I have a friend who is very interested in getting into making some pieces, does anyone have some advice as of how to get started? I was actallu curious myself, but this guy is also looking into making a living from it. any beginners advice would be appreciated
yea, research lampworking online. Its a couple thousand dollars to get the beginner equipment to start glassblowing and will take about 4-6 months of daily practice to start making sellable pieces. Its very hard to make a living off of glassblowing, its not a very profitable job
Heres somthing i posted in another thread The tanks of oxygen add up too Tanks - 150-300 per tank Plus (20-50$ fill up when you run out, fast) torch - 250-1000 kiln - 750-1000 at least regulators -100 tools - 200+ glass- 200+ Glasses - 50-200$ ventilation 0-500$
If you glass blow outside you dont need ventilation, and ventilation fans rarely are over 500 for what you need
Yeaaah. And it's very dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. Shit, start off making beads or something. That's pleasantly hippie enough. All you need there is a hothead (25$) tank of gas (10-15$) glass rods (10$ a tube) and some tools (ranges) and some of that stuff that lets the beads slide off of metal rods (idk). Do research about it but glass blowing is like way expensive, time consuming...risky.
Yeah my friend knows this, but he is a very artistic person, and he's always drawing up some wild pieces. I'll go ahead and bookmark this thread so he can takke a look at it next time he comes by. If he gets his operation going(He has a few local blowers here in TX that'll give him some pointers, and teach him every time they come through the smoke shop he hangs out at). chances are I'll end up doing a few pieces here and there. Nothing too fancy, and I'm into simpler pieces anyways.
Tell him to practice on someone elses torch to see if he likes it. Glassblowing looks easy but its a real bitch and takes forever before you make anything really functional. Make sure ya like it before ya invest
Gonna try to find some local glass blowers, and a studio I can take classes in first before I get anything on the list you posted or the kit you sent me smily.
art museums are a great place to look into, the one where i live has a course thats like 10 weeks, 2 classes a week, and its only $550 bucks. thats probably the best way for him to test the waters before he drops several grand on a set up
Eh I took classes for glass blowing and my teacher said some students with a lot of talent can be up from never holding glass before to selling pipes, skillets, pendants, etc. In a couple weeks..