User:Avanya/Glassblowing guide

Introduction

Welcome! I have spent a lot of time trying to iron out my skills in Glassblowing, and I want to share my knowledge with others that are seeking to learn the trade. I am by no means a master of this skill, and I am sure there are others that play that can make higher quality items than myself. However, the knowledge to make these products is often guarded and even lost as experienced players leave the tale. It is my intention to spread what knowledge I have to help as many in Egypt as possible!

Before reading further, I would highly recommend reading the glassblowing guides that have come before this. They have helped me greatly to get started in the trade, and my thanks go out to all that contributed to these guides!

Tale 2 guide - great info for beginners.

Tale 6 guide - nice thermometer guide

Tale 3 guide - good wine glass and hookah bowl guide

One final note: if you are new to glassblowing, be prepared to make a LOT of mistakes, and waste a LOT of glass. This is no sissy anvil work, where you can simply pull up your materials and try again. Every attempt will cost glass, and that cost can add up fast. I suggest going into this endeavor understanding that, so that you don't get too frustrated. Make each mistake count, and be sure to analyze where your piece went wrong whenever possible. And finally, remember, glass blowing is NOT for everyone. It's perfectly ok if it's not for you :)

The Glory Hole Basics

Lag Danger

Lag is a primary enemy of glassblowing. I try to use a glory hole in an area that is not too crowded with buildings, and always at a time when there are not many avatars moving around. Often, a friend walking by can add just the wrong lag delay to a piece, and really throw the quality off. If you have a very laggy connection to the game, you might not want to attempt some of the complicated pieces.

Timer

There is a fixed time limit to how long you have to work on a piece in the glory hole. This time begins as soon as you select your project, and the unworked glass rod/pipe animates. Therefore, have your camera set up how you want, and be ready to go before you start. Every second can count, so try to not waste any time.

Heating Settings

Selecting the proper heat setting is crucial to your work. The "style" of heating and moving will depend very much on how the heat is being applied to the pieces. Personally, I use different heat settings for different pieces, depending on the effects I want to achieve.

• Standard: applies heat at the plane, with some heat spreading on both sides. A great overall setting, when there isn't much detail heat work needed.
• Pinpoint: applies heat at ONE spot on the plane, with minimal heat spreading on either side. Wonderful when you have some areas that need a lot of heat and other areas that you need to keep the heat off of. It can take some practice to get smooth heating over sections using this setting.
• Gradual: applies heat over a large area, with a large amount of heat spreading on either side. I find this setting useful when you need smooth heating over the whole project.
• Front Heavy:
• Back Heavy:

Remember that the heating plane is just inside the glory hole, as illustrated here:

• (image from tale 2 wiki, courtesy of FaceAnkh)

Glass Controls

It is VITAL to use hotkeys when blowing high quality products. There is simply no time to use mouse/menu commands to navigate while your piece is making. I would also consider it crucial that you memorize these commands. I spend my brain power watching the piece form, deciding/remembering what keys to hit, and balancing the piece. There is no time to check the keyboard or a command list. Fortunately, after a little practice, these keys will become second nature!

• G - Goal Display
• A - Moves the project into the glory hole
• S - Moves the project out of the glory hole
• Q - Check the current quality
• N - Rotate counterclockwise
• M - Rotate clockwise
• U - Unload (complete) the project
• D - Discard the project, destroying the materials
• B - Blow into the tube

Quality

Don't be afraid to show the goal piece as you are working. (though, for most pieces, you will want to keep rotating, and be careful if any of the glass is still in the heating plane). I usually flash the goal after I have applied the heat and moved my piece out either to the back or the front of the glory hole. As you compare your piece to the ideal piece, keep these two key ideas in mind:

• Overblown/Underblown

Be careful to not overblow your piece! You will often find its a little smaller than the goal, and want to just eek out a bit more quality by blowing one more time. If the sizes are close, you might want to restrain yourself, or at the very least, wait until the hot parts are red or mostly cooled off, so the expansion is small. Overblown sizes reduce quality dramatically!! Of course, sometimes its worth the risk, but be warned.

• Balancing

Try to keep your piece centered for best quality. For most pieces I make, I take time at the end trying to balance it. This means of course, rotate higher pieces to the top, and let them sag down to the center. The more off-centered the piece is, the more of a penalty to the quality you will have.

Remember that hot glass (yellow) will drop faster than cooler glass (red), and cold glass (blue) will not drop at all. Keep this key fact in mind when you are balancing!

Camera Angle

It can be tricky to get the right camera angle to help you "see" the whole project. I use different angles depending on what I am working on, but especially depending on where it ends up. (I balance distillation coils at the back of the glory hole, so for those its vital for me to have a good site to the back. Beakers I balance in front of the glory hole, so there, I need more of a front view.) I find locking the camera with alt-L very helpful, so I don't accidentally move my mouse and lose my camera position mid-piece. Also, the F12 command will remove the interface, which clears up even more space. (hitting F12 again returns the interface). The added bonus is that you won't be distracted from a flashing chat tab while in the middle of working a piece. Finally, I use camera F6, but that's just my preference. Find what is comfortable for you! And try standing in different spots around the glory hole. It is worth taking the time to get the camera just right, so you can utilize your whole screen.