r/glassblowing

This is the same piece with a light bulb in it and outside of it. As you can see if totally changes color and opacity. Any ideas what is causing this? FYI this is COE 96 oceanside sheet glass that's been fused for a roll up. That specific time was a double layer of the same blue.

I got these with my press, molds, and punty rods but am not sure what they were for besides maybe picking pieces up once out of the mold but the other one seems not to be finished or for another purpose???? They’ve got buttons on the bottom for opening the tops but obviously one doesn’t have anything to open, Any help would be appreciated!

Hello yall! Long time lurker and appreciator of you lava breathing badasses!

I am a gemstone lapidary, working in the opal sector of the gemstone industry. I am also an elder millennial engineering student with a long life that has promoted learning crafting and fabrication skills, school is largely backtracking to collect certification credentials and learn some of the extremely nuanced stuff my life hasn’t already taught me already.

I am developing a new piece of lapidary equipment aimed at reducing the cost of entry to the hobbyist/amateur level of skill/engagement in the craft; basically someone who needs equipment that will work, but isn’t necessarily overly concerned about return on investment. I fully know my method of manufacturing the tool will not allow for the same levels of precision and accuracy a well maintained traditional faceting machine will achieve, nor am I trying to. The goal is giving people an option to explore a craft that is otherwise cost prohibitive to enter (I am sure you all can relate to this, I am not naive of the cost of glassblowing lamp work equipment, if anything yall got it worse than we do tbh), while also maintaining an acceptable level of precision and accuracy to not fail entirely in producing results that are at least on par with foreign low labor cost cutting farms; not perfect but perfectly passable for an enthusiast.

I realized in a “oh duh” moment, that there are several glassblowers who utilize very similar equipment to lapidary equipment, sometimes even being an actual lapidary equipment piece like that diamonds flat laps, and using them to basically do big version of what we do just with glass instead of rubies and sapphires and diamonds.

So, I thought I would poke on over here and give yall a peak at the prototype I’m working on and see how your industry feels on if it might be worth exploring its usage in glasswork.

Thank you for your time and responses❤️ I am now ready to be laughed out the room ☠️

I really really wanted to take this home with me but it was out of my price range 💔

The big ol crack in the center doesn’t reach the outside layer, it’s a 3 gather paperweight, it’s been getting a bit wavy and has some weird colors starting to reflect on it. Do yall think I should be worried/ is there anything I can do from here?