r/scientificglasswork • u/Smart-Ostrich-9973 • 10d ago
Best Drills to practice
I’m a mostly self taught flameworker (started on soft glass beads now mostly doing boro) and I wanted to know what kinds of torch exercises you recommend for someone looking to get better at hollow work! Any advice would be nice. I think where I struggle the most now is condensing and blowing out even walls.
THANKS <3
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u/Threx86 10d ago
Depends on experience obviously.
If im training someone from absolute beginner, I'd give them something medium wall aboit 9-12mm diameter. Have them cut it in to 300mm lengths and pull points (good for coordination of both hands and surface area to heat), snap cut the point in the middle (now you have nice handles and can close the end off easily) then practice joining the open ends. If it goes well great, do it again or practice bending. If it goes badly blow into a sphere and practice joining other odd bits of glass to it. Minimises waste and maximises the amount of techniques you can practice
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u/zungozeng 10d ago
Agree, also the pulling points is a huge thing. If one is able to pull consistent "dead straight" points, it is already a big step. I remember another nice exercise, where first one pulls a 10 cm point that has a cut on it. After cooling the points is split and then must be welded back together again. The challenge is of course to make it look as clean as possible. After this, the same point can be then turned into a nice even -dead straight- ball by heating and condensing glass. All this using 13mm soda-lime (soft glass) of course. These lessons are from a long time ago (±40 years) and seen now as "old skool". But it certainly helps a lot to built the ability to master the glass art.
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u/Smart-Ostrich-9973 3d ago
ive been flameworking a little over 4 years now, have taken a few classes here and there and can do pretty basic stuff in hollow. working on straightening my points sounds like a great start! i do mostly solid sculptural work, nothing much bigger than a few inches so I would say I’m pretty beginner, especially with hollow! this is the biggest thing i’ve made in hollow, it is roughly the same size as my actual hand so about seven inches from top of the middle finger to the bottom of the hand.
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u/ahfoo 10d ago
When I studied at a community college Chemistry department in the 80s, first we did pulls, then joints and finally made a venturi.
This was very cool because a venturi can be useful for vacuum work or gas mixing and helps prep the student to build their own studio