Any glass artists here? Lapidary artists?

[Babette]

I'd love to know if anyone has experience with with lampworking, casting or faceting. Anyone?

I'd love to get into lampworking, but I don't have the money for the equipment.

[FloridaPat]

1. Did lampworking and lapidary grinding. Took one lampworking

class once. It was neat working with molten glass. They had lousy equipment, so my back ended up in horrible pain and I almost burnt off my hair. I'm more into slumping and fusing glass.

As for lapidary, I love grinding the stones into shapes. You have this piece of whatever and when you get done it's a shiney gemstone. Really neat stuff.

[Longgrain]

2. I don't know much about lapidary

But i can sympathize with not being able to afford the equipment...
I haven't been able to buy new paints in months...:-(

[librechik]

3. Actually, you can do that stuff pretty cheaply

if you work small. All you really need is a good propane torch ($30-50 at the harware store) and a stand to keep it propped up and slanted. The Borax glass (Pyrex) you can get at the local lab store,(rods and tubes) or you can collect soft glass from soda and beer bottles. It has a low melting point, so you can do a lot with propane alone without oxygen.

Remember, the reason it's called "lampwork" is because the original practioners used alcohol lamps, or bunsen burners, to melt their glass. The art died out literally because there used to be a lot of unsafe lead in the pigments. This problem has been reduced by using frits, pigments in which has been neutralized.

There are lampworking supply stores online where you can get supplies (and "canes," the little threads of pigment or mosaiced designs) to add color. There are excellent instruction manuals at Amazon (or the library) for lampworking instructions. Just be careful where you point the torch--don't burn yourself or a wall!

You can make simple beads or just play with just a few tools. I have even used this equipment to blow a tiny bottle!