BeadMam Handcrafted Jewelry
Welcome to my Musings
Welcome to my Musings
My "Studio"
This entry was posted on 4/23/2006 9:49 PM and is filed under Daily Musings.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
I have the tpical southern California two car detached garage that is used for everything but housing my vehicle. It is a laundry room, silversmithing shop, tool shed, junk storage and lampworking studio. Some day I really am going to clean it out, get rid of the junk and make it a real studio. But, for now, it works.
I use a Minor Burner with propane and oxygen. The torch came from www.arrowsprings.com
The torch is mounted on a Creation Station which helps stabilize my hands and rest my arms. The armrest are adjustable and can be moved out of the way when necessary. There is a graphite pad mounted on the torch. The work surface base is quarry tile. There are two white ceramic tiles on top which allow me to see the flame and the bead more clearly. The line between the tiles helps me keep the mandrel level.
I started using bottled oxygen in a medium sized cylinder. That soon became too expensive and awkward to keep full. It was a crisis when the oxygen ran out since I had no backup. I switched to an oxygen concentrator. It is the only way to go. I bought it from www.suncoastbeads.com.
I use a regular barbeque propane tank with a single stage regulator. The tank cost $20 at Costco so I bought 3 of them. When I run low on propane I swap in a new tank in a few minutes. It costs $20 to exchange a tank at my local hardware store.
The regulator came from www.arrowsprings.com.
My original ventilation "system" was a partially opened garage door and a small fan. I had been torching only a few days before I started suffering from a sore throt, coughing and a painful chest. Whoa!!! I stopped torching and researched ventilation. I found the Barley Box on the internet and immediately built one for myself. I fitted it with a bathroom exhaust fan and hung the exhaust duct over the top of the partially opened garage door. No more breating problems.
I batch anneal my beads in the heated crock pot you see by the side of the BBox. I want to see what I've done and I don't want to wait all night until the beads have gone through their annealing cycle. I clean them and when I have enough I put them in bowl and into my computer controlled kiln to anneal. I lose very few beads to thermal shock. Usually those I "admire?" too long before I put them in the crock pot.
As I torch I listen to music and the hours fly by. Since I am retired I can do this almost every day. Ah bliss!
I have the tpical southern California two car detached garage that is used for everything but housing my vehicle. It is a laundry room, silversmithing shop, tool shed, junk storage and lampworking studio. Some day I really am going to clean it out, get rid of the junk and make it a real studio. But, for now, it works.
I use a Minor Burner with propane and oxygen. The torch came from www.arrowsprings.com
The torch is mounted on a Creation Station which helps stabilize my hands and rest my arms. The armrest are adjustable and can be moved out of the way when necessary. There is a graphite pad mounted on the torch. The work surface base is quarry tile. There are two white ceramic tiles on top which allow me to see the flame and the bead more clearly. The line between the tiles helps me keep the mandrel level.
I started using bottled oxygen in a medium sized cylinder. That soon became too expensive and awkward to keep full. It was a crisis when the oxygen ran out since I had no backup. I switched to an oxygen concentrator. It is the only way to go. I bought it from www.suncoastbeads.com.
I use a regular barbeque propane tank with a single stage regulator. The tank cost $20 at Costco so I bought 3 of them. When I run low on propane I swap in a new tank in a few minutes. It costs $20 to exchange a tank at my local hardware store.
The regulator came from www.arrowsprings.com.
My original ventilation "system" was a partially opened garage door and a small fan. I had been torching only a few days before I started suffering from a sore throt, coughing and a painful chest. Whoa!!! I stopped torching and researched ventilation. I found the Barley Box on the internet and immediately built one for myself. I fitted it with a bathroom exhaust fan and hung the exhaust duct over the top of the partially opened garage door. No more breating problems.
I batch anneal my beads in the heated crock pot you see by the side of the BBox. I want to see what I've done and I don't want to wait all night until the beads have gone through their annealing cycle. I clean them and when I have enough I put them in bowl and into my computer controlled kiln to anneal. I lose very few beads to thermal shock. Usually those I "admire?" too long before I put them in the crock pot.
As I torch I listen to music and the hours fly by. Since I am retired I can do this almost every day. Ah bliss!