NRG
fully equipped rock polisher
Member since February 2018
Posts: 1,630
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Post by NRG on Feb 18, 2020 0:50:52 GMT -5
jamespI reference iron wire mesh to do the jellyfish melts. Nothing more. Those are pretty amazing actually. If I was doing that melt with what looks like $200 worth of glass I would insist on Nichrome, only the best. It is not a situation to take chances or cut corners. I have tumbled too many pieces of glass with various metals fused into them that crack. To each his own. I guess I misunderstood. I didn't see any wire in those jellyfish. The witness marks seem to indicate hardware cloth that was later dissolved. Sorry for all of this. My bad. Hope your jackass neighbor finds his just dessert.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Feb 18, 2020 8:20:57 GMT -5
I really have no proof of how those jellyfish were made NRG. A wire mesh was the only way I could see it done. This artist is Italian. Italy has some leading edge glass art technology. May have unexpected tricks up her sleeve. No matter, the research helped me learn about fusible metals. Recently I made a heavy stand out of steel and it collapsed due to heat. It had to be soft to have collapsed like it did. Don't be surprised if a steel paperclip could be pulled in half easily at 1500F. Another stand was made out of thinner stainless and it stayed rigid. Even stainless oxidizes heavily at 1200-1500F. After stiff copper wire comes out of the kiln it is annealed so soft it has the consistency of lead solder. 1500F(800C) for 3 hours has serious impacts on metals. Cooling slowly for 12 to 15 hours may have even more drastic effects on the metal's properties. Never could grasp phase diagrams of carbon steel. Carbon steels each have their own thumbprint phase diagram. It is actually the rate of cooling that decides how hard/soft the steel will become.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Feb 25, 2020 10:04:59 GMT -5
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EricD
Cave Dweller
High in the Mountains
Member since November 2019
Posts: 1,142
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Post by EricD on Feb 25, 2020 10:13:18 GMT -5
Can't wait to see the inside!
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Feb 25, 2020 11:03:51 GMT -5
Can't wait to see the inside! It's like sawing a fine geode open. Can't hardly wait till the saw finishes.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Feb 25, 2020 14:18:09 GMT -5
I appreciate the glass audience. Thank Ya'll.
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Feb 25, 2020 19:08:36 GMT -5
Oooh, those pot melts are gonna be awesome!
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Post by knave on Feb 26, 2020 5:26:24 GMT -5
Can’t wait to see the big reveal... and if I know anything, the small pause means it’s gonna be a really really good one!
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Post by fernwood on Feb 26, 2020 5:40:35 GMT -5
Waiting impatiently.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Feb 26, 2020 7:45:03 GMT -5
hummingbirdstones knave fernwood EricTo be honest the glass is more about opening the kiln or sawing a glass brick to see the outcomes. Or watching the effect on the patterns and colors when the glass is tumbled. Interesting - A search on ETSY of 'glass jewelry' yields over 1.6 million glass jewelry items. Much of it sells at a nice fat price. Not a single seller is selling tumble polished glass. No one. Not even China, the leaders in cutting edge tumbling technology. Being able to tumble shape/polish glass opens up a huge avenue of capability glass fusing methods. Fusing methods are way limited if you can't apply lapidary techniques. The problem with ETSY is you have 1.6 million competitors, you are a needle in a haystack and likely never get found. I hate to introduce my glass to the market. China will have an army making them if it is successful. I should make a sweeping powerful introduction in the form of some sort of a well exposed web site in case they are a success. Such an intro would be costly. I need a web designer/SEO expert as a business partner to make a strong marketing exposure. Such a partner is likely going to be hard to find but worth trying. #1 search term for 'fire pit' yields only 5000 fire pit products on ETSY. 5000 verses 1.6 million is a big difference. It is a breeze to sell fire pits on ETSY because there is so little competition.
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Post by fernwood on Feb 26, 2020 8:05:15 GMT -5
You remind me of me! I am OCD on so many things. Do the research first. Then do test runs, documenting all methods tried. What sort of worked, what didn't and what might need some modifications to make it really work.
I hope you can find a web sight designer who understands your product and the methods you use. That will be key.
Yes, the potential of others in foreign countries trying to duplicate your methods for low quality, mass marketing, is a concern. You have shared so many of your techniques and research on the internet.
Sending you a PM.
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Post by hummingbirdstones on Feb 26, 2020 8:34:09 GMT -5
Yep, tons of glass on Etsy. Probably on Fleabay, too.
I'm not a marketing expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I'd probably market them under a company name. Don't use your real name. As Beth said, you've given out lots of specific information on how you accomplish your melts. Easy to find if people know your name. On your new site, if you have one made, don't give out specifics. Showing the process without the details will help protect you and will make anyone who wants to copy you have to do the trial and error thing. I would maybe even go so far as to not even disclose how you polish them. I would just say they were polished.
Just my early morning (without enough coffee) ramble.
Waiting to see the inside of that last melt, too!
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Feb 26, 2020 10:45:57 GMT -5
There are a lot of steps in this process fernwood hummingbirdstones. Some steps are difficult like casting bricks. The import glass does it so well but is no longer available. Easy for me. The casting would cause a lot of challenges for even the most seasoned glass artists using available art glass. And the tumbling methods look easy but things like adjusting the vibe counterweights and proper slurry mix takes some luck or fine guess work. The blown glass is yet another animal to overcome since most glass blowers will not share their scrap. The blown glass patterns are impossible to simulate when using only a kiln. They are a separate product. I have a fine batch out of tumbler this morning to post in 'tumbling photos'. Most of them my wife composed. She has been over there sorting and drooling over them all morning lol. Anyway, just saying, there is a long path to follow to copy cat. The mention of mass shaping and polishing in a rock tumbler is not the best info to share. I think you will agree that mass production of any type is often frowned on by artsy buyers Robin. fernwood. This whole jewelry process from start to finish is finally coming to organized fruition. I am about ready to start trading with the knappers for jewelry sized points. Can't count them out. I must have 300 jewelry sized points from 2018. And did not focus much on jewelry sized points. i could easily trade glass for 1000's of points per year. That's cool.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Feb 27, 2020 11:10:29 GMT -5
Yesterday's brick opened up. Not much different than past pot melts. The lighter colors really distort a lot more than darker colors when melted thru a hole in a pot above. "Angry" brick. 1st two photos show vivid colors because they were taken of the brick where it cracked dead in half. Sawn faces lose vivid color until polished, photo a bit cloudy looking. "Angry" brick sawn at different angles: The other brick, a weird 5 color repeat - black/red/purple/neon green/Teal. Colors chosen based on overstock in these colors.
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whyofquartz
spending too much on rocks
So, Africa is smaller than I expected...
Member since December 2019
Posts: 316
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Post by whyofquartz on Feb 27, 2020 12:08:59 GMT -5
I have been wondering jamesp if you ever deliberately cut your bricks in diagonal or triangular fashions. I know they break that way sometimes but i didn't know if you[seem to] always cut at right angles to the layers for any Pacific(or Atlantic in your case) reason
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Post by miket on Feb 27, 2020 12:26:22 GMT -5
Very cool. I like angry brick.
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Post by RickB on Feb 27, 2020 16:45:02 GMT -5
Trippy
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Feb 27, 2020 17:50:16 GMT -5
I have been wondering jamesp if you ever deliberately cut your bricks in diagonal or triangular fashions. I know they break that way sometimes but i didn't know if you[seem to] always cut at right angles to the layers for any Pacific(or Atlantic in your case) reason Bypassing Pacific and Atlantic time zones I enter the LSD time zone(s) and cut them in all of the listed angles and directions plus more whyofquartz. The photos above are cut with the stripes/across the stripes/diagonal to the stripes. As a matter of fact the sawing at different angles makes drastically different patterns and makes the sawing operation the most fun. And if tumbling a chunky rectangular block another plethora of patterns rise out of the purple haze all in the brain, lately things don't seem the same....kiss the sky.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Feb 27, 2020 17:54:22 GMT -5
That particular glass took a serious trip RickB. Never seen such patterns in pot melts. The glass must be mixed with illegal substances.
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jamesp
Cave Dweller
Member since October 2012
Posts: 36,154
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Post by jamesp on Feb 27, 2020 17:56:29 GMT -5
Very cool. I like angry brick. It was funny. As soon as me and wife looked at that brick face and both looked up at the same time and said "angry". Maybe it was the pepper sauce ?
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