Pulling Points

Pulling Points is a method of tearing off a small piece of a tube to work with at the same time creating a handle/blowpipe to hold while manipulating the glass.

The first thing to remember is to always be spinning.

Take the tube you are starting with, decide how big of a piece you want to work with. Rotate the glass tube in the flame at the point you want to tear it off. Continue to rotate slowly. Gradually apply inward pressure so that your hands are moving towards each other. Soon you will have a small gather and the glass will be the consistency of taffy.

Slowly and evenly pull your hands apart. The glass should begin to taper towards a point. If you pulled far enough you can use each tapered end as it's own "pulled point."

Separate the new pulled point where it tapers down to its smallest point. Fire polish the ends to avoid cutting yourself. Now you should have a small section of tube with a tapered point you can use as a handle and blow tube.