Oh god the itching, or alternative knockoff tables

[Ben Solwitz]

I used some gloves that were sitting on the frax knockoff table and now my skin is on fire, even after a shower. What do you guys use for knockoff tables? I'm not a fan of the frax but it's not my studio so there's not much I can do about it other than recommend something better. The ones I have the most experience with are in Corning, I think they are just a thin sheet of kevlar, and another shop around here uses cullet that's around the size of #4 frit.

[Dave Hilty]

Welders Blanket. bought a piece a couple years ago and its not burned though yet and holding up well. Just cut it to fit the box frame around the frax and laid it on top of the frax.

[Larry Cazes]

I have been using one of Alan Gott's knock off pads for 6 months now and it is holding up very well. They are expensive but well worth the money.

[Ben Solwitz]

Do you need the frax underneath or is the blanket ok by itself? I imagine having the blanket over the top keeps the dusting down pretty well but I'd rather avoid having frax out altogether if possible.

[John Teeter]

I just use the black felt welders blanket...similar to the gott steamer pad but different...I use it straight on the steel marver. works great.

when I'm not knocking off into the gloves of an assistant that is...

john

[Brian Gingras]

we have 2" of fiber under fiberglass auto body fabric from Home Depot...$5 for a package, and it lasts about 1 year. We never leave out gloves on the table either, but rather on a small shelf next to the table.

[Wes Hunting]

We use about 20 years worth of burned out kevlar gloves.

[Eben Horton]

My knock off table is a craftsman work bench with drawers in it.. on the top, i have a sheet of M-Board fitted over the wood work surface- it works great.

[Scott Dunahee]

I use a piece of Skamol v1100 (600). It's leftover from building my ovens and I've never had it crack a piece. It holds up wonderfully. I vacuum it off every once in a while, if I sweep it off with a hand broom, vermiculite goes everywhere.

BSD

[Cecil McKenzie]

Ben. Much of my work is not that heavy but I have had good success with using old burned paddles to break off on to. Some wood planking that has a good coat of charcoal would work just as well. I break off tumblers, small bowls, larger bowls, vases, directly on to the burnt wood surface then usually fire polish the pontil then put the piece away so the work is sitting on the wood surface for a while. Sometimes there is black carbon on the surface but it goes away in the annealler.
Paperweights and some odd shaped pieces I break off into a variety of coffee cans or pans with frax depressions in them.
The wood break off surface may not work as well if your pieces are extremely heavy
or you have a surface that might reduce. I made some birds and laid them on their sides
and some of the frit reduced and stayed reduced after annealling.
Hope this helps.

[Roger Gandelman]

I use 20 years of burned out gloves, too.

[Eben Horton]

when i was at RIT, someone used a chair with foam padding as a knock off table, then tried to use a pair of oven mitts from her kitchen. needless to say, there was a fire, then a pair of burnt hands. She never came back... :confused:

[Ben Solwitz]

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone, sounds like there are plenty of good alternatives, I don't know why so many people use frax.

When were you at RIT Eben? I went there for CS from 2000-2005.

[Eben Horton]

94-98.. And from what I can tell, those were the last of the crappy years there.. new studio, new teachers... Im a little jealous, but I made the best of it.

[Ben Solwitz]

Yeah I think you can probably get a good education or a bad education wherever you go to school, it's all about how much work you are willing to put into it. I didn't actually get interested in glassblowing until after I graduated so I have no idea what the glass program is like there, damn was it an ugly campus though.

[Eben Horton]

you are 100% correct about how much work your willing to put into it- I was basically given the keys to the kitchen for 4 years with almost no guidance.. Looking back, there are only 4 or 5 people from when I was there that are still doing glass- Eddie bernard (wet dog glass) Johnathan schmuck, Sarah Hirneisen, myself, and Ben Cobb.. thats out of probably 80 people. Had I not had years of glass experience before i got there, I dont think i would have survived.

[Larry Cazes]

I don't know why so many people use frax.



Same reason why so many people apply powders without sufficient precautions.

[Ben Solwitz]

Did they offer any business classes geared for artists? I think a lot of people have problems managing their career after they graduate as they have no experience or instruction in the business side of being an artist. I know lots of people that have graduated and then don't really know what to do. They teach a class here or there and end up getting a 'real' job that doesn't use any of the skills they spent the last four years acquiring. I was talking to someone that did glassblowing in high school in Hawaii and she said almost no one from back then blows glass any more.

[Brian Gingras]

Same reason why so many people apply powders without sufficient precautions.

We use powder with excellent ventilation and our Frax knockoff tables is completely wrapped in fiberglass allowing for no air born particles.

[Dan Ellis]

We use vermiculite, sometimes cover with the remains of a glove. messy stuff.

I saw in Biot many shops using what looked like a folding table with a metal screen attached to accross the top. they also used it for trasfers rather then sitting at the bench.