Glass BlowingBy: Michael LaGrone

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Getting started

Basic Technique

Amazing Art

What do you need to get started with glass?

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First, to get started you will need to get the safety equipment out of the way. You will need a nice powerful ventilation system to ensure that you do not inhale any toxic fumes or broken bits of glass.

Glass Blowing TorchesOne of the most important tools you will use is your torch. Many different companies make glass blowing torches, these include Glass Torch Technologies, Carlisle, Nortel, and National are good companies.

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Tools

There are many different tools available to glass blowing. Many of them are made out of graphite, this doesn’t melt but also doesn’t leave marks on the heated glass.

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Safety Glasses

Without safety glasses designed for glass blowing, it would be impossible and very dangerous to look into the flame. The glasses help look through the bright yellow flame that is created when melting glass.

Spinning consistently

When glass blowing, it is very important to spin the glass as evenly and as consistent as possible. If you becoming uneven with your rotation then the work will also become uneven as well.

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Even Heat base

It is also important that the glow of the glass is all the same color. If you want to have consistent and even wall thickness in your glass it is important to make sure it is all heated at relatively the same heat base.

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Right amount of air

Glass blowing requires puffs of air to keep the hollow body work from collapsing in on itself. When actually blowing it is important to do small controlled puffs. It is important to blow the exact amount of air so that it is not too much or too little.

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Right tool for the job.

There are many different tools which have a very specific purpose, and it is a good idea to become familiar with these tools. But keep in mind, as long as it doesn’t melt, it might be a useful tool. Anything can be a glass blowing tool if used right, you are only limited by your creativity.

Amazing glass

The following slides are of some incredible artists. This is to show that practically anything can be made out of glass, the only limitation is your creativity.

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Laceface

A very talented female glass blowing artist.

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SaltA world famous glass blowing based out of Austin, TX. Makes his living making lots of weird glass creatures.

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Zii

Another talented female glass artists. Also based out of Austin, TX makes her career by doing grotesque detailed glass work.

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Eusheen

One of the best line workers in the glass blowing scene, based out of Oregon.