Would it be silly or wise to buy this kit? $525.00

I'll be the one to disagree on that. I can't stand the dryness of the book and therefore it's very hard for me to read. I bought it and sold it all in one week. I learned almost everything I needed to know off of here, WC, and several other books.

My EVERYTHING is outside! My "studio" is on my balcony porch. LOL When we move into our new house, though, I'll have a nice indoor studio up on the

2nd floor (our "bonus room"). THAT will have natural gas tapped right out of the wall, and my generator.

KarenK

I'm with Kandice on this one. I've read it many, many times, and every time I learn something new. Another great reference is Contemporary Lampworking Volumes 1 & 2, which (along with Kervin's book) gets opened up many times every week. It's by Bandhu Dunham.

Now, as for Corina's book... I adore Corina's chutzpah, admire her work and cheer for her business savvy. But I had her book less than a week before I sold it. There was simply nothing new in there for me. Some pretty pictures, yes, but it just wasn't the kind of resource that I needed.

It's w>I'll be the one to disagree on that. I can't stand the dryness of the book

Tink Check here for available work:

Thank you Starlia. Right now my head is spinning. There is a little part of me that's making me hold off on getting everything right now. Me scared I think, Lol. I have only had a 10 min demo watching a Lampworker in action. If I had already had a class behind me, I would jump into the truck and head to Austin. Plzzzz don't talk about Ebay, its taking all my money this week. Lol By the way, I won a book a few weeks ago and the guy never did send it. Dummy me gave him pos feedback right after I sent him a money order and I have no ideal where my little $9.00 money order stub is. Let that be a lesson to me. I even sent the guy an extra $3.00 because I felt bad about winning it was 1 dollar.

Scott

If it hasn't been a full 30 days yet, you can file a complaint with eBay. First, tho, I would request the seller's contact details from eBay and give them a call. Good luck on that, a lot of us have been there. In fact, I thought I was going to need to do that just today, but I finally heard back from my seller, who apologised and told me she doubled my order, and she has sent it! >happy dance<

Mmmm yeah! I love the sound of tandem beeping when I turn them both on...

-Kalera

starlia wrote:

I did read it cover to cover (because I was so excited that someone finally wrote a book about my obsession!) but mostly I use it fr reference... it has the answers to the technical questions people usually ask on Wetcanvas, and without all the wrong/misinformed/incomplete answers. :)

-Kalera

starlia wrote:

Just NO, Candace.

I like Corina's book for beginners. By the time it came out I really didn't need it, but it was interesting and pretty and well-written, and I'm glad I have it now, because it's proven very useful for Breezy. It's not an intermediate book, but it's good enough to get a studious beginner to an intermediate level quite quickly, and is especially useful if they don't have the advantage of taking classes.

-Kalera

T> I'm with Kandice on this one. I've read it many, many times, and every

yeah, better off leaving it ALONE, girlfriend.

ROFL!!!!

Well, it's meant as a reference book - I didn't read it all the way through, either, but it is invaluable in terms of having all the technical info you might need. WC and here and such - you have to trust that people know what they are talking about. Kervin is very well educated and experienced on the tech side of things. I would never have sold that book - I still refer to it from time to time.

Corina's book talks a lot about the way soft glass colors act and what you need to do to get certain patterns. Most of the instructions given in that book are for beads with a specific pattern - there's very little on organics. It is geared more toward the beginner, as well. Whereas the Dunham books center on borosilicate and seem more intermediate/advanced. It all depends on what you're looking to do. Me, I would rather have all of the books that limit myself to just a few. But only if you have the money. :)

Yes, exactly. It's like a technical instruction manual. I wouldn't read my car owner's manual cover to cover, either, and certainly wouldn't expect it to be anything but dry and boring, but I keep it on hand anyway.

Thanks for the info. I haven't decided on my "big girl" torch yet. At Kate's I'm using a Minor. I've heard good stuff about the Lynx and the Bethlehem that is small but can do boro (can't remember the name).

FWIW, you can do boro on a minor. I took a class with Roger Parramour and we all used minors. I have a 12" Venetian-style goblet he blew using a minor. I blow Christmas ornaments (I can make them a little larger than a baseball) and perfume bottles on mine all the time. I have a Carlisle CC, but rarely use it since it is such an O2 hog. I would say you probably can't get enough "oomph" (aka cfm) using a concentrator, but I am willing to bet two hooked up together would work. As soon as I can scrape it up, I am going to get a concentrator. And when I can scrape up some more, I will get the second one. Tanked O2 is too heavy, cumbersome, expensive, and those high pressure tanks can be dangerous. After having seen some at work, a concentrator is the only way to go, especially if you are just starting since the initial outlay is about the same.

Kate's I'm using a Minor. I've heard good stuff about the Lynx and the Bethlehem that is small but can do boro (can't remember the name).<

I agree with Louis, you can do small-scale boro on a Minor with minimal aggravation. However, I'll put another torch out for your consideration...the Nortel Midrange (middle sibling to the Minor). I've had mine for 5 years now and absolutely love it. It's a bigger flame (but soft-ish) than the Minor, you can get it hotter, but it's easy enough to throttle back to work Moretti without burning/boiling everything. I've even worked Satake (VERY soft) on it...wish I could afford more of that.

I have the Midrange-plus and got the premix topmounted instead of a Minor. You can use various National torch tips on it for a variety of flames, from tiny pinpoint to a genuine equal to a National 3A (19-hole hush tip). That sucker will melt 3/4" solid rod in no time at all. I love this torch for its versatility. My only complaint is that it's "dirty" when using propane...you get a lot of carbon buildup that you have to kick off regularly. But on natural gas it's wonderful.

C'mon up to Gilbert and you can try it out!

KarenK

I Love this group!!

yeah - I need to figure out a time to come up there. It would be really cool to be able to try out your torch as well!! Thanks!

propane...you

I second Karen's suggestion; I took her advice and got a Midrange Plus with a Minor top, and with two concentrators it makes short work of boro. I use the Minor for most of my soft-glass beads and vessels, even quite large ones.

-Kalera

Karen_AZ wrote: