As I write to you, I am out of oxygen. Not talking the kind we breathe on the regular, but the compressed stuff I need to run my torch. I've just gotten started glassblowing again, kick started out of a standstill by a sudden means of distribution. Putting it simply, I found someone to buy my glass. It's up to me to produce it. I've got a possible 1200 pipe order (not one I can possibly fill in the time, but still awesome) and I'm working to do whatever I can to make as many pipes as possible.
We got another, slightly higher wattage coil and John rebuilt the kiln. It works great...perhaps too well.
I pulled out three pipes that were flattened and stuck together. They were close in the kiln but not touching. The massive amount of heat caused them to collapse. I was able to separate them as they had just cold sealed together, but it was still pretty crazy. Wish I had taken a picture of them stuck.
They were all really nice to start with, but I think they'll still work for this order so long as this isn't the norm. John and I had a good laugh about it, as he determined we needed a lower temperature. All is well with the kiln so far.
It's been awhile since I've blown glass due to having to focus on things that would make more money now, like Steemit. Suddenly, glass has a lot of potential in the near future so I've spent the last day on it, either working or thinking about working. I've all the sudden got this chronic problem with my carb hole. I have issues popping them or I make them too big. The pipe above is an example at my way of handling it in a somewhat pretty matter.
I've still got the ability to make the sherlock shape pretty easily, which makes me so happy. I can do them about as easily as a spoon at this point. The one at the beginning of the article is the closest I've done to what's called a gandalf pipe. Soon, I'll craft a large fumed one just for hash.
Anyone that has known John throughout various stages of his life would have known him to use the phrase "question mark" for all sorts of things. Today I drew one on a pipe and I like the way they look.
This is one of my favorite pieces. John suggested I use big gobs of blue in raised bumps to make best use of adding the color as an accent to pipes, especially clear ones He was right, it works pretty well. It adds nice contrast.
I'm bringing back the Aca pipe line, although I did it a bit lopsided. I got it legible the first try but I put it the complete wrong direction. It's still a functional, nice looking pipe that someone will really enjoy.
We got Fisher (my name for my torch) and the studio set up and I got to work, newly motivated by the order I can't fill at my current pace. My biggest battle is time. I currently make 2.5 pipes an hour, wheras my goal is a minimum of six. By doing things like opening to large of holes, I waste a lot of time fixing mistakes that could be avoided.
This is an example of problems to be avoided. I pushed this bowl in and caused a massive hole. I used black stringer to try and patch the hole and make it smaller. I succeeded, although it looks kind of bad.
This is a combination of recent decoration techniques. I've recently started using a lot of stringers which are long thin strands of glass. I draw on the glass with them. Then there's the dots variation of John's idea, slightly more melted in.
Using strings of my kiln strike red, I draw on the end of a tube. Making the pipe, the designs melt in and I have a nicely decorated pipe.
It hasn't been all magic and fun, burns happen too. I got these ones from a hot graphite rod. I put my plantain salve on it immediately and it doesn't really hurt at this point. It does look pretty crazy though.
I'm having a blast but I've got a lot to do. We've got a pizza party soon, that I'll share with you guys too. Lots of glassblowing to be had as well, life should be getting very interesting from here on out. I have a garden update in the works, as we planted already sprouted seeds into containers today. Stay tuned, thank you for reading.