[I wrote this a while ago, but I have finally updated it with photos.]

I have collected a whole bunch of matchboxes from one of the cafes in the neighbourhood that was kind enough to leave them lying around. They are small (5.5 x 2.5 x 0.7 cms), but you could use bigger ones if you want. I like the fact that they are all the same size, but maybe that’s the anal in me.

I pick up every crumb, sliver and chunk of expensive (handpulled) glass that flies around my table and put it into a labelled matchbox. The ends of stringers also go in there. I store the matchboxes in a shallow plastic container from the local Japanese take-away.

Then whenever you want to pull a stringer of a handpulled glass, tip out the contents of its matchbox onto a graphite marver (eg). Heat up the tip of a rod of the same colour and then use the molten glass to pick up the bits and pieces. If you need to pick up a biggish chunk then push the molten glass as far around the chunk as possible; this seems to minimise the toxic shock. Melt it in, pick up more, melt it, etc. Be careful, avoid creating holes or gaps in the gather. When you have a big enough gather then pull your stringer.

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I found this tip a long time ago, I think on the glass section of Wet Canvas. I’m sorry that I can’t credit the owner of this idea, but it’s neat one.

• Get an empty aluminium (aluminum) soft drink can (soda can)
• Wash and let dry
• Using a sharp knife, scissors, or can-opener, cut off the top and bottom of the can.
• Cut the resulting cylinder into a flat sheet
• Place the aluminium/aluminum sheet under weights (books, bricks, anything heavy) to straighten it. Leave for a some time (hours? days? weeks?)
• From your mostly-flattened-out-sheet cut out a piece approx 12 x 15 cm. Make it as square as possible. (This sort of aluminium is thin enough to be cut with a a rotary paper cutter or guillotine.)
• Using a ruler and a sharp knife measure out sections (a set of two marks) on your aluminium rectangle varying in length between 7mm to 20 mm (or whatever sizes you mostly work with). Leave 5 mm-1/4 inch between each section.
• Using a permanent marker (Sharpie) place a small cross on the sections that will be cut out (ie the lengths varying between 7-20 mm). Don’t mark the space in between the sections.
• Use sharp scissors and/or a sharp knife to cut out the sections marked with a cross.
• Measure your sections, preferably with a set of calipers. Use your permanent marker/sharpie to write down the precise lengths of each section of your measuring stick. It doesn’t matter if a section is not exactly, eg 12 mm, but make sure you know exactly how long it is (eg, 12.2 mm)

You can make several glass measuring sticks from one flattened aluminium/aluminum can.

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My close-up vision has been deteriorating of late (sigh), which is a real hassle if you make glass beads. A beadmaker should wear special safety glasses, made from a material called didymium. Didymium glasses have a dual function: to protect the eyes from flying bits of hot glass, and to reduce the sodium flare from the melting glass. Sodium flare is a bright yellow flame which obscures the details of the bead; the special mauve-coloured didymium glasses cancel out the yellow flare so that you can see what you’re doing.

Anyway, didymium glasses are not cheap, even the ugly pair that I have was not cheap. Prescription didymium glasses are even more expensive. So for a while I resorted to wearing reading glasses under my safety glasses. My not-suitable-for-glasses nose was slowly dying under the weight. And every time a rod of glass exploded I would jump, and then my glasses would fall off their glasses. All in all, very irritating.

I finally came across this wonderful invention by Neoptx: stick-on bifocal lenses. Made from a special plastic which is pliable when wet but as hard and as clear as glass when dry. The lenses come in different strengths, and are removeable and reusable. Using them you can convert a pair of safety glasses, or a favourite pair of sunglasses, or a set of prescription glasses into a set of bifocals. I found a place here in the Amsterdam that could order them in, but the quoted price was a somewhat mind-boggling €35 for one pair of lenses.

In the meantime, via Lampworketc, a glass forum, I was led to this great little American company, StickonBifocals, which sells Neoptx lenses for a fraction of the price. International customers may order up to 2 pairs, so I ordered two different strengths. They arrived within 5 days, and cost $US 34, including shipping. In these rather weird financial times, where banks seem to be crashing about our ears, that works out to €25 for *two* pairs of lenses.

The lenses work as advertised. I now have pure 20/20 vision through my expensive, ugly didymium glasses. And, even better, there is no added weight. My nose is grateful.

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There is nothing more irritating that a rod of expensive glass that self-destructs when it gets anywhere near a source of heat. No matter how careful you are, it just flies off in little, unusable bits.

I have been hoarding some rods of River Rock (Vetrofond 931, once created, never reproduced) until I have been worthy of it. I have fooled around with it a little bit, but it shocks easily and I only have lots of bits and pieces of expensive, rare glass to show for it.

Today I tried an experiment. I tipped out all my little bits and pieces of River Rock into a small aluminium tray. I then melted a small blob of clear glass on the end of a stainless steel chopstick.

Next, I picked up the smallest crumb of RR, and melted it in. I then picked up the next crumb, melted it in, etc.

Once I had a big enough gather of molten RR I picked up a bigger chunk. The trick is to ensure that the molten glass can be pushed around over the top of the cold chunk. This seems to minimise the toxic shock that even small chunks of very shocky glass can experience.

Keep heating up your gather, pushing it around another chunk, melting it in, etc until the gather is about the size of a small grape. Use tweezers, an old mandrel, or needle-nosed pliers to pull a very thick stringer.

At the end of this exercise I had enough thick stringers of RR to reverse-encase two focal beads. The stringers did not explode. Not bad…

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