jamesp
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Post by jamesp on May 7, 2018 12:59:03 GMT -5
A dish water basket from Ikea w/hole cut to fit Lot-O mouth and a couple of classifiers to separate 1/2 inch media from tumbles. Dish water basket allows pouring media directly from 1/8" classifier. ![](https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/970/41238339194_b29850f4e8_c.jpg) ![](https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/943/41238343344_4509d84054_c.jpg)
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NRG
fully equipped rock polisher
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Post by NRG on May 8, 2018 0:04:44 GMT -5
Genius
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on May 8, 2018 5:04:37 GMT -5
The ole Lot-O is spitting out over 2 pounds of polished glass pendants twice every 3 days due to media reduction and tweaking. 36 hour intervals. Average load is 90 pendants, 1800 pendants/month. At 5 bucks a pop that is a 6 digit income. I am 3 months behind at the vibes, rotary pre-polished pendants stacked to the ceiling ready for the vibes. Give me a marketing outlet ! Yesterday's load and is early vintage 2 month old glass, not so impressive. ![](https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/965/40150654010_f8a41baedb_z.jpg) Late vintage and only the tip of iceberg. High speed lapper shaping dialed in. Better domes and girdles. Larger melt slabs and melt bricks. Kilns only at 20% capacity. Before rotary shaping fresh off lap and wet. Two rotary steps, 12 to 24 hours each. Then to vibes. Bump and grind a go go. ![](https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/948/41926839412_a32cf965ac_c.jpg)
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Post by grumpybill on May 8, 2018 5:44:48 GMT -5
You need more vibes...a lotta' Lot-Os.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on May 8, 2018 9:36:16 GMT -5
You need more vibes...a lotta' Lot-Os. The labor is in shaping the cabs. Fresh 60 grit lapper grinds about 1/4" thick glass 2 inches long in about 8 seconds. Depending on thickness of glass I am 2 to 6 hours shaping 180 cabs every 3 days. Worn out 2 - $12 eight inch 60 grit lapper wheels, glass will wear electroplate diamond. About 2500 cabs/wheel. Getting quite capable as a 'speed cabber'. They get better and better.
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Post by 1dave on May 8, 2018 9:45:08 GMT -5
Needs more variety.
Where are the color combinations beyond the visual spectrum?
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NRG
fully equipped rock polisher
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Post by NRG on May 8, 2018 10:24:30 GMT -5
Needs more variety. Where are the color combinations beyond the visual spectrum? Oh? You didn't notice? They are already there. Have a look. 😀
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Post by 1dave on May 8, 2018 11:02:35 GMT -5
Needs more variety. Where are the color combinations beyond the visual spectrum? Oh? You didn't notice? They are already there. Have a look. 😀 Oh, I was wearing the wrong glasses.
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NRG
fully equipped rock polisher
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Post by NRG on May 8, 2018 11:39:46 GMT -5
Lol
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Post by TheRock on May 8, 2018 11:45:24 GMT -5
![(thumbs-up)](//storage.proboards.com/1258779/images/poyofurZTHYIzGrfVSom.gif) Brilliant!
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on May 8, 2018 13:37:50 GMT -5
![(thumbs-up)](//storage.proboards.com/1258779/images/poyofurZTHYIzGrfVSom.gif) Brilliant! Thanks rock, it is almost a daily task. Might as well be as ergonomic as possible,
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on May 8, 2018 13:45:06 GMT -5
Needs more variety. Where are the color combinations beyond the visual spectrum? Need to put blacklight on them, some are uranium glass. May be other materials that radiate. "A top official with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said in a Feb. 25 memo that regulators have identified 14 factories that may make art glass using heavy metals, just as Portland's Bullseye Glass and Uroboros Glass did before coming under state scrutiny in February. The Oregonian/OregonLive found at least three factories on the EPA's list, all in Rust Belt states, are using similar manufacturing methods to Bullseye and Uroboros. And the three companies, like Bullseye and Uroboros, are all exempt from a key federal rule designed to limit hazardous air pollution emitted by glass factories. Two of the glass makers -- Kokomo Opalescent Glass in Indiana and Paul Wissmach Glass Co. in West Virginia -- use cadmium, a metal linked to lung cancer, regulators said. Neither operation has the technology to filter smoke that rises from their furnaces, officials also confirmed. A third company, Youghiogheny Opalescent Glass in Pennsylvania, makes colored glass named after the toxic metal cadmium, but state officials could not confirm its use when contacted by The Oregonian/OregonLive."
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on May 8, 2018 13:50:17 GMT -5
Well NRG, I will have a large stash of these pendants. Each vase I produce makes 20 to 150(avg. 70) pendants. Then there are self made pendants. Anyway, quite a stock of them. Need to add bails and cord, and start attending art festivals. They need to be turn key and ready to wear for retail consumption. I wonder if I can hire a person to do the festival and split the money with them. Like contractors or people for hire to man your booth.
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Post by HankRocks on May 8, 2018 16:26:15 GMT -5
jamesp You mentioned hiring someone to do the selling at the Festival. I would suggest that there is some value to you to be there and dealing with the end-buyers at least a couple of times. Listening to their comments, their likes and dislikes. You had said you would rather be selling to the sellers, but it's good to get an idea of of who the end buyer is.
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NRG
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Post by NRG on May 8, 2018 17:12:45 GMT -5
Well NRG, I will have a large stash of these pendants. Each vase I produce makes 20 to 150(avg. 70) pendants. Then there are self made pendants. Anyway, quite a stock of them. Need to add bails and cord, and start attending art festivals. They need to be turn key and ready to wear for retail consumption. I wonder if I can hire a person to do the festival and split the money with them. Like contractors or people for hire to man your booth. Look at a temp agency to man the booth. Hourly wages
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NRG
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Post by NRG on May 8, 2018 18:50:07 GMT -5
I'm curious. Why don't you make a 100 lot and put it on eBay? Hell, put 100 lots here. lparker and <'))))>< Fish and I am sure lots of others work many shows a year.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on May 9, 2018 6:04:24 GMT -5
Well NRG, I will have a large stash of these pendants. Each vase I produce makes 20 to 150(avg. 70) pendants. Then there are self made pendants. Anyway, quite a stock of them. Need to add bails and cord, and start attending art festivals. They need to be turn key and ready to wear for retail consumption. I wonder if I can hire a person to do the festival and split the money with them. Like contractors or people for hire to man your booth. Look at a temp agency to man the booth. Hourly wages Great as long as they are experienced at this. Highly experienced people can be gotten out of temp services. Will look at the festival organizers locally to see if they have resources. I would prefer for them to have full service like a contractor with tent and needed equipment.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on May 9, 2018 6:12:30 GMT -5
jamesp You mentioned hiring someone to do the selling at the Festival. I would suggest that there is some value to you to be there and dealing with the end-buyers at least a couple of times. Listening to their comments, their likes and dislikes. You had said you would rather be selling to the sellers, but it's good to get an idea of of who the end buyer is. Glad to hang out half days and be relaxed without doing the set up and break down. Not sure I can handle such crowds for 12 hours straight. That is what they require. That would test my mental capabilities being nailed down in that tent all day.
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jamesp
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Post by jamesp on May 9, 2018 6:34:36 GMT -5
I'm curious. Why don't you make a 100 lot and put it on eBay? Hell, put 100 lots here. lparker and <'))))>< Fish and I am sure lots of others work many shows a year. Never thought about Ebay. And this forum is all about rocks so these would be a bit out of their category just guessing. I have plenty of time, in no rush. If I take a break and start working on marketing I lose my groove in artistic melting quality. Collecting ideas, like your mention of Ebay. Sorta in marketing data collection mode. I am new to this and green compared to most of the glass fusers out there. It takes focus to get presentable competitive pendant melts. After seeing what they were selling at the festival a couple of weeks ago these should hold their own competitively as people were buying some junk too. Glass is competitive though and it takes showy products to compete. My best bet is to bail them, string them, and have them at a festival to get a feel of how well they sell. And I need to start pre-drilling some of them so the holes can be tumbled clean. I grind most at the flat lap to have a robust 'hanging' corner for drilling to accept pinch bails. That is a minimum. Just now getting the groove on producing at minimum effort. Got the tumbling down to shortest optimum run time and least possible required steps. The type and size of the abrasives continued to blow my mind as they have such a different effect on glass. Lots of good surprises in that department. Optimum tumbling process just does not happen overnight. Mass screw ups on obsidian in the past helped a bunch with tumbling glass. I will be doing glass pendants for years and that won't change. Call it my retirement activity. Perfect challenge for me, it just fits. Like finding the right woman.
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Post by fantastic5 on May 9, 2018 8:39:17 GMT -5
Right now leather is 'in'. You might want to consider a larger hole and do something like this. Picture stolen from Google. ![](https://www.aobeipearl.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/e/t/ets-s825-1.jpg)
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