Glass blowing advice

Started by anditsinthefish, January 28, 2013, 03:54:04 PM

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anditsinthefish

was wondering if anyone who glass blows could give me some advice... I am going to have some versions of my lamp working blown so that I can have some larger versions for my degree show. I use frit in my lamp working so am planing to use the same (96 coe) frit on the gaffer when I get them blown, I was just wondering how much I would need....I know it's like a piece of string, but would one pot of 2oz frit be okay or would I need two...

And also any stocklist in the UK you would recommend? Thanks xx
Sarah xx
Website. Blog. Flickr.

qwirkyglass

Hey, this one i can answer :D

for Gaffer Glass you want Claire and Mona at http://www.gafferglass.co.uk/default.asp
You just email them your order and they ring you for payment details, they are quite fast as long as they have it in stock, but nearly everything is in my experience, the min you can buy from them is 500g. and postage in £10 for 12KG i think (thats thier standard postage, its worth sharing if theres another blower / caster ordering at the same time)
Caroline Beadbug also does the gaffer frits in smaller amounts, but youll have to talk to her personally about amounts and costs.

Where are you getting your pieces blown? are you doing them at your uni? if your unsure give me a shout :)

and it does depend on size of piece and density of colour.
If you look at the vases on my etsy (quirkyglassshop) or on the thread where i was showing off the gaffer frit from beadbug
(http://www.frit-happens.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=39906.0)
i can get a max of 3 of that size vase from a 50g bag of colour.

The other thing you need to think about is whether you are working with opaque or transparent colours, as you will need more colour for transparent due to it blowing out and becoming more and more see through, but opaques pretty much stay the same

i hope this helps and vaguely makes sense, i have a splitting headache so sorry if its jibberish :)

anditsinthefish

ooo no that's wonderful :) unfortunately due to health and safety we have no hot glass at uni :( so we are going to Anthony Wassell at the Harley Gallery in Notts, his studio is next to our tutors.

That makes me feel better, I want to use probably a trans base colour and use opaque frit on the top part so I doubt I'll need tons judging but what you can get out of a 50g bag. And thanks for the tip about the trans blowing out, never thought about that!

Do you think I can use some of the 96 frit I already have so that they match?

Thanks for your help!! :) xx
Sarah xx
Website. Blog. Flickr.

qwirkyglass

If it were me, i would try and talk to Anthony Wassell, and make sure that it is a 96 glass that he is working with, and what colours he uses normally. Just to make sure everything is running smoothly, the last thing you want is to hire his time and nothing to come out.

Do you know what make 96 you already have? cause you can nearly always match the colours you have to charts online, or ring the producer, there are ways :D

Do you have an example of a bead that you want to turn into a blow piece? i might be able to advise you a bit better if i know what you are aiming for.

Another way of having a trans base with opaque over the top is to use blowing colour bar. Imagine your lampworking rods blown up to an inch thick and a ft long. Then you break a bit off and blow that out, then apply your frit on top. Its a technique that i like working with, made one today actually :P but its annealing so cant show you now however,

this is gaffer aquamarine base from rod with enamel white k2 chips over the base is a much purer colour compared to

Which is just a roll of trans frit. And here you can see where the colour has gone really pale, as i did not have enough and pulled my piece too big

anditsinthefish

Yeah we went and spoke to him today and he told us look on the kulger site as to what colours we wanted as that is what he uses. Yeah I have kept records of all my 96 frits so I was considering making my own from gaffer frit blends with what he has already.

This is kind of what I want:
Blowing mini sample by Sarah Jane Walsh Designs, on Flickr

Purely a decorative piece, Anthony was pleased and said it was easy to achieve, so now its just my colours and frit to sort out :) xx
Sarah xx
Website. Blog. Flickr.

Pat from Canvey

Ooooh I like that. Good luck with the final piece.

qwirkyglass

Kugler is supplied in britian by Glassworks services. Never delt with them my self so dont know how they are.
However Caroline Beadbug also supplies some kugler colours, so i would contact her maybe.
But gaffer and kugler are the same Coe and seem to work together so if you have both im sure you would be fine to use both.
From your design i would say you need to look at getting rod colour for the base, but maybe anthony will have some you can buy off him save you buying a whole rod.
They will be lovely when finished im sure.
A friend of mine has just had a commission to make 24 pieces similar to yours, but a metre high each, we are going to have fun making those lol.

Beansprout

#7
Reading this makes me miss blowing so much! Love the form, similar to my degree show stuff www.rebeccabeanglass.co.uk - have a look at the blown pieces, I made all of those and more with 1 kg bags of powder and odd pots of frit, with plenty left over, so 500g from gaffer would do you fine, probably won't use it all but better to have more than less. Especially if you want to be making testers and experimenting with colour combos and also any accidents!

Good luck and hope all goes well!