Getting the right heat base for a big bubble trap took me four days

I was making a large bubble trap for a custom rig and couldn't get the initial gather to hold its shape. It kept sagging before I could even start the blow. I must have reheated and re-centered the piece twenty times. Finally got it right by letting the pipe cool for a full minute longer than I normally would. Anyone else have a simple trick for keeping a big gather stable?

4 comments

4 Comments

noahclark23d ago

See this all the time with new hires trying to rush a pallet load. They skip the cooling step after wrapping and the whole stack wobbles. That extra minute you let it sit is the whole game, letting the structure set before you add more stress. Same principle with your glass, just different materials.

luna51923d ago

Wait, what if that extra cooling time is just hiding a bad technique? I've seen people get a gather to hold by cranking up their torch heat instead of waiting. Sometimes you need more heat to get the glass moving right before you shape it, not less. Letting it cool might work once but it could make the whole piece more brittle later. Rushing is bad but maybe the real fix is better heat control from the start, not just adding a timer.

wren8064d ago

My cousin's pottery exploded in the kiln once.

ray_king4d ago

But what if you're just trading one bad habit for another? You're right that cranking the heat is a quick fix that can ruin the glass later, but isn't adding a forced wait time without understanding why just another kind of rush? Like @noahclark said, that minute lets the structure set, but you have to know what a "set" structure feels like. If you don't learn the right heat from the start, you're just guessing on the cooling time too. Then you end up with a piece that holds shape but might crack in a week because the internal stress is still wrong. The timer only helps if you're already using it to learn what proper heat control looks and feels like.