come on girls show me your gloryholes!

[madpup]

Thought that might get you to look  lol,
im after a gloryhole, a bench one would be nice,
i start this adventure a little under a year ago when
i was recoving from cardiomyopathy and found the
laid back of it all perfect for me, after a few ups and
downs ie blood vessles in my eye exploding, making
me blind in the right eye, no biggy still got one left,
no pun intended, then a second attack in the summer
leaves me with a twich now and then, this anit too bad,
it leads to some odd stringer work which makes me laugh,
like dabbing a nose on a penguin which in the end
covered his whole face, still laughing, now i like the
idea of working with glass, and one of the things i love
most is the marbles and paperwights, something that
cant be done on the flame but can on a gloryhole, now
this might be a none starter but im willing to have a go
to see if its for me or not.
Ideas people please, have you got a gloryhole? have you ever had one,
please let me know, found a few sites in the states and even
a bloke that makes his own, but nothing in the good old UK.
thanks for looking,
Mark.

[Chameleon]

The Murphy's fire bucket is supposed to be a good mini glory hole, I dont know of a uk supplier though, but if you are into DIY then apparently its easy to make one, just a steel outer, some fiber insulation and then a torch fitted into it, and put the whole shebang onto some decent legs to keep it from sitting directly on the table surface ??

With a big torch you can make pretty decent sized marbles and paperweights on a torch ... were some paperweight tutorials using stump suckers in one of the back issues of the flow if you havent seen it ? 

[awrylemming]

There was an article four-ish issues ago in the flow where a couple of guys were showing how to make a homemade gloryhole?  Not sure which issue it was but it may be helpful, although I don't think they went into huge detail.  It was at the US venue with all the demos.

[Moreton]

Hi Mark.  go to www.pielecrtonics.co.uk  for Merlyn's MMcombo units. Furnace, glory hole and Lehr all self contained about the bulk of an Aga . £8000 to process 10 Kg of raw glass and very low running costs. All the heat is recirculated through flues to run the Lehr. Foot controls to open the furnace and ,seperately, the glory hole door. Full elecronic control etc,etc. Merlyn ,the inventer, demo'd at IFG and it does really work. He is in Stourbridge and will make any equipement to your needs. Glory hole on it's own....no problem. I did see Martin looking at it all with a very interested look on his face !!!

Also have a word with Sean at Off Mandrel as I believe that they are getting into furnace work. Regards Pete

[Hamilton Taylor]

This might be a good place to start.

We have a small one, unused so far, but thinking of firing it up soonish.

Hmm, excuse for a bit of a gathering, perhaps?

Sean

[dinah46]

That was supposed to be a link to Photobucket but it is just a x Were did I go wrong? It looked ok when I loaded it. Help Please. Thanks Pete

Here you are

[Moreton]

Thanks Dinah. I've read Dawn's help file now so may do it properly next time 

The lower left is the furnace, centre right the glory hole and above that the lehr that is heated by waste fumes from the other parts. heat is finally exhasted on the left just above the furnace were it warms a marver !! He thinks of everything. All the stuff in the lower middle is fans and control gear.

[helenfc]

a gathering at hamilton taylor sounds like a plan sean *hint hint*

[Moreton]

Just remembered something else. At IFG 2008 the people who reproduce Roman Glass demoed and they had a portable set up. Furnace and seperate Glory Hole. They were not very helpfull with details of it all and I think that they made it all themselves. If you looked like a genuine customer they "Might" be a bit more forthcoming. Sorry I don't have contact details but I think that they are the only firm doing roman stuff so perhaps a Gooogle will find them. Worth a try.

[Moreton]

Here it is Lots of info about small scale blowing etc. They also do lessons now. http://www.romanglassmakers.co.uk/

[catriona]

Sorry no info on subject .But sean that is sounding good about a gathering lol.xxcatxx

[Steampunkglass]

That was supposed to be a link to Photobucket but it is just a x Were did I go wrong? It looked ok when I loaded it. Help Please. Thanks Pete

Here you are

Cooorrrr!!! I even like that you get to use frit in bucket sizes from what I see in the bottom right corner! 

[♥♥Tan♥♥]

oh my god oh my god oh my god BUCKETS of frit..oh my god oh my god oh my god

[sparrow]

oh my god oh my god oh my god BUCKETS of frit..oh my god oh my god oh my god

Lol.....nice one - distract her with frit and she won't be able to get saucy with the thread title

Isn't the Merlyn set-up brilliant? I got to drool over it at the IFG, too

[Moreton]

Sure is Sabine. Best bit is that he will make what you want as everything is a one off. He seems to be very adaptable and knows his stuff.