Crafts / Craftsmen / craftswomen (craftspeople, I suppose)

My main tracing. Using sheets the same size as the ikea mirror I bought to get my individual templates. Hopefully not wasting too much in the process.

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Not sure, still baffles me. It seems to work as a lube and it evaporates so I guess that might be why they like it.

I think pretty much anything helps a bit, it’s to reduce micro fractures in the glass surface. An oiled cut is def cleaner than dry. For small bits of glass it doesn’t make much difference really in my experience.

Probably when you do a lot you have the pressure and the leverage force dialled in pretty well. When you don't do it often anything that helps is a big deal.

Yes, pressure, angle, using a spare finger as a running edge etc is all just stuff that comes with time but I don’t do a huge number of longer cuts so it still takes a bit of dialling in. Watching YouTube vids of dudes in China who work in the sheet glass factories(where our mirror all comes from) casually running 3m long cuts by hand with a straight edge is cool to see.

Next time I get the bench cutter out I’ll take some pics. Basically a 600x600mm vacuum table with a moveable arm and dozens of adjustable cutting wheels. Setting width, pressure and angle for those to cut endless grid sheets of 1mm glass is nerve wracking. One of the most niche pieces of equipment I’ve ever learned to use. Every cutter body has its own quirks and variables it seems so always a joy setting it up.

Sounds like my printer!

First few pieces cut last night, not easy but doable.

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Made some more vases. Stoneware this time. Planning on glazing this week.

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Reminds me of a petrol can in a good way.

Oh I really like that.

Ploughing through a batch of these at the moment. Bit more fun than most of the other stuff we make. Trick is not working yourself into a corner whereby you have to start cutting pieces to order to fit weird gaps.

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What’s the “ball” made of?

Fibreglass is the short answer.
Depending on the size of the ball it gets more complicated, the really big fuckers(and some of our smaller products) have the rotator inside the ball to allow for single point rigging so they can be lowered in and out on stage etc.
To get them all certified and LOLER tested every 6months means there’s more going on inside and with the eyelets than you’d expect. They have to survive under the temps generated by studio lights, the humidity of sweaty venues and thrown around by bleary eyed riggers at 5am, so how the ball/adhesives/glass all interact has been an ongoing process and tightly held secret for my boss for nearly 20yrs now.
We make a fucking solid product and chances are many of you have partied under one at some point.

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I had no idea

I love learning about crafts I had no idea were so intricate!

Hopefully the workshop radio plays AC/DC - Big Balls at least on the hour every hour.

Blinded by the Light, shirley

Nah I mostly work alone so I binge true crime pods or desert rock.
My colleague works 1-2days and is a die hard radio2 head. Silence for Popmaster.

Unsurprisingly the bossman is a House obsessive with the most unbelievable vinyl and mini disc collection. He’s also a vintage hifi collector.

One downside of my job is the absolute hammering my fingers take handling glass non stop. More damage than my tree work days. Yet to find gloves that allow the required dexterity.

So you're saying your fingers are worn out from handling your balls.

The playlist pretty much writes itself.

So glass is really hard to photograph(especially with my shitty phone). But this goes to illustrate what a ‘dry’ cut in 4mm glass tends to look. The lip is white from micro splinters and the edge itself is pretty wavy. This was a slow pass with a lot of pressure. It does the job and will polish out well enough.

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Must be from archeology days and studying flint, but I love the way glass breaks

This on the other hand is a fast, ‘wet’ cut with less pressure. Hopefully you can see the difference.

Cut quality has been known to trigger my ocd in the past even tho no one will ever see it lol.

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I could talk for ages about the different breakage patterns I see in our hire stock when it comes back a bit damaged. We generally divide it into crunchies, party-breaks and smashes…

Can I ask you, as an occupational hazard, how often do you cut yourself or impale a finger on a glass splinter?
I fear that in your game I'd be doing it all the time.