hey Spence...

[striperman36]

Originally Posted by Nebe

i pulled a 70 foot long rod of glass with a colored core.. I do this down the sidewalk

break the rod up into about 60 lengths that are aprox 7" long...

Then you lay aprox 30 lenghts side by side on a cast iron plate that is coated with silica and alumina so it wont stick and heat it up in the furnace until its sort of soft. Roll it up on the end of the pipe, close the end (you now have a striped bubble) and twist it counter clock wise, then blow it out to a wine glass shaped cup- Put in an oven at 1200 degrees... then repeat the whole proccess all over agian, but twist the bubble exactly the same way as the first cup, but in the opposite direction... Blow that cup into the 1st cup.. heat the crap out of it so that the trapped air pockets pool up into round bubbles.. transfer the cup to another pipe, trim up the bottom to crisp up the pattern... blow it out to the final shape. Transfer to a pontil, open the lip and flare out to a disc....

phew....

like making candy only hotter!!