I have my studio in my laundry room in the house as well, and it's fine as
long as you have adequate ventilation. Mine had a ceiling vent as well, and
we took the vent off, attached an air duct to a range hood from Home Depot
and attached that to the ceiling (chains) a few feet above my torch. This
pumps the air right out. Just crack the window so you have air flow in and
you will have really good ventilation.
Also, make sure you have some fireproof flooring of some sort. We just
bought the backer board from Home Depot and put it down right over the
carpet. It's been working very well. You can also put this on your table
top, if you don't have a steel table to work on.
Make sure you have a fire extinguisher and first aid kit around, and if
you're using a propane torch, make sure your tank is outside, and that you
have a carbon monoxide detector inside your studio. I drilled a hole in my
wall (well, okay, I had my carpenter friend do it) to pump the propane
inside - make sure the hole is sealed once the hose is in. If you're using
a hothead, that's not an issue, and ventilation is not as big a deal as
well, but you should have something pumping air out and bringing air back
in.
Feel free to ask any more questions!
Check out Jim Kervin's book "More Than You Ever Needed To Know About Glass
Beadmaking" - this covers a lot on studio set up and all you need to know
about glass.
Good luck and have lots of fun!
--
Kandice Seeber
Air & Earth Designs
http://www.lampwork.net
My lampwork class was this weekend - it was so great! I don't think I can
wait for my husband to put a window and ventilation in the garage (because
it will probably take a year for that to happen), so I'm eyeing my laundry
room - it's got a window that opens, a ventilation fan in the
ceiling...tile
floors... it's small, but maybe that is good since I tend to SPREAD all my
cr@p out everywhere and small would make me want to stay organized. Do you
think it's ok to do it in the house like that?
And now I'm eyeing two starter kits:
http://www.arrowsprings.com/html/kits.html
The Basics - Professional
MINOR BURNER
OXYGEN REGULATOR
PROPANE REGULATOR
HOSE SET
Regular: $331.00 DISCOUNT PRICE: $297.90
and
same stuff (don't know about the brand of the burner) he
http://www.artglass1.com/kitslamp4.htm for $269.
Has anyone ever ordered from Sundance? Their prices for everything seem
really a bunch lower than the other places I'm finding... sometimes you
get
what you pay for - is this the case with them? Their kilns are also lower
priced than most I've been finding...
I know I don't need a kiln right off - because I know I need lots of
practice... but having a kiln would let me start playing with PMC right
off
and that would make me really happy too I think... plus there is a PMC
certification class in March - so if I started playing now, I might be
ready
for that by then.... so I'm back to kiln questions.
A lot of the kilns I'm finding that have the built in controller and a
front
door say they are good for PMC, fusing and annealing... but I'm wondering
how in the world do you put the beads with the mandrels still on them in
the
kiln and then close the door - I think the mandrels would stick out too
far - see this pictu
http://www.artglass1.com/paragon-sc2-1-r.htm and scroll down to where they
have the fiber blankets and bead rack set up - do they NOT close the
door??
Do they just use the fiber blanket to hold the heat in??? I'm so confused.
I
thought you had to lock them up tight, let them soak, then ramp the temp
down slowly...
Ok that's it for now I think... thanks for any responses!
Pam