How to Make Blown Glass Figures
Making glass figurines involves the heating, melting and hand spinning of glass. Developing skill at this art requires years of practice, trial and error. It can be a dangerous hobby and so appropriate safety gear and training is necessary before diving into glass working. Different types of glass and equipment are needed to make different types of glass figurines. Some require very little equipment, such as those that you see in the mall, and others require a factory full of operations.
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Things You'll Need
- Glass in rod form
- Electric kiln
- Glass torch
- Oxygen
- Propane
- Graphite paddle(s)
- Graphite round
- Graphite pole
- Glass tweezers
- Glass knife or scorer
- Protective glasses
- Gloves
Instructions
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Plan out your project and assemble all the glass and tools you will need so that you don't have to step away from the torch. This will decrease your level of frustration during the beginning stages of learning this art. Art Glass Review suggests spending time looking at glass magazines or books to get some inspiration before diving into your first project.
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Put on your safety glasses and light your torch. Hold a rod of clear glass with one end in the flame. Spin it with your fingers and tilt your arm down so that you can gather a ball of glass on the end of the rod. Imagine trying to spin honey with a toothpick. Turn your ball into a disc with graphite paddles or flatten each side by pressing onto the paddle and form a square.
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Use holding rods to stabilize your project until the last second and to provide your hands a cool place to hold on to. Add glass by heating another rod, perhaps a rod of color, until the tip is white hot. Use graphite tools to carve your sculpture. Use a graphite round to create an indentation. Tweezers pull glass to a point or off completely.
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Use your tweezers, tongs or fire resistant gloves to hold the piece as you remove the holding rod with the flame. Put your project into the heated kiln for safe cooling and close the door. You can place it on the floor of the kiln or onto a kiln shelf. Set the kiln on a kneeling cycle; the appropriate kneeling cycle will be in the kiln manual. Cool it at a rate somewhere between 60 and 100 degrees per hour.
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Tips & Warnings
Talk to local glass artists and see if they offer lessons before trying to work glass on your own. Go to a glassblowing shop rather than a pottery shop for your supplies, so you can ask specific questions and get the right type of glass for your project.
You will need safety glasses specifically designed for glass working in a flame. They not only protect from flying objects but also block certain types of high intensity light from damaging your eyes when you're staring at the torch. Gloves are useful for handling glass and touching the kiln; it is easy to burn yourself between the hot glass, kiln and torch flame so be careful. Don't cool your project too quickly or pull it out of the kiln in haste; it could break.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit glass rods in beaker image by Oleg Mitiukhin from Fotolia.com
