Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Gallery

Gallery
This is a great thing.
Scroll down to First Pony Ride to see my little buddy Henry Creed.

Up and Running?

It looks like the glass studio is back up and running. I hope everything continues to work correctly. We should be blowing for Wednesday.
Fingers crossed.

Wednesday, May 25, 2005

The Paseo Arts Festival

We are gearing up for the Paseo Arts Festival. It is coming up this weekend. I will try to get a 10% off coupon posted soon. If not make sure and tell Brent, Drew, Calley, or myself that you saw this post and would like to have 10% off any purchases.

Monday, May 23, 2005

Once Again in the Abyss

Well. Getting out to the studio on Friday night I see the breaker has blown. I flip it on and get the temp. back up on the furnace. At about 1750 degrees the breaker blows again. I have the wrong coils in the furnace. They are producing enough heat to get to 1750 but when more is needed the resistance drops and too much electricity flows and the breaker pops.
New coils on order. They should be here after this next weekend.
Speaking of weekends. The Paseo Arts Festival is coming up. I can't wait. It should be a great show. I hope to see everyone there.
Keep it centered.

Thursday, May 19, 2005

Up and Running Again

Many thanks to all those people who came out over the past few days and weeks in an effort to get everything running again.
We replaced the crown to the furnace. I had wanted to wait a little longer but it just made sense to go ahead and do it now. We tore everything down and started over basically. We finished up last night at around 11:00. I took the day off just to get that furnace up and running again. I hope this is the right solution. I am confident everything is going to work out just right.
We should be going and blowing on Saturday. We should have hot glass on Friday night. Fingers crossed and all.
Thanks again.
Keep it centered.

Tuesday, May 17, 2005

Fixing

I am looking at the furnace tonight. i hope I can fix it so it will last a while longer. Fingers crossed.
I am going to try to get to Tulsa to get some refractory supplies. They have a bunch of stuff there aht can not be found else where.
Keep it centered.

Monday, May 16, 2005

The Saga Continues

The Furnace is down again. There are little points of mortor dabs to hold the coil in place. These dabs broke off on Saturday. Sometime during the night and coild moved forward and pulled off the shelf and broke and fell into the pot of glass. I got the coil out. We are letting the furnace cool now and hopefully Wednesday we will have it up and running once again.
It seems one thing leads to another. Problems compound and progress and fall into place just so it messes everything up.
Oh yes, I need about $70,000 to purchase everything we need for the next little while. Please let me know if you are interested in making an investment in a glass blowing studio.
Keep it centered.

Friday, May 13, 2005

Unscheduled downtime. If you are a blogger you may know something about this.
The furnace is up to temp again. It is now blowing the curcuit breaker. Up and Down, Up and Down, Up and Down we go when it gets fixed? Nobody Knows.

Thursday, May 12, 2005

1000 Degrees

The furnace is at 1000 degrees again. We are working our way up there. It should be hot tonight so blowing should take place on Friday, Saturday for sure. I hope everything goes well this time with the new cement in place.
Dilima.
I am looking at getting a new furnace. The Denver is great. Economical, easy to use. It has drawbacks in the door and the elements burn out, hence our trouble as of late. I could get a new Denver and rebuild the one we have now and switch between them.
I am looking at the EZTherm by Henry Halem. It is a very nice furnace. It is like the Lexus of the glass blowing furnaces.
I am looking at the Moly furnace that Steve Stadelman builds too. More econimical then Henry's. More of the Cadilac of the furnaces.
We need to go electric for ease of use and consumption of electricity. Do we jump off the deep end and go expensive or keep it small and within reason?
The charging bull has two horns. We are back to this once again and always it seems.
Keep it centered.

Wednesday, May 11, 2005

glassblowing - a photoset on Flickr

glassblowing - a photoset on Flickr
Here is another good set of photos. digging this flickr.

Hanging Vases

DSC_0999 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
This is a nice photo of some hanging vases. I like this style. You can also see a witches ball hanging behind the red vase.

Forming Glass Vase on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Forming Glass Vase on Flickr - Photo Sharing! There are some good glass blowing photos posted over at Flickr. It looks to be a cool service.
Maybe it is just me but I am finding more and more on the internet these days on glassblowing. Very cool! or should I say Very Hot!

Tuesday, May 10, 2005

Furnace Down

We are having more trouble with the furnace. I bought some high temp. cement from a guy in OKC. He sold me something with the assurance it was the right stuff. Needless to say it is not the right stuff. We got up to temp. and the cement just melted. We are trying to clean out this stuff now. I just hope this works.

Friday, May 06, 2005

Color Order in the Works

I am looking at making a color order today. There are so many beautiful colors available. I would like them all. It is unrealistic to get them all however. If you see a special color that grabs your eye let me know and I will be happy to order it too see how it comes out.
Scheduled to blow on Saturday. It looks like everything is going to be ready. Cleaned up in the studio a bit last night. We just need more space.
Keep it centered.

Thursday, May 05, 2005

Almost Hot

We are almost hot again. the furnace should be about ready to go tomorrow. I need to clean out all the glass in the tank and recharge but may wait until after class on Saturday.
Getting ready now for the Paseo Festival coming up at the end of the month. Mark your calendars now.
Keep it centered.

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Heating Up

We are heating up the furnace. It should be around 1000 degrees now. Everything thus far is looking okay with in new coils and process. Keep your fingers crossed.

Tuesday, May 03, 2005

Edmond Show

It was a great weekend. Thank you all for coming by and making Blue Sage Studios a success. I would like to thank the judges for presenting us with Second Place in the festival. What a wonderful acknowledgement of our work.
Our Denver Furnace burnt out a coil over the weekend. I got it replaced last night so the furnace is heating up again. We should be on schedule to resume blowing on Saturday.

Monday, May 02, 2005

Edmond Arts Fair- April 30, 2005

Edmond Arts Fair- April 30, 2005
The Edmond Festival of the Arts was a success. Friday I was a bit concerned with the cold weather, I think it was colder on Friday then any day this past winter. Saturday turned off to be one of the most beautiful days in recent memory. The crowds were great. I think all of Edmond and half of Oklahoma City came out to the festival. Sunday was a great day too, cool and cloudy.
Three cheers for all the help provided by Angela, Jeremy,
Brent, Drew, Calley, and Abby Boatman. Without all of you Blue Sage Studios would not be what it is today. Many Thanks.