Lampworking 101

Lampworking Tutorials

Lampworking Glossary

Q & A

Lampworking 101 Q&A

What is lampworking? Lampworking is a type of glass work that involves using a torch as a heat source to melt, work and shape glass that starts out in a rigid form, as opposed to hot glass blowing or furnace glass work which uses a furnace to keep liquid pooled glass hot. Lampworking is also refered to as torchwork or flamework..

What kind of stuff do you make the designs in the glass out of?   Designs in glass are usually made from small layers of gold or silver or colored glass which is made from clear glass combined with metals and other additives. Ssometimes we put other materials inside like sulfide or meteor glass or synthetic opals.

How do you make all those designs? By hand or with a machine? All of Andrew's glass is made by hand. You've got a substance that can flow like honey, can become sticky or brittle, you can condense and twist and pull and add and shape. Think 3 Dimensionally on a hollow ball, and how that shape could be condensed into a thicker solid form with depth of pattern.

Do you really blow the glass? Yes, when we work with a tube of glass we condense and expand the glass, which we do by using gravity and blowing of air. When we blow air into a hollow closed off ball of glass, the air pressure forces the glass ball to expand.

What does annealing the glass do? Annealing glass is a way of strengthening the glass. Glass needs to soak at a precise temperature (1050 degrees for borosilicate glass) for a set period of time depending on the thickness of the glass, then cooled slowly, sometimes with another soak time at just below the strain point temperature of glass. When glass gets worked hot the crystaline structure of the molecules get a little out of wack. When soaked at a proper temperature for the right ammount of time, the structure of the molecules align which gives strength, durability and longevity to the glass.

 

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