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1. |
In this tutorial I am
using Borosilicate glass and a GTT Lynx torch, one oxygen concentrator
pumping 4.5 LPM of 95% pure oxygen, and propane. Your specific setup,
experience level, and materials will affect your ability to do
implosions, and your results. |
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2. |
These same techniques are
applicable to soft glass but heat control is much more critical. When
using soft glass you must keep the entire piece hot at all times. And,
don't forget to heat the punty joints occasionally. |
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3. |
Start small and practice,
practice, practice. You will waste less time and glass if you keep it
small as you start. And if you can get good results on a small scale,
your results will improve as you increase the size of the piece. This
is because, I have found, it's easier to control the flow of the
glass, hence the implosion, with a greater mass of clear glass. |
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4. |
Strive for perfection in
each step. The results of each step determine the results of the next
step. Take as long as you have to for each step. As you
practice you will naturally get better and faster. Proficiency comes
only with time and practice. |
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5. |
In this tutorial I am
making a marble. This technique is equally useful in making an
implosion pendant. |
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6. |
You'll need a marble mold
that is smaller than the finished size of the marble you're making
i.e. if you're making a 1.0" marble, you'll need a 7/8" marble mold. I
use a 6 -in-1 graphite marble mold from Arrow Springs ($35). |
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7. |
Regarding the photography:
I did the best I could with one hand, what can I say. In some of the
pictures you can easily see the glow of the glass. In some pictures,
there's no glow and it looks like cold glass. Sometimes the Auto-Flash
flashed and sometimes it did not. I'm not a photographer so I can't
really explain the different results. |
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8. |
Most of the pictures can
be enlarged by right-clicking and selecting the View Image option. |
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9. |
Using punties takes
practice. There's lots of ways to do many things when it comes to
holding your piece with a punty and breaking off a punty. Time
permitting, I will add a section on punties. |
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10. |
I want to give full credit
to Josh Grant and The Flow magazine. It was through their 'The
Blooming Marble' tutorial (http://www.theflowmagazine.com/v1i3.pdf)
that I learned how to do my first implosion. Once you understand the
basic mechanics of an implosion, you can develop many variations.
Whether it's a flower or plain dots, many of the same skills are
necessary. |
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11. |
I am by no means "the"
expert. The implosion technique is one of my favorites and as a
result, I do a lot of them. I am happy with my results and I've had
great feedback regarding my implosion marbles.
If you have ideas or comments regarding
what I have presented here, please let me know. I'm hoping to
incorporate constructive criticism and good ideas into this tutorial
and maintain it for all to use and learn from. Please let me know if
anything is confusing. I'll clarify. Send comments and suggestions to
anakin@anakinsglasseye.com. |
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|
Anakin's
Implosion Marble Tutorial |
| Step 1. Form Your
Maria |
| In this step your goal is
to form a uniform, relatively thick "maria." I can't attest to the
origin of this name, but it is what I've heard it referred to in
several places. |
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| Heat the end of your rod.
If there are air bubbles or impurities on the tip of the glass, pluck
it out with tweezers so that it does not end up affecting the quality
of the finished marble. Once you have a clean tip, continue heating
and begin forming a gather of glass. It will naturally start to ball
up. Form a large gather and slowly mash it down on the marver. Be very
careful to keep it uniform and keep the rod centered on the maria. If
the maria is too small, repeat the process. Heat the face of the maria,
the side, and the back, and the base of the rod. Press down again on
the marver to spread the maria slightly. Make sure the rod is
perfectly perpendicular to the back face of the maria. Your maria
should be 2 to 3 times the diameter of your rod. Fire polish the face
and sides of the maria. |
| Step 2. Add the Design to
the Face of the Maria |
| In this step you will add
the design element that will implode through the mass of the marble.
I'll be doing a simple dot design for ease of illustration. |
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| On the face of the maria,
begin adding your dots in concentric circles. In this example I have
added a circle of dots at the perimeter of the maria and then I've
added dots in consecutively smaller concentric circles. Placement of
the dots is more important in this step than making consistently sized
dots. After you have proper placement of the dots you can come back
and add to the dots to get them consistent in size. After you add each
circle of dots heat it to a glow and then eye-ball it to see how you
did. If a dot is badly misplaced, let it cool, grab your tweezers or
spring-open needle nose pliers and pluck it off. It should break off
relatively easily and won't leave much of a mark. Re-place the now
missing dot. Alternatively, you
can start in at the center and work outward. Use the dots of the inner
circle to visually guide the placement of the next outermost circle of
dots. |
| Step 3.
Melt the Design and Begin the Implosion |
| In this step
you will slowly melt the design in to the surface of the maria. |
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| Apply heat to
the face of the maria while turning slowly. Apply enough heat to allow
the dots to slowly "sink" into the face of the maria. As the dots are
almost flush with the surface of the maria, press down gently on the
marver. |
| Step 4.
Implode and Add to the Design |
| In this step
you will begin imploding the original design and add additional dots
to the perimeter. |
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|
| Hold the rod
at a 45 degree angle and while rotating the maria in the flame, heat
the edge of the maria. If you imagine the maria as a rotating tire,
you should aim the most intense part of the flame at the "tread." As
you slowly rotate the maria in the flame, you will see the "tread"
begin to bulge toward the flame. This is exactly what you want. But
you want it to happen slowly so that you can control it. When you have
a little bit of bulge all the way around, gently press the maria down
on the marver. Don't press too hard or you will spread out the
imploding design. Press down only enough to make the face of the maria
flat again. Repeat the steps
above several times. You will notice that as the dots implode and you
flatten the maria, the dots appear to move inward on the face of the
maria. |
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| Optional:
If you want to add to your design, now is your chance. As your
original dots implode and move inward, there's left a space between
the design and the edge. In this space, you can add a row of dots to
the perimeter and melt in as you did before. Recognize that since the
original dots have already been imploded, these new dots will end up
appearing beneath the others in the finished marble. If this is
unclear, look at the finished marble to see what I mean. |
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| Repeat the
imploding and marvering steps to implode further. In my example, I've
added a 5th row of dots around the perimeter and repeated the
implosion. |
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| Step 5.
Implode and Shape the Bottom |
| In this step
you will complete the implosion and begin to shape the lower
hemisphere of the marble. |
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| Hold the rod
at a 45 degree angle, rotate the maria and heat, aiming at the edge.
As you heat the mass will bulge a on the edge as before and the entire
mass will begin elongating, thickening. Continue the process and
occasionally marver gently. The dots on the face of the maria will
approach each other and the mass will continue condensing into a
sphere. |
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| As the face
of the maria condenses you'll notice that in my example there is a
significant "divot" developing. I have found this to be the result of
having not enough heat to penetrate deep enough into the mass of the
marble. As I heat the edge of the maria, it is mostly the glass at the
surface that is flowing. The glass approaching the center of the mass
is not getting enough heat. If you are working on a torch with more
heat you will find that a significant divot
does not develop. The glass will flow and converge to a nice point
exactly at the center of what used to be the maria and is now the pole
of a sphere. The pictures below show this divot clearly. |
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| If you're
working with a marginal amount of power as I am in this example, the
way to deal with the divot is to heat the face of the maria briefly
and then marver gently so that you are only affecting the face. Repeat
this a few times until most of the divot is gone. |
| Step 6.
Punty Up and Shape the Top Side |
| In this step
you will add a punty to the bottom and remove the 14mm rod from the
top as well as shape the top. |
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| In this
example I am going to punty to the bottom, remove the 14mm rod, and
shape the top/face of the marble. You could very well shape the bottom
of the marble first but I want to get rid of the heavy 14mm rod.
Let the marble cool until it is no longer
glowing. Heat a punty tip to glowing, let it cool slightly and then
touch it to the exact center of the bottom of the marble, exactly
opposite the original 14mm handle. When the punty is secure and stiff,
while rotating with both hands, heat the base of the 14mm rod to
glowing hot and pull outward to remove the 14mm rod. You should be
left with a Hershey's Kiss shape. Heat and condense the tip so that it
is engulfed by the mass. |
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| Step 7.
Punty to the Top and Shape the Bottom |
| In this step
we're going to condense the bottom to a point and shape the bottom
hemisphere of the marble. |
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| Attach a
punty to the top and break away the punty on the bottom. Heat the
bottom of the marble while holding the punty at a downward angle and
rotating slowly. The bottom will naturally form a sphere as the glass
slowly flows. |
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| Heat the
bottom until it glows and then grab the center with the tweezers and
pull. This will pull the glass from the center and force the design to
converge to a nice point (I only have two hands, so I could not get
good pictures). You may have to tweeze it a couple times to make a
nice point. Flame cut the stringer that you just pulled and melt in
the bump that is left. Continue shaping the bottom to a perfect
sphere. |
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| Step 8.
Punty to the Bottom and Complete Your Marble |
| In this step
you reverse the punty and complete the final shaping. |
|
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| Attach a
punty to the bottom and break away the punty on the top. Flame polish
the punty scar and complete the final shaping of the top hemisphere. |
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| Grab the
marble with the holder of your choice. I use home made stainless steel
marble tongs. Break away the punty and flame polish the remaining
scar. Allow the glow to subside and place the completed marble in your
pre-heated kiln. You'll notice mine is going in the kiln on a bed of
popcorn salt. This is to keep it from rolling around (thank you Drew
Fritts for this tip
frittsartglass.com). |
