HOT GLASS: How To Make A Signature Cane

[GlassKitchen]

Here is the simple version of how to make a signature cane. There are so many tricks and tips and such, I recommend a class, but this should hold you over ;-) Please let me know if there is something I should change or you have a better way, I’ll edit as needed. I’d love to see some of the finished canes!

Materials: 2 rods each of Black and White (though I used Ivory for the demo), 1 rod of your favorite color, 2-4 rods of clear, depending on diameter- I prefer 10mm. You can use these as handles also. When you start pulling larger canes you probably want to use Pyrex, but we don’t need that for this demo.

Get some rod nippers and long tweezers if you don’t have them already. Every supplier carries them.

Set the kiln to 1000F. Get something to drink and have it handy, put on tunes.

Important – THINK SMALL! These things get real big real quick, and it’s no fun to have 5 pounds of molten glass to manipulate for two hours.

Every letter/number/whatever is put together differently, so either look in Cindy Jenkins book at the table showing how they are constructed, or sit down and draw it out on paper first. If you’re not sure, don’t worry, you can play around and figure it out (famous last words). I’m going to make a “CJ” for obvious reasons.

Lets begin!

Make a square. It sounds like Barney the Dinosaur, but that’s OK. Heat up a glob on the end of the black rod and smash it flat. Then take a marver or whatever you use, and manipulate the glass into a square shape. Squares are important- they are the start of almost all letters.

[GlassKitchen]

So the first picture here is looking at the side of the square. See how thin? Gotta keep it small. To make a ‘C’, I put a line of white down the middle of the square. Heat the edges of the black and wrap them around the white – Presto, a “C”. If I wanted to make an “o”, I would just add a little more black to complete the circle. For an “S” you would make another ‘c’ and join them. You’ll get the hang of it!

[GlassKitchen]

Now, here is the most helpful technique… dragging, or ‘painting’ the glass. This can be done with the Black or the White, but here we are going to encase the ‘c’ with white. Get a nice hot glob of white, very quickly put it down at the start of the cane (large red arrow) and drag to the end and pull off (follow movement of little red arrow). Practice this technique a little. If you took Black and did this around a White rod, you would have an ‘O’. Leave a gap in the black, and you would have a ‘C’. Anyways, for this demo, we are encasing the black, filling up spaces and such.

[GlassKitchen]

Here is another pic of the ‘drag’ (this time with Black over White).

[GlassKitchen]

Ok, know we have our ‘C’ covered in White. Marver to keep things nice and round. Now we need to put an end cap of clear on the cane. The end cap provides some waste glass on the ends of the cane – when you pull it out there will be a little distortion on the ends, and you don’t want to waste part of your cane, so you have the waste glass. (note- This glass end cap also provides a buffer between your cane and Pyrex punties. The Pyrex/End cap mix will shatter after the pull is done and cooling, yet your cane will be nice and safe).
To make the end cap, build up a gob of clear on the end about ¼ the length of you cane. Marver it nice and round, and then give it a little angle to form a cone shape (see the picture). Heat up your handle and the end of the cone, then stick ‘em together. Move the handle up and down, right and left to lock it in place. Make sure its centered, you have a few seconds to adjust.

[GlassKitchen]

Now do the same thing for the other side, a nice cone shape, add the handle, center and lock. You’re all set to pull! Start heating the ends of the cane and the end caps… the center will take care of itself. Stop often and give the glass a little push/pull to see how pliable it is. The next part is just learned from experience- when the glass feels fairly pliable, bring it out of the flame (remember, do this OUT of the flame), give it a few seconds, and begin to pull slowly. You have to make sure you do not twist the cane at all- it must be pulled perfectly straight (otherwise it will not line up with your other initial). You are going to pull this cane down again, so don’t pull it too thin- about ¼ inch is good.

[GlassKitchen]

When the glass is solid set it on some frax or a fireproof surface and grab your nippers. Nip off some ¾ - 1 inch sections. Be careful, the cane is very hot! Grab a section with your tweezers and stick it in your kiln that is toasty at 1000F. !! WARNING!! Remember, you are sticking metal into a kiln! Watch what you’re doing so you don’t get deep fried! Keep away from the coils! Ouch! Pain! Death! Nuff said. Now, relax, drink some water or whatever you have, put on another CD. You did great :-) Pat yourself on the back, look wistful.

[GlassKitchen]

On to the ‘J’ or whatever. You know the drill now, so I’ll be brief. I made a ‘c’, turned it on it’s side, and added the vertical part. I fill in the spaces by dragging on the White.

[GlassKitchen]

I add the top of the ‘J’, then encase in White, marver and pull down as before. Nip into pieces and stick it in the kiln. Again, Water, change CD (oh yes, it takes that long), pat on back :-)

[GlassKitchen]

OK, lets assemble (it’s our right!). Take your 10mm rod of clear, heat a glob, then press it straight down on you marver. You want to stick your letters on a flat surface, not a curved round one. Pass your tweezers through the flame a few times to heat them up to prevent thermal shocking the glass. Grab your first initial cane out of the kiln with the tweezers, being very careful not to electrocute yourself. Heat the 10mm glass and the end of the letter cane, then stick them together. Leave room for the second letter, of course. Pass the cane through the flame a few times to keep it hot. Grab the second cane from the kiln. Heat along the side of the first cane and the end of the second. Carefully align the two and stick the second cane on the handle. The picture tells it all. You can take you tweezers and adjust the second cane a little so they line up perfectly. Pass the bundle through the flame a few times to keep everything up to temperature. Big deep breath, it’s all down hill from here! Fill in the gaps with White by dragging the glass on, marver a little to keep everything round.

[GlassKitchen]

Take your favorite color and encase the bundle with it by dragging the glass on. You can, of course, skip this step.

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Add your end cap (you really only need one this time) and handle, pull it down as before. You need to think about how big you want your cane to be, pull it down to that size. Probably less than ¼ inch though.

[GlassKitchen]

Pop open a brew (or water, if that suits you)! Crank up that Van Halen (Eruption solo, right?). You can stick the cane in the annealer, however the cane is probably small enough to just let everything cool down (and you want to see it right now!!). Nip of some chips, walla! Congratulations! You have a bunch of extra cane pieces now, use them for other words, sigs, etc..

[GlassKitchen]

Thoughts on signature canes… I believe if we want to be respected as artists we need to sign our work. All work?? Heck no, a person wearing one of my average bracelets doesn’t need to say “What the heck is THAT on my bead”. But you all know that you make art that will stand throughout time, and you need to be recognized for that. Why should we be the only contemporary artists that remain anonymous?? Sign that bead, I say.

[swamperfolk]

Absolutley wonderful write up and the pics were ever so helpful. Thanks a bunch for the time you put into this tutorial.