Lampworkers

"Restrict the cat"?? That would be "cats", plus a couple of big dogs with
tails that are constantly knocking things over. All in all, I enjoy their
company so much that I don't mind the occasional breakage. I can always
make more beads and bottles!

Interesting side story about how to use broken glass stuff. I used to teach
a beginning stained glass to the local bible college, and next door was a
pottery class. I noticed one day that the pottery students were visiting
our stained glass classroom a lot. It turned out that they were collecting
our scraps, the ones that were too small to re-use, and grinding them up.
Then they used the powder to line plates, bowls, ashtrays, whatever. They'd
fire these, and the results were absolutely beautiful. Like enamel, which I
guess it was, or close enough. Has anybody else ever tried this, or seen it
done?

- Steve R
St Louis

"vj" wrote in message
...
vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Steve Richardson"
:

]The line can be pretty blurry, though. Big blown stuff that requires a
]furnace to make and then to anneal -- that's pretty different from
]lampworking all right! But I make small (1-2 inches or less) blown glass
]bottles using the same torch, rods, release, and annealing blanket as I
do
]for beads on a mandrel. The only real difference is that I puff once or
]twice down the tube that the glob of molten glass is built on. If my
@#$%$#
]cats would just leave the things alone when they're finished, I'd have a
lot
]more to show for my efforts! Small-scale blowing is a huge amount of fun
]and everybody should try it at least once.

thanks, Steve!
the statement is there just so people understand the techniques are
different and so they know that what i'm using/referring to are not
beads that are "blown".

isn't there a way to put your blown bits in a case or cupboard, or
something? or restrict the cats to the non-work area?

i've been lucky, so far. the cats ignore my beads except to complain
with my tray is in my lap and they want the lap.

-----------
@vicki [SnuggleWench]
(Books) http://www.booksnbytes.com
(Jewelry) http://www.vickijean.com
-----------
It's not what you take, when you leave this world behind you;
it's what you leave behind you when you go. -- Randy Travis

I thought my ISP deal (mandatory 1-year sign-up to get the "great rates"
they were offering) included free Web site hosting, but it doesn't. I'm a
complete idiot when it comes to computers and Web stuff. I've got an el
cheapo digital camera around here somewhere but I wouldn't know where or how
to post any pictures. I see other people doing it all the time, though.
Advice, please?

- Steve R
St Louis

"Christina Peterson" wrote in message
news:1064178407.676985@prawn...
Can you show us what you do?

Tina


"Steve Richardson" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 20 Sep 2003 12:27:27 -0700, vj wrote:

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Kandice Seeber"
:

Lampworked glass beads are not "blown glass", this is a different
technique entirely.

The line can be pretty blurry, though. Big blown stuff that requires a
furnace to make and then to anneal -- that's pretty different from
lampworking all right! But I make small (1-2 inches or less) blown
glass
bottles using the same torch, rods, release, and annealing blanket as I
do
for beads on a mandrel. The only real difference is that I puff once or
twice down the tube that the glob of molten glass is built on. If my
@#$%$#
cats would just leave the things alone when they're finished, I'd have a
lot
more to show for my efforts! Small-scale blowing is a huge amount of
fun
and everybody should try it at least once.

- Steve R
St Louis

Don't be too quick to abandon "ethnocentricity" here, it's not entirely a
bad thing. We lost our electronics industries to cheaper imports with
perceived higher quality. We lost our steel industry. We lost our rubber
industry. We're losing our automotive industry, and I'll go out on a limb
and predict that we'll eventually lose our commercial aircraft industry.
All because we tend to buy the least-expensive option that doesn't sacrifice
quality. That cheaper option may end up being more expensive in the long
run, though, if you include the hidden costs of lost jobs and unemployment
payments and uninsured hospital patients and the reduced (or no) tax
revenues from now-idle American workers. I'm not fanatical about "buy
American" (hey, I have a British Triumph in my garage) but in general it's
better to buy something that helps the country, even on a tiny scale, than
something that doesn't. (Omigawd, he's raving about imports again!
Somebody stop him!)

Of course there's the other point of view, that workers in a lot of places
overseas really need the economic boost that American buying can give, and
we're all citizens of a world community. Why aren't these things ever
clear-cut and simple?

- Steve R

"vj" wrote in message
...
vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from Deirdre S.
:

]link quality to *skills, materials and
]technique* rather than nationality. Less ethno-centric, dontcha think?

okay, that's a possibility.
but how am i going to know?
how would you categorize it?


-----------
@vicki [SnuggleWench]
(Books) http://www.booksnbytes.com
(Jewelry) http://www.vickijean.com
-----------
It's not what you take, when you leave this world behind you;
it's what you leave behind you when you go. -- Randy Travis

I think you're right ... enamel -is- powdered glass, with some kind of
medium to spread it on the surfaces to be decorated, and/or to hold it
in place for the firing step.

I agree that enamel is very cool looking. And I like the idea of one
art's 'waste' being another art's raw material ...

Deirdre

On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 23:21:13 GMT, "Steve Richardson"
wrote:

Like enamel, which I
guess it was, or close enough

And I'd love to show my students the differences, too... I look
forward to the 'side by side' photos.

Deirdre

On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 17:27:48 -0700, vj wrote:

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from Kathy N-V
:

]If you guys want to use the photos, feel free.

cool!
what a good idea, Kathy! thank you!


-----------
@vicki [SnuggleWench]
(Books) http://www.booksnbytes.com
(Jewelry) http://www.vickijean.com
-----------
It's not what you take, when you leave this world behind you;
it's what you leave behind you when you go. -- Randy Travis

I agree with you, Deirdre.

I would like to note in particular, that art has traditional transcended
borders, bcause it reflects humanity, which I feel is a more important
catagory than nationality.

Tina


"Deirdre S." wrote in message
...
I hear you. And agree that we need to understand how our buying habits
affect our 'home grown' arts and industries.

The form of ethnocentricity I hope we avoid is the automatic
assumption that what 'we' do is best, what 'we' make is best and what
'we' like to buy is best ... across the boards, and without examining
whether it is true in a particular instance, or whether making such
assumptions helps or harms us in the long run.

I think it really *isn't* simple and clear cut. And I think that we
could benefit -eventually- if there was less sweat-shop labor
producing cheap consumer goods ... mostly for -us- as the market ...
and more economic equity worldwide.

It looks 'expensive' to lean in that direction, at first glance, since
lots of the cheap goods we take for granted would rise in price. But I
think it would make for economics in a different, healthier *spirit*.
One that has built in value for maker and consumer alike, no matter
where they live, work and buy. I think people who make things would
make better things, and people who buy things would value them more.

To lots of people, talking about spirit and economics in one sentence
is absurd. To me, it makes a lot of sense.

Deirdre

On Mon, 22 Sep 2003 23:37:23 GMT, "Steve Richardson"
wrote:

Of course there's the other point of view, that workers in a lot of
places
overseas really need the economic boost that American buying can give,
and
we're all citizens of a world community. Why aren't these things ever
clear-cut and simple?

Of course you can distinguish between what's good and what isn't. It's
harder when you don't have the bead in front of you. I think the majority
of people here know the difference, and certainly way more than the average
consumer. Even lots more than many "educated" consumers.

Tina


"vj" wrote in message
...
vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "laura"
:

]Which could be a wonderful marketing point. If Vicki wants to, she can
]point out that she has the knowledge to distinguish quality from
]non-quality, in effect saying "Here are the distinctions and there is
good
]and bad work to be found in all categories. However, I select only the
]best, so you don't have to worry about that part of it".

ye, gods! i doubt i'm anywhere near having that kind of knowledge!
to a large extent, i'm trusting that the artists here are being honest
with me! [and having watched Nicole work]

i think i'm in danger of drowning on this one!

glub

glub

glub



-----------
@vicki [SnuggleWench]
(Books) http://www.booksnbytes.com
(Jewelry) http://www.vickijean.com
-----------
It's not what you take, when you leave this world behind you;
it's what you leave behind you when you go. -- Randy Travis

Well, while this is true - I can safely say that lampworking is not an
American industry. So we can't lose it, in my mind. It's art. People all
over the world participate in art.

--
Kandice Seeber
Air & Earth Designs
http://www.lampwork.net

Don't be too quick to abandon "ethnocentricity" here, it's not entirely a
bad thing. We lost our electronics industries to cheaper imports with
perceived higher quality. We lost our steel industry. We lost our rubber
industry. We're losing our automotive industry, and I'll go out on a limb
and predict that we'll eventually lose our commercial aircraft industry.
All because we tend to buy the least-expensive option that doesn't
sacrifice
quality. That cheaper option may end up being more expensive in the long
run, though, if you include the hidden costs of lost jobs and unemployment
payments and uninsured hospital patients and the reduced (or no) tax
revenues from now-idle American workers. I'm not fanatical about "buy
American" (hey, I have a British Triumph in my garage) but in general it's
better to buy something that helps the country, even on a tiny scale, than
something that doesn't. (Omigawd, he's raving about imports again!
Somebody stop him!)

Of course there's the other point of view, that workers in a lot of places
overseas really need the economic boost that American buying can give, and
we're all citizens of a world community. Why aren't these things ever
clear-cut and simple?

- Steve R

In article , vj
writes:

i stick to American made cars,

Really? Have you actually found an American car? My father has been...
complaining... for years about the lack of American cars....

Even the ones with American brand names on them are filled with parts made
elsewhere, and it's almost impossible to get American made replacement
parts....
Kaytee
"Simplexities" on
www.eclecticbeadery.com
http://www.rubylane.com/shops/simplexities

In article , "Steve
Richardson" writes:

I noticed one day that the pottery students were visiting
our stained glass classroom a lot. It turned out that they were collecting
our scraps, the ones that were too small to re-use, and grinding them up.
Then they used the powder to line plates, bowls, ashtrays, whatever. They'd
fire these, and the results were absolutely beautiful. Like enamel, which I
guess it was, or close enough. Has anybody else ever tried this, or seen it
done?
I did it with cracked marbles, bottle glass and seed beads when I was doing
ceramics/pottery back in the 1980s. It will depend on the glazes, the clay(s)
and the firing temp, as well as how big the glass chunks are. Usually, I used
"Duncan Transparent Gloss" low fire glaze, no matter what clay/temp I was
using-- used it to "stick" the glass to the bisque ware, and kind of fill in
the spaces between glass chunks.
Reds generally burn out, sometimes with a kind of scummy blackening, even at
"low fire" (cone 06). Seed beads generally only slump at that temp, but melt in
pretty well at high fire (stoneware, cone 5-8); bright colors generally burn
out by cone 5. Cone 10 is usually too hot and everything just blurs, and most
colors burn out.
The one stoneware bowl that I filled about an inch high with cracked glass (mix
of bottle and marbles) turned out wonderful, despite the big crack in the glass
that developed. It all melted down into a solid "pool" about a 1/2" deep--
looked like a tropical sea tide pool. I figure it cracked because either the
ceramic temp cool down process was too fast for glass, or just because it
wasn't compatible shrink-ratewise with the stoneware (which was "Duncan white
stoneware clay", in case you're interested). Putting little chunks on the rim
of a bowl, cup, etc. and letting the melt streak down the sides looks good,
too.
Kaytee
"Simplexities" on
www.eclecticbeadery.com
http://www.rubylane.com/shops/simplexities