This is a difficult skill to develop and the lesson plan will minimize its use. However, it is a valuable and one of the most worthwhile and valuable skills to acquire and your glass products will reflect your proficiency in rotating glass tubing by hand Before we rotate glass in a torch, we need to practice!
-
- Select a glass tube from the previous lesson.
- Grasp the tubing with both hands and hold it horizontally.
- Rotate the glass in a clockwise (top away from you) direction.
- To gain skill draw a line with a sharpie on each piece of the glass tube or rod and spin the glass so the black lines stay together.
- To gain more skill do the same as step 4 but now use different sizes of tubing or rod, keeping them to the black lines stay together. This is much tougher as you know how to spin one different as the diameters are different.
Next, practice rotation with a
blowhose assembly attached to one tube.
Proficient rotation ability takes many hours, days and weeks of practice to acquire. It will become apparent as you develop your glassblowing talent the importance of developing this skill.