Pliers

I was right in the middle of assembling a bunch of mobiles, reached out to grab my handy pliers and I felt a *pop*. Damn. They broke.... well technically they are still functional, but the little spring inside snapped (from friction, I simply use them a lot) and now they no longer have a handy spring that pushes them back open after I squeeze. In fact, these particular pliers seem sorta limp and floppy without the spring tension inside. Hmph. I have quite the collection of pliers (most of my mobile frames are made with my two hands and simple wire bending pliers) and these are my favorites - so I had to go out immediately and find another pair. I tend to buy pliers whenever I see a handy looking number staring at me in a store, so who knows where I found these! I had thought maybe Sears. No luck. So I called Tim, he reminded me I bought them at Home Depot. Sure enough there they were.

Let me tell ya - these are sweet pliers. Compound joints that makes them have a stronger squeeze. And the nose to handle ratio is exactly what I like... too long and they distort easily... too short and they require too much muscle. And they are only $15. Its a great tool. I tend to like the little tiny pliers the best, but if I have to use big ones, this is my tool of choice.

Taking My Work With Me

Today I am headed over to my friend Aimee's house to hang out with her while she heals from surgery. She must remain inactive for a few weeks, so I am headed out to visit her. Aimee is my amazing friend/assistant and knows how I am always keeping busy... tomorrow is Saturday and the I will be vending at the Portland Saturday Market, so there is always more work to be done... mobiles to be put together... always.
So I packed a to-go kit for myself. Taking my work on the road with me!

Pictured below is the tool kit packed with goodies... the inside is filled with glass that I need to attach swivels... the tray has bits and bops, useful tools and such... the lid has extra tools:
Thanks for this tool kit Jan! It rocks! Its deeper than you're average tool kit, which makes it hold a lot.

How to Sign Glass Art

I just bought this little cheap number at Harbor Freight (its dollar days there this weekend!) and its a miniature version of exactly what I like in a signing device. And it was only $5 - so hey - I'll love it while it lasts.

There are many ways to sign a piece of glass - I like to use a dremel tool equipped with a diamond tip bit.

Sometimes I forget to sign my work while at the studio, so now I have this handy little tool for signing things at home. Its so polite, its much quieter than my plug in number that I usually use at home - I am in love with this cheap tool. *sigh*

Tool o' the Day: Tube Cutter

This tool is used to cut flexible copper pipe. The copper is soft, so if you were to just cut it the pipe would squeeze shut. Instead you clamp down on the pipe with this crazy tool and go around and around, cinching the tool tighter each time until it breaks the copper. There is a little blade that comes out the side that is used to clean out the inside of your cut. Its pretty neat.

The other day at the hardware store the guy helping me was joking around about how this tool is one of those things you would see in your grandfather's shop and never know what it was for. I love the magazine Cooks Illustrated, so it remind me of the section where they have a reader submit a kitchen tool that they have no idea what it is for... classic "I found this in my grandmother's kitchen tools, but I cannot figure out what it is meant to do...".

So here it is, a copper flexible pipe cutter.

I don't know what I would have thought this was if I found it in my fathers workshop as a kid... perhaps a finger cutter-offer :) eek!

Snowflakes

Okay - here ya go - this is one of the projects I worked on this weekend. (I am making lots and lots of Christmas ornaments lately)

I know, you are thinking - thats a craft punch from the crafty-store! And you are thinking - you can use that with glass?!

Yes. Copper is fusible (it expands at relatively similar rates as the glass) and copper foil is relatively easy to work with. One way you can use it is with crafty punches, making letters and shapes and then sandwich these pieces of copper in between sheets of glass.

You must cover the copper in glass, both front and back... basically the glass must completely encapsulate the copper. The copper will turn colors in the kiln... the cause is the heat in the kiln consuming all the oxygen and when this oxygen depleted air comes in contact with the copper the color changes. As the glass melts and the copper is trapped, it stops changing color, however, before the glass starts moving (which doesn't happen until around 1400F) any copper that is exposed to the air in the kiln will change color. In the picture above you can see how the copper changes. This is a big 17" glass bowl, just clear glass, with a big copper circle for the color. You can see how the edge of the copper turns almost black (this is where the oxygen depleted air changed the color of the copper) and towards the center where the air could not get, the copper stayed copper colored.

Copper is not terribly predictable in glass fusing (as the color changes so easily and inconsistently) and sometimes its much more successful than other times (simply due to inconsistency) but seriously its beautiful and do-able and oh-so-tempting.

So go check out your local crafty-store and see what stamps they have. Then find some copper foil and have a blast. Or just cut the copper foil with an exacto blade - that works well too.

Just remember, you must sandwich the copper in between glass, and don't get your hopes up that the copper will look copper colored in the end. It won't. But it will look cool. Oh and try not to get too many finger prints and wrinkles in the copper, all this will show in the finished fused piece of glass (eek!)

Tool o' the Day: Tripod

If you are crafty and interested in selling your own work, or you already do sell your artwork online, photography is a must, and DIY photography requires a few tools. One of the most important things to have for good pictures is a handy dandy Tripod. The tripod will allow the camera to capture more detail and crispness, which looks very pleasing to the eye. Better pictures = more sales online.This tripod (not the garden hose - its just a prop) could be yours!

It spins, it swivels, it will be many different heights, its simply an all around great tripod. Good for most any camera, includes the screw fixture that holds your camera to the tripod, easy to use.

Rather than buy one - why not win one!

Here are the contest details: All you have to do is blog about me and my blog (or this contest specifically, either is fine with me) and put a link in the comments here. At the end of the month (its Sept 15th now - so in 15 days on Sept 30th 2008) I will choose a winner and email you to get an addy - I will send you this tripod free of charge.

I believe what comes around goes around, and good photography is a must - so hey - join the fun - try and win this tripod. Even if you already have one - you could give it away to a friend in need :)


This give-away is part of what I hope to be a more regular effort to do fun free give-aways on a semi-regular basis on my blog. So stay tuned and spread the word!

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Tool o' the Day: Nippers

This odd looking tool is called the Rolling Edge Nippers - and man they are useful in snipping up little pieces of glass. You can cut a rod in half with this nippers, or snap off a bit of scrap glass from flat pieces. Its really a great tool!


Pro: easy to use, very effective and efficient
Con: the rolling edges need to be tightened a lot, when loose its hard to actually snip down on the glass (as the rolling edges simply roll off the glass rather than cut it) and this can get frustrating.

One amazing use of this tool is cutting up Millefiories.(pictured to the left courtesy of Murano Millefiori)

This technique comes from the Italian words "mille" and "fiori" meaning millions of flowers. It is a labor intensive process of creating canes called Murine that have intricate patterns inside that are viewed from the end of the rod. These Murine canes are cut up into many many little tiny discs, each one bearing the image of the flower or whatever intricate design was made in the cane.

These rolling edge nipper tools would be how one would cut up the Murine canes to make the Millefiories. This is an ancient Italian technique that is associated with Venetian island of Murano - the picture to the right shows what I am talking about and it is courtesy of the incredible website Murano Millefiori

Tool o' the Day

Tool o' the Day: Elmers Glue

yep, no lies here. Although this sticky grammar school crafting adhesive isn't technically a "tool" (I'd say its more of a "supply") its definitely useful in the glass studio.

There are other products out there on the market, ones that are sold specifically to use with glass fusing... and I have tried some of these... I will not use names cuz they are all well and good, I just don't prefer them, they tend to take a LONG time to dry and they are kinda wet and just not the right tacky substance that I am looking for, and Elmers is cheap... readily available... and I like the little dispenser.

Most of the time when I am using glue, the purpose is to make loading the kiln more efficient and simple. If everything is glued together its easier to pick up and transfer onto kiln shelves.

Glue is used in glass fusing to temporarily tack the glass pieces together before they are fired. Small amounts of the glue is a key consideration, too little and the glass doesn't actually stick, too much and the glue itself leaves a residue on the finished piece of glass. You must clean all the glass impeccably before firing. I do all my cleaning before I glue anything. If a large amount of glue is used it can possibly result in a residue, or even a dark smudge in between translucent pieces of glass. However, used in moderation, the glue will burn away at temperatures that are far below the point at which glass even begins to melt. So you put your glued creations in the kiln and you go about your merry way, and afterwards the glass is all fused together and the glue has been completely obliterated, its no where to be seen, its no longer necessary and no one ever would know.

Until now. Or being that you read my blog and you are probably a crafty sorta person, you probably already knew about how glue is used with fused glass... but if you didn't, now you do.