This is the control panel I finished today in the shop. It controls the furnace. I also went to the steel center and bought some stock for the yoke stand and stand for the pipe warmer.

Saturday in the shop.

I was in the shop from 7a till about 5pm. I spent about an hour cleaning and sweeping and the rest wiring the furnace electrical control panel. Its about 80% done. There is something very calming , almost medicinal, about being alone while working on your passion........10 hours well spent.

Happy New Year

steel center

I went to the steel center today. I bought the stainless steel for the punty rods and the 3/4" for my main paperweight rod. The stuff is expensive, I bought 3 rods in total.......enough to just get started and the bill was $140.

Merry Christmas to all of you

Video

I just uploaded some video footage to youtube. You can see the other volumes by clicking HERE.

insulation

was in the shop hanging board insulation on the walls, it is negitive 2 degrees in Chicago today. I would like to move to Seattle, the climate is better and the town is a meca for glass.

I just found out from my friend that the controller i put in for the annealer may be the wrong one. Im goiing to post on the boards and get some help. Electronics is confusing, I just wanna make glass and there are all these bumps in the road.

A fan of the glass shop

I got in touch with an old friend who studied glassblowing and pottery in college. She now lives in California and is working in the "entertainment industry". She sent us this pic :)

kiln shelves

Ok, i just ordered the 2 kiln shelves that will go inside the annealer. These will provide a nice surface for the glass to sit on while kooling.

here is a link to the shelves
http://www.lagunaclay.com/

1-800-4524862
part# rf132

i will be in the shop again this sunday working, we are getting close and will most likely make the first batch of glass within a month.

Its cold in chicago

ok, lets forget the idea of the videos. I tried to dowload the footage from my camera. My camera is to old and will require a $60 cable. So, Im going to put that money and time towards the shop.

The annealer wiring issue is solved and I was working on it today.

Thank you for the emails of encouragement.

If there are any attractive single female glassblowers out there between 28 and 33 let me know :)

talk with you again soon

Heating Elements

Today I received the heating elements in the mail from Duralite. I'm going to put them in this weekend. I also received Pinacle video editing software in the mail. I'm going to use this to edit 2 really cool videos I filmed when I visited my friend Angelo Fico in Wisc. last month. He is pulling cane in the video.........cane is glass rod. Im also going to use the software to edit videos from my shop and get them posted on youtube and here for you.

Also, through my friends website, Brad Shute, I was able to get help on wiring so I'm going to work on that on Wednesday , my next day off work. His website is here:

This is the preliminary wiring for the annealer, it doesn't work. Its not sending power to the elements and I'm working with my fellow glass artists to figure out why. I'll have it up and running soon, but I wanted to show you what I did today in the shop. Also, building equipment can be more frustrating then making glass. I would much rather be making paperweights today, but all good things take time.

I'm expecting the heating elements this week from Duralite, these elements will fit in the furnace and complete that piece of equipment.

I have also ordered the wooden cherrywood blocks from Art and am expecting those soon. Ill keep you posted on all of this and will get some pics up of everything, also..............I'll write here as soon as I get the annealer wiring box all squared away.

I fired up the glory hole today for the first time in the new shop. It started smoking and then I realized the smoke was coming from the water burning out from within the cement refractory on the floor and the face plate retention ring. The glory hole is about 85% complete. It functioned well and warmed up quickly. It will take some tweeking to get the air/propane mixture correct in the flame.