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Help Needed - Glass Source
Rich Waugh -
Saturday, August 6, 2011 - 10:51am
blacksmithing | glassblowing | lighting Hey kids, I need some help here! I have a probable commission coming up where I'm going to need some custom glass enclosures made for exterior lighting. At present it looks like I'll need twenty or thirty glass cylinders about 4" diameter by 16" tall, with one closed end. They'll probably be clear glass, or cloudy/streaky - I don't think we're looking at colors at this point, anyway. My problem is that I don't have a glass blower in my area and I'm out of touch with the people in the States I used to know who might have been able to do this. Anybody got a good glass person they can turn me onto? Thanks for the assistance! Rich  Thanks for the suggestion,
Rich Waugh -
Saturday, August 6, 2011 - 11:22pm
Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't think I'd be comfortable putting a cheap flower vase as the enclosure on a custom sconce that will probably sell for around $1500-1800. I'm also not at all sure that a commercial vase would have the necessary wall thickness to withstand a possible tropical storm or hurricane. This is high-end custom work and the client will expect to see custom work all the way, no off-the-shelf pieces, so while I'll probably pick up a florist's cylinder vase or some such for the proof-of-concept prototype, it will never see the light of day outside my studio. Before the client sees it, the prototype will have a prototype of the hand-blown enclosure I propose to use. Rich  In my experience, be sure
don johnson -
Sunday, August 7, 2011 - 12:53am
In my experience, be sure the glass suplier knows you are needing heavy duty. I have bought glass light fixtures that have broke if only held with one hand. This was from a shop that I watched live demonstrations. Good luck, Don Thanks for that reminder,
Rich Waugh -
Sunday, August 7, 2011 - 9:32am
Thanks for that reminder, Don. In my query letters to glass workers I have specified a wall thickness of about 3/8" and explained it will need to survive a tropical storm or worse. Rich  Having a 3/8" thick glass
eligius1427 -
Monday, August 8, 2011 - 1:56pm
Having a 3/8" thick glass cylinder of that length blown with a squared end might be a bit tricky. Can you make a bracketing system and have half cylinders slumped? you could easily provide a "mold" blank by forming a piece of steel to the correct diameter. The bracketing framework wouldn't have to be that stout as the 3/8" curved glass should provide a lot of structural strength and the glass panels could be held in place with epoxy or clamps of some sort. I know some of my projects got switched to slumped glass bc they blowers couldn't create the same thickness of glass throughout the piece when requesting a thicker wall. Jake Jake Balcom Jake, Thanks for the
Rich Waugh -
Monday, August 8, 2011 - 6:34pm
Jake, Thanks for the suggestion, but I don't think that slumped half-cylinders would work on this project. The client is enamored of the notion of a continuous, uninterrupted glass cylinder for the enclosure and the rest of the design is created around that main parameter, pretty much. I have some query letters out to a few glass workers and we'll see what response I get. Rich  competent glass artists
Stephen Fitz-Gerald -
Wednesday, August 10, 2011 - 11:01pm
Stephen Fitz-Gerald |
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ArtMetal
check out flower vases.
check out flower vases. There are quite a few cylindrical sizes available from web florist supply houses, and they are cheap.
R