Trying My Hand At Glass Pipe Making

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This shits awesome! Something I could never afford to get into but a pretty fucking sweet hobby. Your stuff looks pretty decent so far too, for have no training and what not. Your first couple pieces look like you had something else on your mind...
 
Hey man nice setup and work. Just wanted to stop by and mention that a buddy of mine has the same torch and similar setup, and has also been going through the problems associated with running through oxygen tanks so quickly. Hes out in the boonies and has to pay a pretty price for the gas, not to mention the hour drive everytime as well, hes not into smoking at all but loves glass and makes some pretty cool things. I can truly honor the work people have put into pieces after giving it a try myself. Have never put that much time into is as i dont go to his place too often, but after looking through the thread it gave me some ideas i want to try next time. I'll have to check out fdd's threads on it as well but its gettin late here so another day another story. Thanks for the inspiration and keep up the good work!
 
Glass update....... :) IT IS FUCKING HELL. For the Oxygen. The reason I hadnt posted much is because the two oxygen tanks I had werent sufficient to keep me learning. At this stage of the game, I've logged about 25 hours on the torch as far as my own actual time. Without any instruction, mind you. Lessons are like $400 for a 2 day class. Ouch! My torch is a pretty powerful torch, and it used way too much oxygen. By the time I'd call the oxygen refilling company to come out and swap tanks, it would take 3, 5, or even 8 days in one case! Now, I have Oxygen Generators, three of them (at 600w of power each, dammit!). Now I can blow glass all day long and just pay the electric cost instead of oxygen cost. Propane is the other gas we use (the red line on torch, green is oxygen), and its used at about 20% of the rate of the Oxygen so those refills are pretty easy and fast, and you can do those at a gas station or Wally Mart.

After looking at the pictures I took, they are a bit blurry, but you get the idea. Since my pipes are still young, I'll work on the photo setup later. =) Additionally, inside in a dark area they dont show much color versus actually taking them outside for a photo. The colors really lights up in the sun.


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Pic 45: Remember these turds? Everyone here, and in real life, think they are dildos at first. Woops.




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Pic 46: Started to work on form with a little clear.......




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Pic 47: A mis-shaped black pipe and then one where I messed up on the top color.




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Pic 48: Suddenly it hits me on how to make these things. From right to left, yellow flower on South of bowl, then colored carb and colored ring around bowl and flower on the end of it (looks just like a red nub in the picture), then 3 flowers all in a row, and finally no flowers but a lot of frit and lines. My first real experimentation with color. I have a long way to go.




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Pic 49: Sorry, blurry. The left is a bat which is about 5-6" long. I made another with a carb on it, but you-know-who wont let me photo it because its always in his hands being smoked. The carb on a bat is really wild. :) Then some more color to the right on some spoons.




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Pic 50: Started tinkering with a few marbles for fun, they are neat. Then another black spoon and a blue/white colored spoon. The blue/white one cracked on the bottom because I goofed on the coloring a little bit.




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Pic 51: Here's all of em.




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Pic 52: I want to fill all the shelves with my own pipes. Then put in a few TV's and the Xbox. :)




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Pic 53: There's a LOT of room. :) The other two shelves are on the left side. You can barely see the 3 shelves with pipes on them, they are by the light switch in the middle.




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Pic 54: Yesterday nights work, so I guess this is the most recent. From left to right, a turtle on a stand, a BIG spoon, a black spoon with a little curve and some butler buttons, and then a cobalt blue bat. The little thing with ears was supposed to be Hello Kitty! -- but isnt. :)




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Pic 55: BIG spoon. Told ya!




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Pic 56: Studio shot




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Pic 57: And the rest of it.......... The 3 big machines under the left table are the Oxygen Concentrators. You think getting into glass is expensive, wait till you buy these at $700-$900 each retail.




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Pic 63: Let there be lighttttttttttttttt!




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Pic 69: See how that Cobalt Blue shines? I made a spoon as well, but mailed it to my grandmother already. She always loved Cobalt Blue, and so do I!


That's all I got for now. Gotten a few PM's about selling work when its done, sure!

Thanks again for reading..... Hope you enjoyed.

Kitty
 

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i love your studio.

your work is looking really good. you'll catch up to me in no time.

we should be getting pics every few days now, eh? glad to see you got your oxygen issue dealt with. nothing to do now but melt glass. :cool:
 
Damn you have improved alot alot. great job.

way to go! lookin great

Good looks man!

Thanks, thanks, thanks. ;)

i love your studio.

your work is looking really good. you'll catch up to me in no time.

we should be getting pics every few days now, eh? glad to see you got your oxygen issue dealt with. nothing to do now but melt glass. :cool:

Thanks! I'd think so yes! Made a really neat cherry colored spoon (The size of a bbq serving spoon ;)) and a few black pieces yesterday. Really happy with the progress that comes with not having to worry all the time about oxygen. fdd, $1350 DELIVERED, but the flame on the red max photo is as big as it gets. A 4th oxycon would help, but its just too much heat for my sized work right now.

Nice,can we be expecting any bongs soon?

Very soon I hope! Bongs can be a tricky one. While sure, you can melt any glass you like with my torch, holding a huge bong by hand and hand rotating that is very difficult and very heavy. Generally if its bigger than 30" long its made on a glass lathe, which spins glass on each side and you have a moving torch thats mounted to the lathe as it rotates the glass for you. The order in which I want to make things goes like this:

Bats (Working), Spoons (Almost done), Bubblers (Todo), Bongs (Todo)

The bat and spoons are actually pretty easy, but mine arent being colored or have any fancy options. They are just clear with some color or clear with a goofy shape. The steps to achieve the 4 goals above are multi-faceted too -- in order to make my bats and spoons better, I need to learn coloring more and more structural that way they are all more pretty and more "on center" and "straight". They are really close now, but not quite perfectly symmetrical yet. Of course, fun ones arent symmetrical too, you can get crazy. Anyways, to get to the bong point, I need to learn how to color as said, marbles, more shaping techniques, more gravity and heat reading, dichroic glass, murrini/frit applications, forming donuts and perks inside glass, jointing and fusing, etc., etc., etc.......

To make the short story long, a bongs really just a lot of little work fused together, just gotta learn it =)

Thanks for all the compliments, you'll see more updates now =)
 
Thanks, thanks, thanks. ;)



Thanks! I'd think so yes! Made a really neat cherry colored spoon (The size of a bbq serving spoon ;)) and a few black pieces yesterday. Really happy with the progress that comes with not having to worry all the time about oxygen. fdd, $1350 DELIVERED, but the flame on the red max photo is as big as it gets. A 4th oxycon would help, but its just too much heat for my sized work right now.



Very soon I hope! Bongs can be a tricky one. While sure, you can melt any glass you like with my torch, holding a huge bong by hand and hand rotating that is very difficult and very heavy. Generally if its bigger than 30" long its made on a glass lathe, which spins glass on each side and you have a moving torch thats mounted to the lathe as it rotates the glass for you. The order in which I want to make things goes like this:

Bats (Working), Spoons (Almost done), Bubblers (Todo), Bongs (Todo)

The bat and spoons are actually pretty easy, but mine arent being colored or have any fancy options. They are just clear with some color or clear with a goofy shape. The steps to achieve the 4 goals above are multi-faceted too -- in order to make my bats and spoons better, I need to learn coloring more and more structural that way they are all more pretty and more "on center" and "straight". They are really close now, but not quite perfectly symmetrical yet. Of course, fun ones arent symmetrical too, you can get crazy. Anyways, to get to the bong point, I need to learn how to color as said, marbles, more shaping techniques, more gravity and heat reading, dichroic glass, murrini/frit applications, forming donuts and perks inside glass, jointing and fusing, etc., etc., etc.......

To make the short story long, a bongs really just a lot of little work fused together, just gotta learn it =)

Thanks for all the compliments, you'll see more updates now =)


Thanks for explaining that to the people who aren't into glass blowing!

I'd rep ya but I cant again.

Can somebody get this guy a rep?
 
my gas people started me at 35 a bottle. after a few months i talked to the billing dude and he dropped me down to 21 a bottle. after a year i talked to my buddy who works within and he got me down even lower. they usually fill their own bottles so if you talk to them they can work with you. the more you use the cheaper it should become. it's hard at first because you aren't getting much back from your bottle. i would go thru a whole bottle and be lucky to sell one thing to pay for it. so you kinda are "investing" in oxygen your first few months.

i want a new torch. :cuss: ====>> http://www.mountainglassarts.com/s.nl/it.A/id.2018/.f
i work at a gass and cryo company, a k size costs $8 to fill. dewars go up to 40,000 cubic feet but are sold by liquid liter. i deliver to glass shops they mostly use 180L one or two use 230-265L and they last like a month in a shop that teaches glass for oaksterdam
 
Nice prices there for sure stupidclown! I'm told the big liquid oxygen dewars (not compressed o2, but liquid o2) in that size range usually last about 3 weeks before they bleed off naturally. Not terrible, but the tank cost was the same as the generators, and I dont have to refill those! :) I might get a liquid oxy tank if I start to blow REALLY big pieces, aka 60mm x 5mm on up for borosilicate (pyrex). That'd be in addition to the concentrators, which would be used for part of the flame, liquid for the rest when I need super flame.
 
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003: Last nights work. Pink lighter shown for size reference.

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005: Black with some sparkle blue color lines. Hard to see with the camera, but neater in person.

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006: Bat with a hint of candy caned color that was pre-mixed and strung before the pipe was made. A two part process I suppose.

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007: First attempt at a gandalf pipe. It's neat, its big, but kinda fugly shape-wise =)

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008: Same color as the pipe above, its a dark red that glows nice and turns clear in some areas as its worked.

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009: I like this one a lot. Just a nice shaped and sized spoon, and the design I thought was pretty when it finished out of the kiln.

That's it for now! Time to make some more...........
 

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I'm really impressed, you've improved quite rapidly and even your first few weren't that bad and basically the perfect first time pipe, that has that little sentimental value, anyways Great Job!!! I can't wait t see what's next!!!
 
your studio looks awesome and you are really getting into it!

also your skills are getting better with every piece, you will be making great stuff in no time :blsmoke:

good luck! and keep us updated ;-)
 
Thanks everyone. :) :) :) :)

Made a bubbler........... It aint pretty but if it doesnt crack it'll be the first 3 part glass piece I made! In the kiln now, good for photos in a few hours............
 
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