glass blowing videos...

[GuntherHess]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AACVk4n_xZs&feature=PlayList&p=2BE63137E4C97B73&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=55

A mold blown glass. Interesting how they cut the top off. They just make a small scratch then heat it. I will have to try that...

 

[pyshodoodle]

Hmmm... Lazy Susan is getting pulled out of the cabinet soon!

 

[Digswithstick]

Neat video ,if you let it run on its own after that video ,there is one on making machine made and handmade marbles ,the language is Spanish but you can see how it is done ,thanks for posting .

 

[cyberdigger]

I thought the Rupert's Drop thing was neat too.. never knew..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-GOwtikSO0&feature=PlayList&p=2BE63137E4C97B73&index=59

 

[RED Matthews]

Hello Lobeycat. Regarding your question of dropping the gather into the mold. No it isn't done that way.
The gather is obtained from the crucible on the large end of a blowpipe. The person that picks up the glass for making a bottle is responsible for gathering enough molten glass on the gather to make the objective product.
In some cases he will puff the second gather and then continue to make other gathers until he has enough on the blowpipe. Different bottles require different gathering methods. The gathered glass is very pliable so he has to keep it turning until he gets the full amount of glass needed.
There is one circum stance - called the German Half-post method where the gather for the neck has to be shaped and then additional gathers of the molten glass are gathered for the body of the bottle.
At that point he will give the prepared gather to the bottlemaker who is responsible for blowing more cavity in the glass on the blowpipe and shapping into a form called the parison. This is a precision process, because it is the thing that will determint the thickness of the glass when it is blown against the walls of the final mold blow.
When the formed bottle is blown, the mold boy will open the mold to remove the product. The bottlemakers assistant will apply the previous blow pipes reheated glass tube end or a punty with a gather of hot contact glass to the bottom of the final blown bottole. At that point the bottlemaker can remove the formed glass by cracking it off with a water wetted wood knife like tool and tapping his blow pipe to leave the formed glass product on the empontilled handle, for the bottle makers subsequent completion of the finsih requirements.
This could entail applied glass that was gathered and shaped to make the finish wrap on the hot glass. After application this had to be tooled to the desired finish specifiction.
An interesting explanation here is that if the previous blowpipe was used for the empontilling it produced and left a blowpipe or tube type of pontil mark on the bottom of the product.
It was also a standard practice before the blowpipe glass was cracked off, to make enough push-up on the bottom of the bottle so the tube stub wouldn't hit the table when the bottle was stood up.
The punty rod that had the hot glass on it was preheated before the hot glass was added. After its use it wasb simply cracked off, leaving a rough pontil scar. If the punty rod was coated for empontilling with iron dust, graphite, crushed glass or sand, it was done with a sticky paste of different materials, most often graphite or molten sulphur to pick up the material from a supply box.
In the case of the disc head punty the paste and glass particles were only picked up on the edge of the disc end. In this case, only a ring of the pontil mark will be seen on the bottom of the bottle as glass particles.
I hope this helps with the information. No doubt it is TMI. but that is my way.
RED Matthews