Solo blowing

[Chris Lowry]

So in Covid times I find myself in the shop by myself more than before.

What do you listen to, to keep entertained? Podcasts, music, tv??

I also need a pair of jacks with some type of attached paddle so I can open and paddle at the same time. Anyone have pics of what they have seen?

Have fun and stay safe.

[Shawn Everette]

Tunes, always.

I've use a 3x3" piece of graphite with a hole to hold it on one jack blade and a slit to allow the other blade to move freely. Seen wood ones too. I'll post a pic if I can dig it up.

[Charles Friedman]

I was starting on a murrine project, needed to pull a boat load of cane. So I looked into my old scrap pile and came up with a "Toots Zynsky" want-to-be machine. Lots of fun.

[Eben Horton]

Jerry Kung makes a neat little paddle that slides over the jack blades so you can paddle while opening.

[Pete VanderLaan]

I just listen to the voices in my head: They say "Why didn't you get a real job?"

[Nick Delmatto]

I've worked alone 95% of the time for the last 25 yrs. My companions are jazz CDs, books on CD from the library, & NPR.

[Tom Fuhrman]

I always worked by myself, the hours I worked, the remoteness of my studio, and my personality made it impossible to find anyone who would assist. John Prine was always there to help though.

[Franklin Sankar]

Working alone is very limiting to me.
Bill does it but it almost impossible. I guess that is what practice means
Franklin

[Pete VanderLaan]

My deafness came on pretty quickly, over about three years, so I cannot enjoy music from speakers. Headphone are OK but marginal. Protect your hearing.

[Shawn Everette]

Best thing I learned from Bill is conservation of movement and curating your work space. Get as much done with the heat that you have and make your transitions quick. Think about efficiency and what tools benefit that. Does wonders for solo working.

[Larry Cazes]

Been working solo on and off in the hotshop almost since I started 14 years ago. Im still surprised by how few others do. I consider it an essential set of skills.

[Eben Horton]

Originally Posted by Pete VanderLaan

My deafness came on pretty quickly, over about three years, so I cannot enjoy music from speakers. Headphone are OK but marginal. Protect your hearing.

Your glory hole burner was sooo loud. Do you think that was what did it?

[Pete VanderLaan]

It has been a combination of things. The time in front of the pump panel in the fire dept, helicopter rides in in the hotshots, the glassworks could be part, loud guns, life. Grateful dead concert. Heredity ( both bro's and sister deaf in the same three years)

It's degrading now rapidly. I don't think I'll have any left in two years if anything. We have a close captioned phone now.

[Shawn Everette]

Several years of terrible assistants in undergrad and grad pushed me towards solo. I know when I need help, but it's changed my thinking about a lot of projects. The things you learn for solo can really speed things up when you have someone else around.

[Eben Horton]

Originally Posted by Pete VanderLaan

It has been a combination of things. The time in front of the pump panel in the fire dept, helicopter rides in in the hotshots, the glassworks could be part, loud guns, life. Grateful dead concert. Heredity ( both bro's and sister deaf in the same three years)

It's degrading now rapidly. I don't think I'll have any left in two years if anything. We have a close captioned phone now.

Wow Pete. I’m so sorry.

[Pete VanderLaan]

Mark Twain said that a person should be born with the body of an 80 year old and to be allowed to work backwards. I like that notion.

I'm fine, just deaf.

[Steven O'Day]

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
― Søren Kierkegaard

[Jordan Kube]

Originally Posted by Charles Friedman

I was starting on a murrine project, needed to pull a boat load of cane. So I looked into my old scrap pile and came up with a "Toots Zynsky" want-to-be machine. Lots of fun.

That's awesome Charlie.

[Scott Novota]

I am trying to figure out what Charlie is going to do with all those stringers.

[Charles Friedman]

Thanks Jordon that means a lot. I am making pixilated images with them. Damming and heating to fuse a 4”sqX6” rectangle shape, horizontally, then remove dams, pick-up on a square punty and heat up and make round, Then do a roll up of two or three layers of frame color, then make square and pull. After cutting, do a roll-up and then make the piece.

[Greg Vriethoff]

FWIW I don't blow glass in my home studio. When I work on whatever project I have going on I listen to NPR. I would like to have some other options, but the radio is really awful here. Nothing but top 40 R&B-type stuff. Thank god for Utoob and stuff.

I like blowing solo. I look forward to the day I'm able to blow glass in my own shop. I like working in teams too. I know that people that have large operations with employees can be a difficult situation. The best group situations I've been in were in school. When everyone there is just in the moment doing what they love and experimenting and playing it's amazing. When you've got the bills hanging over your head it sucks all the joy out of it.

The few times that I've been able to arrange blow time in a well-equipped facility have been with other people agreeing to show up and assist. The only payment being lunch or a six pack. It's always been hit or miss, but the times I've been left hanging I just switch modes and make stuff I can do alone.

[rodman gilder miller]

I definitely enjoy solo blowing. Although I have worked with as many as 5 assistants to do pieces where size matters and to show that I could, it is solo blowing that teaches technique and matures your "chops".

I sometimes wonder at the dependance of bowers on at least one helper fr even the simplest of ,pieces. It occurs to me that f,most blowers start out in a class or workshop nd that the class can accommodate twice as many students if they partner-up.

As far as sound: I like music....with a beat..."world beat"" often soca music. Unfortunately, in this reigne of covid, I often having a sickening desire to hear the news. It is not happy or healthy. I look forward to the end of this reigne when I can listen and dance with the glass

[Michael Ahlefeldt-Laurvig]

I saw a guy in Japan when I Worked there, he had a tiny kiln about 25 feet up and like a flowerpot leaking melted rod down on the floor, slowly- to make stringers

[Shawn Everette]

Vitrigraphs are somewhat common, thinking about buying one for our studio when the budget is padded.