When we lived in an apartment, space was limited. Below is a tour of that studio also known as the works space, but better yet....we will call it "The Corner"! If I wanted to do Lampworking I had to be creative with my space. Amazing what you can do with a 6 foot corner! A work area for Lampworking can be a very non-intrusive space. I made this web page to share with others the ideas and thoughts that went into creating my mini glass studio. For me, the three ingredients that went into creating a productive work area were; Creativity, Organization and being married to a "What would Magiver do?" husband. If you have any questions about anything you see here, Email Me and I will be happy to answer if I can.

We have a new home now, and I have an entire room of my very own!!! After you have browsed through my old corner of a room studio below, I invite you to visit my New Glass/Beading/Reflecting/Studio!!

Safety
With being on the second floor, I do not have the luxury of being able to put my tanks outside. I take every precaution I can because of this. For safety, If you are able, put your tanks outside. My tanks and hoses are tested for leaks every time I use the torch. My hoses are bled after each work day and tanks turned off. On my hoses, flash back arrestors are also installed. The oxygen tank is chained to the table to prevent it from tipping over. Attached to my table is a fire extinguisher, a must! Smoke and carbon monoxide detectors have also been installed. On the surface of my table, I have used duck tape to secure sheet metal, this protects the table from catching on fire.

Shopping!
Almost everything I needed to set up I could pretty much find at two stores. First it was a trip to Staples for my table and light. The next stop was Home Depot, a one stop shop for everything else on my list; peg board and hooks, lumber, stove vent, dryer hose, sliding shelf, paper towel holder and foot stool. Oh, and don't forget all those goodies we cant live without in the glass catalogs! My tools increased as I took classes. Classes are a great place to try out the tools you don't have and figure out if feel you got to have it! Note: another must...proper safety glasses made for lampworkers which can be purchased from any hot glass supplier.

Set Up
A wall was attached to the back of my work table and then we used strapping on the outer edges before putting the pegboard over it. The strapping allowed space between the pegboard and wall so the hooks could be used. There is room on the entire wall to hold all of my tools and then some. A sliding shelf was placed under the right side of my table for extra table space and has the paper towel holder hooked on underneath. If you use a stool to prop your feet on when you are working, it will help your lower back. The rule is to have your knees level with your hips when sitting. I take breaks every 1/2 to 1 hour.

Extra Goodies
The blue thing you see in most of my pictures under the table is a large rubber maid tub. This is what I use to travel to a show with. You can check it in as luggage in an airport. I have holes drilled around the rim and use strong pull ties to secure the cover. It travels well and you can pack allot in those babies! They also fit very well on one of those portable rolling luggage carts. Another goodie that works for me is a metal paint tray. I use it when working with pixie dust and enamels. It helps me keep my colors separate.

Your Health
One of the most important things in glass work is proper ventilation. If you do not have proper ventilation you will have a build up of nitric oxide from your torch burning off the oxygen in the room. If you start tasting a metallic taste in your mouth or feeling groggy, you need a break and you are not getting proper ventilation. For my venting system we attached a stove vent to the top of my work area and used piping to run the venting down along the side of the area. When I do my glass work, I plug into the piping with a dryer hose that is attached to the window vent and Im good to go. One thing to remember if you do this, a stove vent has small slit vents in the front. Make sure you tape them shut or you will be blowing out the fumes right back into the room. For more information on ventilation safety, I would recommend an article by Brian Kerkvliet .

Annealing
If you want to one day sell your beads, you will have to have a kiln to anneal them in. Basically, Annealing is the process that removes the stress out of manipulated glass. When you put the finished bead in the kiln, it soaks at annealing temperature used for the particular glass you are working with. Annealing makes all the molecules in the glass behave together and do the the same thing at the same time. When the glass is coming down in temperature in the kiln, the entire bead is cooling at the same rate. If you were to cool the bead down in the air, it would cool from the outside in (unevenly) and stress would be introduced to your bead. I am using a Bead Box Kiln made by The Glass Palette. I love it and would highly recommend this kiln. I am also using a Digital Controller that I purchased from Arrow Springs.

What a Find!
This is the greatest thing to me since sliced bread. Believe it or not it is an ice cube tray that I purchased from a kitchen store. I do allot of surface work on my glass with stringers. I have a large pallet of them and needed a way to have them so I could see them and get to them when I was working. I was just tired of shuffling through my box. The tray has 27 compartments which are round tubes about 4" tall, just perfect for holding my stringers.

Storage
A goodie I found at Home Depot in their organizor department. Now I have a place to store the glass I need when I am working. When I sit down to work, I roll the cart next to me. I have everything I need within reach. I use the draws to hold my Dichroic glass, foils, leaf, glass nubs (when Im desperate for a color and I need to fuse them together to make a rod) and all my other odds and ends.