Saturday, July 11, 2009

Video: Boro Basics - Brent Graber


DVD - not video - sorry. We still tend to call 'em videos - even though I don't think I still have a functioning VCR in all the piles of electronic crapola I have jumbled around here. Just like we still "dial" a phone. And "cc" email. Oh my - I'm showing my age.

Anyway - this a DVD from Brent Graber - "Boro Basics - Volume One - Off Mandrel Techniques." If you've been reading Flow Magazine, (and if not - why the heck not? Call yourself a flameworker do you? ;-) ) - you will have read Brent's article about his struggle to come to terms with teaching and letting go of his techniques.

Well - I'm glad he wrestled that particular demon to the ground - as we will all be a lot richer for it.

I don't work boro - and if you read this blog on a regular basis - quite probably you don't either. However - I LOVE to watch boro (borosilicate = hard glass, i.e. Pyrex) workers play with glass. It is both so familar and so alien at the same time. The approach is quite different - simultaneously more theatrical and more practical than soft glass. It always leaves me whimpering - "I wish I could do that with my glass" - and then I haul myself off to see what I can adapt from their techniques.

And are the techniques from this DVD adaptable to soft glass? You becha! If you are hankering to make off-mandrel pendants and are struggling with A) punties, or B) getting the d4mn hole in the loop - then I highly recommend this DVD. Brent's technique is a head-smacking doh moment.

Oh, and make sure you have a tunsten pick and a pair of (Sharon) Peter Tweezers - or order them when you buy the video. Because you are going to want them as soon as you see this. In fact - you might not even wait for the end of the video.

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