Safety Tips for Making Spun Glass Pendants

Series Summary

Spun glass is made from small rods of glass being heated to high temperatures and then spun or stretched into various shapes and patterns. Many homes feature pieces of this decorative art, usually in the form of spun glass figurines. The talented artist creates swirls of color and interesting bends in finely detailed glass sculptures and jewelry. Spun glass can be done at home, and many hobby or hardware stores will carry the necessary tools. When making spun glass, artists blend and seal sometimes dozens or hundreds of individual rods of glass, forming circles and patterns, angled limbs, or the smallest eyes. The craft requires an attention to detail and experience working colors into the clear glass to form interesting effects.

In this free video series on spun glass, expert Tom Wright takes you through the steps of making a spun glass pendant. His introduction to spun glass will get you eager to see what step comes next, and Tom fills in his demonstrations with advice and suggestions. He covers different kinds of glass, the required tools for spun glass, how to use a kiln for heating, tips for annealing, and settings for your torch. He also explains the use of various techniques in spinning a glass pendant, like cold sealing, making a bail, choosing the strap, and getting creative.

Video Transcript

"Hello I'm Tom Wright from Ginger Bread Glass on behalf of Expert Village. In this segment, we are going to discuss safety. Safety is a very important part of the glass blowing trade. When one wants to use a work space,the number one thing they need to worry about is the ventilation in their work space. Now you must have at least one window and then hopefully several others in which you can place a fan system to suck the fumes away from your work space. By doing this, you can keep your lungs much healthier and you do not have to worry about breathing in anything that is harmful. Secondly you need to worry about your eyes. So to worry about your eyes you need to have the correct eye wear. Eye wear is very important also when blowing glass due to the fact that the flames burns so hot they can actually sizzle rods and cones with your eyes. So nobody wants that so when working always always always have your ventilation and your glasses. Then you are set to go. "