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The bubble bowl vase has long been a standard for
flower shops, providing
economical designs
with a touch of
class. Zimax Bubble
glassware leaves
stylish impact with
minimal fresh products
and design labor.
You can offer options
to customers, who
want buy different
sizes and colors.
These bubble
glassware are made in
different workshops.
The cost of establishing
a glass workshop
can vary enormously
and must depend
on the scale and
type of operation,
as well as the degree
of ‘self help’ available.
Depending on how
elaborate the equipment
is the cost can
be varying from
a few thousand dollars
to as mush as a
hundred thousand.
A hot glass facility
is more expensive
to set up and maintain
than a studio equipped
only for fusing
or cold working.
While there is no
idea size or shape
for a workshop,
1000-2000 square
feet can be divided
into a hot and cold
working areas, storage,
packing, office
and display. Less
space will work
adequately, just
as bigger may well
be better. Layout
will be the outcome
of practical, physical
and aesthetic consideration
to aid the flow
of work. The workshop
should be well ventilated
an extraction system
to dispose of heat
and fumes is advisable
(some colourants
give off toxic fumes).
Ready access to
water is essential
for wetting and
cooling tools in
hot working and
not least for safety
purpose.
Floors, if concrete
or quarry tiled,
can be laid to drain
away water used
in hosing down.
Both extremely basic
and highly sophisticated
studios exist and
work.
Most important
of any workshops
is Furnace; Furnace
design has become
a great deal more
sophisticated since
the ‘historic’ collaboration
between Littleton
and Labino at the
Toledo Seminars
of 1962, particularly
in the areas of
temperature control
and insulation,
with consequent
energy cost saving.
Pot furnaces:
currently the majority
of studios seem
to favor ‘pot’ furnaces,
which employ a cast
siliminite crucible
or clay pot as the
container for 150-300lb
of glass in an average
two or three person
workshop. The pots
are usually freestanding
within a furnace
structure of high-temperature
insulating materials
in a metal framework.
Electric
furnaces: Electricity
is usually a more
expensive fuel that
oil or gas but a
number of studios
have turned to electric
furnaces because
they are silent
and relatively fume-free.
Gloryhole:
these are reheating
chambers and vary
from heated brick
boxes to, most commonly,
40-gallon oil drums
lined with ceramic
fibre. The working
temperature will
normally be 100-200
C higher than the
furnace temperature.
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