Glass Blowing: A Technical Manual [Hardcover]

Ed Burke (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2005

This lavish volume celebrates the art of glass blowing by explaining the processes and illustrating the techniques with a dazzling array of finished pieces. Beginning with tools and equipment, it offers a practical overview of the basic techniques—how to gather molten glass from the furnace, shape glass, and use jacks—while making a variety of solid glass objects. Glass Blowing goes on to explain the importance of the punty iron and instructs on how to blow a tumbler, vase, bowl, and plate before advancing to the techniques needed to make stemware and handles. The use of color is one of the defining qualities of studio glass, and the author encourages the artist to experiment with a range of techniques to introduce color and originality to their work.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“a good overview of professional glass–blowing equipment, processes, and techniques.” -- Library Journal

About the Author

Ed Burke founded E+M Glass with his wife Margaret in 1988 in the northern borders of Wales and England. Their work is characterized by Ed's bold use of bright colours and Margaret's exciting, deeply etched designs. They travel around the world holding courses, attending trade shows and selling their work.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 143 pages
• Publisher: Crowood Press (November 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1861265212
• ISBN-13: 978-1861265210
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 8.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #590,215 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

39 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A disappointment for me., April 1, 2006

By 

T. Trower - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Glass Blowing: A Technical Manual (Hardcover)

The sub-title on this book is "a technical manual" which is just not accurate. This book is an excellent overview of some of the techniques and tools used in furnace type glass blowing. It is not a technical or instructional manual, or a least not a good one. Anyone who wants to learn how to blow glass should go buy a copy of Edward T. Schmid's books and work from them.

This book is written in a narrative style as if it were a complete set of instructions as to the glass blowing process but it tends to make some big assumptions as to the students pre-existing knowledge and glosses over the details of the process. Worst of all it give some very bad advice as to eye protection, instructing beginning glassblowers to utilize didymium eyeglasses for safety. Didymium's are intended to protect the lampworkers eyes from the sodium flare created when working soft glass at the torch. They offer little or no protection from infra-red radiation which is the greatest danger to the eyes of the furnace glassblower. The false sense of security is worse than no protection at all since the dark tint of didymiums will open the pupil and allow even greater amounts infra-red to reach the retina than would if the didymiums were not there. At least the person without any eye protection will not stare into the glory hole for prolonged periods.

I also find the sequence of instruction to be very inappropriate. Immediately after the author introduces the student to the basic use of color rod and powdered color he jumps ahead to one of the most difficult techniques to master, incalmo (encalmo), the joining of two separately blown vessels in to a single vessel while still hot on the blowpipe.

My last complaint is less important but bothersome to me. The author assumes that all students working out of the book will have an assistant at all times. This may be the case in the UK but certainly is not the case here in North America.

Overall a fair overview of glassblowing for the glass collector or the curious but not a textbook, nor a "technical manual".

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars something fo all, April 17, 2008

By 

David T. Olsen "David Olsen" (Everett, Washington USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Glass Blowing: A Technical Manual (Hardcover)

I have been playing with hot glass for some time now. I found this book like the many instructors I have been taught by very helpful. One book can not be all to all. Pratt school of fine art in Seattle Washington suggest that we learn from many teachers. If you only have 3 books on glass blowing Ed Schmids two books are great and James Mckelvey The Art of Fire is a third. I have many books and like this one and am glad to have it.

Dave

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A reference book for the coffee table, January 7, 2008

By 

Kay Hamilton "glassblower" (Santa Fe, NM) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Glass Blowing: A Technical Manual (Hardcover)

After retiring from a long teaching career, I began a glass blowing apprenticeship. I learned from and am inspired by the technical information and photographs in this book, comprehensive in its brief history of glassblowing, descriptions of equipment and studio layout, step by step directions for making blown obects both for beginner objects and for advanced stemware. I found it easy to read as a beginner, and it remains a reliable resource as I grow in skill and understanding.