bought the economy one.

[OceanMelt]

Next set of ten. Feel more comfortable shaping, but straight pushes are still my nemace.



Bare with me, I promise the pics will get more interesting eventually...

[OceanMelt]

Also made a litter dabber, prob a bit to thin for comfortable use, but fun to use some color!

[James M]

The trick to the angled bowl push is hold the blow tube up at a 45 degree angle when you push your bowls. Keep it up buddy
It

[LRG]

^^FYI if you get tools from arrowspring they fix free.I got one of the kilns randomly and like better than the big names.

http://www.arrowsprings.com/html/tools.html

[paulsafo]

props! exciting stuff. looks like you're starting off right using clear and setting achievable goals. you seem very patient and disciplined.. a lot more so than i can say for myself anyways. subscribed. keep it coming! this thread is going to blow its cap in no time. as for the reamer - i ruined a graphite skull by using it while the glass was too cold. remember you should never have to FORCE anything. especially graphite. just remember your delicate pencil lead in grade school when you were taking that important test and that mean nun wouldn't let you get up to sharpen it if you broke it because men are dirty rotten cheaters and probably up to no good...

what were we talking about? oh yeah.. marver/ream when its still hot and moves. if you're having to push very hard, you're probably working it too cold. I'm still new to this as well, so this is beginner advice, but these are problems that i have run into as well. looking forward to more pics. cheers!

[OceanMelt]

And fifty. Definitely more consistent on shaping, but still much work to be done. It will be fun to start making some with color. I'm thinking it will also help show flaws and areas to focus on...

[OceanMelt]

The trick to the angled bowl push is hold the blow tube up at a 45 degree angle when you push your bowls. Keep it up buddy
It

Big thanks James! Totally was spacing on this! Didn't get all of my last pushes great, but this was def part of the problem.

[OceanMelt]

So with hitting my little goal, I decided to push my limit. 1st attempt sherlock. Pretty much followed (or tried to) the Revere video exactly. My seal def had some gaps, and it was tough bringing it together, condensing, and reshaping. Felt good to struggle and make it to the end though

[OceanMelt]

Another little dabber, this one a bit more usable.

[OceanMelt]

Also trying to learn how to make cane. ISO still puts a smile on my face, so its def something I'll be working at down the road. If anyone has any pointers to cool cane making.....much appreciated!

[OceanMelt]

Tried a frit implosion, with really no idea what it would look like. This one was nothing great, but it gave me some cool ideas to experiment with.



That's all the updates for now. Thanks for looking!

[paulsafo]

Nice work! I was not expecting that on the frit implosion mine usually come out looking like a sea urchin or a kidney stone or something really spikey. What type frit did you use? Superfine ? Powder?

[OceanMelt]

Thanks paulsafo. It was GA triple passion (small). I covered the face and then laid down a spiral of clear.

[paulsafo]

I see. Good stuff man you're making me remember the importance of fundamentals. I'll be going back to clear spoons for a minute keep up the great work.

[OceanMelt]

Tried a single piece sherly.

[OceanMelt]

First flower implosion. The colors are a bit drowned out bc I snapped a pic before it completely cooled (waiting on kiln) in anticipation of a crack.