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Post by Pat on Feb 23, 2018 10:12:13 GMT -5
jamesp don't throw out your unshiny rejects! Not everybody wants ALL shiny. Matte is also a pretty finish. Add some in the tester bags you are going to offer for sale here on RTH.
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Post by fantastic5 on Feb 23, 2018 10:37:51 GMT -5
From the photograph I can't see the dilution of color that you talk about. I think these look really great! And generosity goes both ways. I love the box of your early work, jamesp , that came last week! I've already sorted all the pieces into snack size ziplock bags by shape and color so I can easily grab them and incorporate into jewelry. In fact I have a Pintrest page entitled " Things to do with Jim's glass". Most of these ideas were based on 'the early days' of your hobby. I'll have to add to this page as you develop larger flat back pieces.
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Post by MsAli on Feb 23, 2018 10:41:51 GMT -5
From the photograph I can't see the dilution of color that you talk about. I think these look really great! And generosity goes both ways. I love the box of your early work, jamesp , that came last week! I've already sorted all the pieces into snack size ziplock bags by shape and color so I can easily grab them and incorporate into jewelry. In fact I have a Pintrest page entitled " Things to do with Jim's glass". Most of these ideas were based on 'the early days' of your hobby. I'll have to add to this page as you develop larger flat back pieces. Love that Pintrest page Ann!! Can't wait to see what you make!
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 23, 2018 17:10:59 GMT -5
Curious fantastic5 what jewelry will come out of polished tumbled glass from colorful sources. Lots of (frosted) beach tumbled(or rock tumbler tumbled)glass fashioned into jewelry out there. Thought it might be a hit, stocking up on a bunch before putting it on the market just in case. Somewhere around 50 to 150 vases tumbled before release, maybe 2000 to 6000 tumbled pendants not counting earring sizes. I would include some earring sized pieces with some of the pendants as the little pieces can be numerous depending on how the vase is made into pieces. i make it a point to tumble plenty of smalls with each type. The little kidlet pieces can be handy for side stranded beads next to pendant or matching bracelet beads. Earrings, etc. I picked up another roll around tool box on Craig's list today for packing full of tumbled glass. and organizing smithing tools that collect dust. Months away from having enough stock. Denise thinks these are a hit, she is usually pessimistic. The glass from the glass blower gave me a crash course in fusing and slumping, it is a gold mine because it accelerated the learning curve exponentially.
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Post by rockjunquie on Feb 23, 2018 17:28:01 GMT -5
I'm going to assume that you are using soft glass and not boro glass. If you ever want to play with some boro, let me know. Seriously. I have a crap ton of colored boro. But, I warn you- it is a whole nuther animal and might drive you insane. a lot of colored boro is temperature sensitive. I could slump boro in my kiln and it was not a special kiln, so you probably can, too.
Have you tried any dichroic glass sheets, yet? You should- you'll love it.
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Post by rockjunquie on Feb 23, 2018 17:29:20 GMT -5
BTW- Your glass is amazing eye candy!!! And, it makes me happy to see you so into it. A new creative outlet is an exciting thing.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Feb 23, 2018 21:58:47 GMT -5
BTW- Your glass is amazing eye candy!!! And, it makes me happy to see you so into it. A new creative outlet is an exciting thing. Ha, me having lots of fun Tela. Glass can stretch your mind since you can melt it so many ways. I have tons of user friendly Spectrum 96 glass from the glass blowers here in Atlanta. Got the kiln dialed in to melt it several different ways. I have been slumping glass from various vases too, doing a few samples from each vase to see if it is kiln friendly. To 'cab' it basically, the slumping pretty much domes a shard. I have heard about borosilicate. I suppose I will stick with the spectrum glass since the glass blowers left so many awesome patterns I can preserve. One glass blower cracks the colored glass away from the clear glass so he can re-use the clear glass. So he has already made a million(billions ?) fuses for me with patters ready made. Spectrum was the hobby glass maker. They have gone out of business. It has put a cramp in the quality and variation in hobby glass. Looking forward to trying the dichroic.
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Post by MrP on Mar 7, 2018 8:20:42 GMT -5
Composition begins with a fine glass blower's remnants with fine patterns and colors sandwiched between clear glass. These remnants must be sawn and/or nipped to size for correct volume and color placement before melting. It is prerequisite that the color layer be sandwiched between clear glass to avoid tumbling the color layer away. Plus you will have a basic magnifier from the clear glass after tumbling it into a lens focused on the color layer. Remnants in need of grinding/nipping to proper pendant size and weight after melt: Finished melts ready to be tumble shaped and tumble polished. Average size 25 to 30mm. Back side is flat and bezel friendly. Planning on taking these to an inexpensive market. Hopefully with a sales price of $3 in small batches of 6 to 10 to start with. Maybe I can appeal to wrappers, cab drillers, glue ons in the cheaper pendant market. Most fused glass is more costly. It is done with more attention to detail and is a piece by piece craft as opposed to this being more of a mass melt and mass tumble. they build their own color or use cookie cutter colored hobby glass instead of this glass blower's glass. I am also tumbling shards of blown vases from all over the world namely Italian, Czech, Romania, Poland and Turkey for an international flare. James I have been thinking about this for awhile. I don't think you should be charging $3 a cab because they are worth more then that. Many years ago I knew a person who made fancy candle holders by turning wood. As part of the process he ended up with pieces that with very little work could be made into table napkin holders. He had very little time or money into them and they weren't a real part of his business so he tried to sell them for $.50 each. They looked much too nice to be that cheap and he sold very few. He thought maybe he over priced them so that was the reason they didn't sell. A person at the show he was at stopped by his booth looking at his display and asked him how the napkin rings were selling. The person selling said he must have them over priced because they weren't selling. The other person said they weren't selling because with the price he had put on them it gave them no perceived value. He ended raising the price to where it would be if that was what he was in the business of making and could not keep them in stock. I guess what I am saying is if you give your pendants no value that is the way they will be looked at. They will sell at $3 but that is more like the price a person expects to pay for a mass produced product. Yes you are making a large amount but each one is created on it's own. Don't sell yourself short. You are making a quality product. Don't sell so cheap that you end up a slave to the business for no $$. It is true money isn't everything and you are having fun with what you are doing but that doesn't mean you cannot charge what the product is worth. I probably shouldn't be the one giving money advice because I have given every dollar I have made from this hobby to charity....................MrP
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Mar 7, 2018 8:47:27 GMT -5
Composition begins with a fine glass blower's remnants with fine patterns and colors sandwiched between clear glass. These remnants must be sawn and/or nipped to size for correct volume and color placement before melting. It is prerequisite that the color layer be sandwiched between clear glass to avoid tumbling the color layer away. Plus you will have a basic magnifier from the clear glass after tumbling it into a lens focused on the color layer. Remnants in need of grinding/nipping to proper pendant size and weight after melt: Finished melts ready to be tumble shaped and tumble polished. Average size 25 to 30mm. Back side is flat and bezel friendly. Planning on taking these to an inexpensive market. Hopefully with a sales price of $3 in small batches of 6 to 10 to start with. Maybe I can appeal to wrappers, cab drillers, glue ons in the cheaper pendant market. Most fused glass is more costly. It is done with more attention to detail and is a piece by piece craft as opposed to this being more of a mass melt and mass tumble. they build their own color or use cookie cutter colored hobby glass instead of this glass blower's glass. I am also tumbling shards of blown vases from all over the world namely Italian, Czech, Romania, Poland and Turkey for an international flare. James I have been thinking about this for awhile. I don't think you should be charging $3 a cab because they are worth more then that. Many years ago I knew a person who made fancy candle holders by turning wood. As part of the process he ended up with pieces that with very little work could be made into table napkin holders. He had very little time or money into them and they weren't a real part of his business so he tried to sell them for $.50 each. They looked much too nice to be that cheap and he sold very few. He thought maybe he over priced them so that was the reason they didn't sell. A person at the show he was at stopped by his booth looking at his display and asked him how the napkin rings were selling. The person selling said he must have them over priced because they weren't selling. The other person said they weren't selling because with the price he had put on them it gave them no perceived value. He ended raising the price to where it would be if that was what he was in the business of making and could not keep them in stock. I guess what I am saying is if you give your pendants no value that is the way they will be looked at. They will sell at $3 but that is more like the price a person expects to pay for a mass produced product. Yes you are making a large amount but each one is created on it's own. Don't sell yourself short. You are making a quality product. Don't sell so cheap that you end up a slave to the business for no $$. It is true money isn't everything and you are having fun with what you are doing but that doesn't mean you cannot charge what the product is worth. I probably shouldn't be the one giving money advice because I have given every dollar I have made from this hobby to charity....................MrP Thanks Michael. If a bit of extra labor like grinding and re-heating is done some of these products are on caliber with glass being sold on Etsy at a much higher price. Pre-shaping and a remelt makes pieces as good as any Etsy glass gem but with blown patterns that no one else is making. I could see them commanding high prices. I am aware. Each time the melts seem to get better. Learning this glass fusion thing. Hard to loose because only about half of these come out really nice, the others will be fine after minimal tumbling. If I have to sit at a bench and grind each to shape the price can simply be raised. About half of these are pretty much as good as any on Etsy. Only grinding and 2 fusions without going to tumbler. Most of the other half will be fine after tumbling or 2 polish buffing treatments. If specialized glass was blown the success rate would jump to 80 and 90 percent success at fusion. I am doing this soon.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Mar 7, 2018 10:23:23 GMT -5
Frit melt cow paddy vomit and patriotic brick
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Fossilman
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Post by Fossilman on Mar 7, 2018 15:51:56 GMT -5
Out here, people want wrapped glass, but not wired busy, but a simple plain wrap.. Especially the college town, next to us... the students love the glass.. Hell Bro, I would even buy from you!!
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Mar 7, 2018 21:34:15 GMT -5
Out here, people want wrapped glass, but not wired busy, but a simple plain wrap.. Especially the college town, next to us... the students love the glass.. Hell Bro, I would even buy from you!! Sawed the above photo into pendant sizes this morning and filled the kiln to the top with them. Can open in morning to take a gander. Coarse sawn and ground glass will not fuse/flame polish, but the kiln will make them shaped into quick tumbles. It might flame/fuse polish with a 220 or 500 finish, an experiment(#10,000) needed to be done. Yea, there is not a problem with demand for glass jewelry. Especially out your way.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Mar 8, 2018 8:02:04 GMT -5
Out here, people want wrapped glass, but not wired busy, but a simple plain wrap.. Especially the college town, next to us... the students love the glass.. Hell Bro, I would even buy from you!! The brick this morning Michael, the patriotic brick and patties and few test pieces better shaped for the tumbler. Note blood stains lol. They will get coarse tumbled for a spell and then re-accessed for grind shaping. MsAli, I was successful in fusing clear polish glass to the vintage millefiori's. A couple cracked, but my favorites of all I will try a lower COE glass next time.
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Post by MsAli on Mar 8, 2018 8:20:19 GMT -5
Just saw those on FB They look awesome!! You have quite the fan base
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Post by HankRocks on Mar 8, 2018 8:35:02 GMT -5
Very nice. You must be spending a lot on Band Aids and Neosporin! Now we know who buys those over-sized packages of both at Sam's!!
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Mar 8, 2018 9:19:55 GMT -5
Very nice. You must be spending a lot on Band Aids and Neosporin! Now we know who buys those over-sized packages of both at Sam's!! Robinson's Salvage, one of our salvage haunts Henry. Hospital grade bandages of high quality cheap. I get cut 2 to 3 times a day. Little nicks, nothing arterial. Splinters too. One butt cracker, no comment.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Mar 8, 2018 9:22:20 GMT -5
Just saw those on FB They look awesome!! You have quite the fan base Amused by their retorts Alison. Mostly sweet middle aged housewives if had to guess.
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Post by MsAli on Mar 8, 2018 10:03:16 GMT -5
Just saw those on FB They look awesome!! You have quite the fan base Amused by their retorts Alison. Mostly sweet middle aged housewives if had to guess. Jim's groupies
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on Mar 9, 2018 0:37:25 GMT -5
Amused by their retorts Alison. Mostly sweet middle aged housewives if had to guess. Jim's groupies Uh, maybe I better let my 22 year old nephew take this glass thing over. He's a big strapping handsome fellow with a good head on his shoulders. My Mom passed a year ago and some of their totally positive comments make me think of Mom. Different benefits than rock n roll groupies may have to offer lol.
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Post by MsAli on Mar 9, 2018 0:49:32 GMT -5
Jim's groupies Uh, maybe I better let my 22 year old nephew take this glass thing over. He's a big strapping handsome fellow with a good head on his shoulders. My Mom passed a year ago and some of their totally positive comments make me think of Mom. Different benefits than rock n roll groupies may have to offer lol. Lots of positive feedback and that should make you proud and confirm that this will be successful
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