Clear Rods and supplies?

Hi Shive,

An inexpensive book that will help you get started is "Flameworking" by Elizabeth Mears. It's not the best book out there, but it's also nowhere near the price of other, more comprehensive but less accessible tomes. Here's the Amazon link:

The problem with seeking basic information about flameworking is that there are many options, and with options comes complexity. I recommend that first, you continue to research until is starts to make sense, and you know exactly what you want to do. When you have a good handle on terminology and materials, you should probably *call* a supplier (Arrow Springs, Generations Glass, Frantz Art Glass, to name a few reputable ones) and talk to someone knowledgeable.

You might try posing this question on

which, though interminably slow on dialup, does cater to newbies. You'll get a lot of answers, but you may get a little closer to making sense out of them.

Good luck,

some online stained glass suppliers carry basic supplies such as rods. Try Glasscrafters .com. The better burners may take more research. Google lampworking suppliers. Also, Wale apparatus once you know what you need.m

The best overall book of techniques, equipment and examples is Contemporary Lampworking by Bandhu Scott Dunham, about $35 new. Be warned that what you saw on the boardwalk involved both the high end and the silly extreme of lampworking. By high end, I mean it involved working borosilicate (Pyrex) glass in oxy-propane torch flames. The tubing and rod is very tolerant of temperature extremes and the worker can get away with things in demonstrations that can't be done without extreme care with lessor glass. But the equipment to do this is costly, what with tanks and regulators and buying O2, etc. Expect to spend $300-500 to get set up. By silly extreme, I mean that the spun glass items made by carny booth people are held in low respect by people who are doing bead and sculptural work. Rarely have I seen good art work done by the spun glass technique, but I have seen a few cases. Soft glass melts at lower temperatures and can be used with cheaper torches that are propane only, but it must be handled properly or it will crack while working or while cooling. In the past there were many more colors available in soft glass, but recent developments have increased the number of boro colors available.

By the way, you might check both the quality of your dialup connection and of your modem using one of the minor utilities that monitor speed. I dial up at 56K and few pages take as much as a couple of minutes to download - but if you want to look at pictures (normally you can look at text before all the pictures are down) you are going to have to have the best connection you can get. I have seen my connection deteriorate to as low as 20K during wet rainy weather and a complaint to the phone company yielded a repair to the liine.

Thanks all.

I contacted Arrow Springs (on advice from a contact) and explained that I was a newbie and was totally awash in way too much information about the hobby. They were very friendly, patient and went through the list of equipment and supplies that I had put together over the last few weeks and told me what I actually needed, which items that are worthless to a beginner, and help me put together a minimal, but quality learning set.

With any luck, by the middle of next week I should be ruining some perfectly good glass rod.

Shive.

just out of curiosity and so we don't all go re-creating the wheel, could I ask what was deemed to be a "minimal, but quality learning set"?

Bryan "I gather information, stones gather moss, we're both happy" Paschke

A Nortel Mid Burner. Not a small beginner cheapo but big enough for good work without costing a thousand dollars.

Hose and two flashback adapters. (Didn't know that propane rots acetelene hose). I got the regulators and tanks locally.

6x6 graphite square.

Medium graphite paddle.

Large smashing paddle.

Protective glasses.

Large tweezer set.

Small octagonal reamer.

Small, medium and large graphic rods.

4 bundles of boro glass. 4, 7, 10, 12 mm

The brass cleaning brush, knives, sissors and c clamp was bought locally.

So far I haven't come to a point that I realise that I am missing something. Of course, I haven't come very far, either :-) Lots of fun, though.

Shive

Thanks! i'm adding your list to my list of things to someday buy....though I found a lampworking class in my area that I might take first....this at least gives me some frame of reference.

Sorry it took so long to get back to you...I spent a week in cancun and then I've been too busy to play since.

Bryan