use of a balloton optic mold

[Mark Wilson]

well after years of trying, i finaly got a brass balloton optic mold (pineapple) for christmas. i plan to try it out for the 1st time on friday. since i have never used one before, i am hoping that someone who has used one before could give me a few pointers. i plan to use the mold to create patterns of bubbles. my mold is approximately 2 inches in diameter at the top and about 4 inches tall, so i imagine that i need to preshape the gather to be a close to the internal size of the mold as possible, get in and get out quickly so that the gather does not freeze up inside the mold. any advise would be greatly appreiciated. thanks in advance!!!! mark w

[Scott Dunahee]

Here (http://talk.craftweb.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=4584&highlight=bronze+mold) is the thread that I started when MY new baloton was on the way. Very helpful.

Don't blow too hard and have an EVEN bubble. Don't leave a resivoir of glass on the tip. Don't cap your puff like you make have been taught for a straight rib optic. Blow inot the mold until it's full, wait ONE second and inhale slightly and pull out. A wiggle can help more than inhaling too much.

Let your gather get REALLY cold before casing the molded bubble. It'll be thinner than you're probably used to. Have a block ready for when you come out in case it's squirely.

It's quite a learning curve, but aloows you to make really wonderful work that is very compelling to the glass spectator.

Enjoy.

BSD

[Jeff Hoover]

Spiral Arts has tips here (scroll down):
http://www.spiralarts.com/utility/faq.asp

How do you get out of a pineapple mold?
It's important to start with a bubble shaped as closely as possible to the inside shape of the mold, if possible blown thin on the bottom. The biggest reason people get stuck in pineapple molds is too much hot glass at the bottom of their bubble. Make sure your moile isn't too hot!! If the moil is too hot it will not provide support for pulling your bubble out of the mold. Just before you withdraw from the mold, pull a little air out of the pipe - just a tiny breath is plenty.

What if I get stuck in a pineapple mold?
Use your feet to grab the mold, pull back and cut off the glass and the mold and put them both into a bucket of cold water. Once the mold has cooled down pull it out and let it dry - DO NOT TRY TO SCRAPE THE GLASS OUT!! Use a small torch to reheat the glass then quench it until the glass loosens and can be vacuumed out. Patience!

[Kevin Wills]

Use a fairly hot and thin/medium thickness uniform bubble.

Hold the mold between your feet - you are going to be pulling up.

Put the hot bubble into the mold and blow very hard for 0.5 to 1 sec.

Stop blowing and "kiss the pipe". That is suck a 1/4 to 1/2 of mouth full of air out of the bubble. A mouth full - not a lung full - it's really a suck smooch kind of thing. You want the bubble to collapse slightly.

Pull the pipe up as you kiss it.

If it's not coming out, suck real hard and pull it out of the mold. It's better to just start a new bubble rather than spend 1/2 hour getting the mold clean again.

Do all of this very fast (3 secs or less) so that the glass always remains pliable and you can pull it away from the points.

[Mark Wilson]

here is a photo i took inside the mold.

[John Teeter]

is that a carlo dona mold? If not...where'd you find it :angel:

[Mark Wilson]

Originally posted by John_Teeter
is that a carlo dona mold? If not...where'd you find it :angel:

yes it is and my wife purchased it at spiral arts. it is their "small" one and cost about $450!!!! kind of expensive, but you get what you pay for (if you are lucky!!!!).

[Scott Dunahee]

I have that same mold, Mark and find it makes an acceptable range of small to mid sized work. There is one smaller mold available that I'm keen to acquire.

If you go too large, your bubble pattern gets exaggerated and stretched. Immediately upon trying it out, I wanted both the smaller and larger ones than the one I got. In addition to some nice medium sized bubble trap pieces, I also made some awfully neat ornaments with it (uncased) as well as some uncased goblet bowls and find it to be a pretty powerful tool for what it does.

I also have a vintage-but-not-abused Steinert bronze pineapple mold that is slightly larger than my Dona mold that I am considering selling. It works fine, but I prefer the pattern from my equivalentl if slightly smaller Italian mold and currently have more tool lust than budget (when isn't that the case?)

BSD

[David Patchen]

Anyone here ever try to make (or have made) a mold like this? I'd think a bronze foundry could make one from a wax positive, no?

[Mark Wilson]

Originally posted by Scott Dunahee
I wanted both the smaller and larger ones than the one I got.

yes, i think that i will want the bigger one, but it is over $650. mine was a christmas present from my wife. i haven't been good enough to get the bigger mold. maybe i should start doing the washing, maybe next year.

[Mike Mount]

wouldn't those be easier to use if they were cut down the middle and had a hinge so it just opens when your ready to pull out. It seems like Ive seen hinged molds before. What would be the benifit of not having hinges? I guess there would be a seam, but it looks like with this style mold the glass may not reach the wall itself hitting only the protruburences?

[Eben Horton]

all those tips are good but there is one more that always goes unspoken- pipe head diameter.. As a rule i always use a wider head than usual with a pineapple mold ( i have all of the old stienert molds, which i might add are the best)

if you use a wider pipe head and you keep your moil cool by giving it a nice marver or a squirt of air and then heat just inside the door you will never get stuck if you follow all of those tips-

Also, it hasnt been mentioned that while it is important to have your bubble blown out evenly, you will get a much better pattern if you blow as hard as you can as soon as your bubble stretches down into the mold and then suck as hard as you can as you pull up.. If you let it stretch too much and your bubble blows out of the top of the mold, you may be more prone to getting stuck...

solid glass is a different can of worms, stab the glass in the mold as quick as possible and yank it out quick, every milisecond your in there the glass is cooling around those diamonds.

good luck.

[Scott Hegan]

I have been casting bronze molds for a year or so now (I've got a backyard foundry/machine shop) They give me the opportunity to get exactly the angle size proportion number of ribs etc that I want. I am working on the pineapple mold now and would appreciate suggestions on what you all think the ideal dimensions/proportions are. maybe for sale someday.