Watch more Glassblowing for Beginners videos: www.howcast.com/videos/464584-How-to-Use-Puffers-and-Steam-Sticks-Glassblowing



Hi my name is Ed Donovan. I'm here at DC GlassWorks, you can find us at dcglassworks.com We are a public access glassblowing facility. We also do metal, and metal-casting, and welding. We are primarily a teaching facility, we want to share with people the magic of glassblowing; it's an amazing substance. And today, I'm gonna be talking to you about glassblowing! Steam sticks and puffers. Essentially the steam sticks and puffers do the exact same thing. They're totally different devices, but they are used on the piece to expand the neckline of the piece after you've transferred to the punty. You're not on the blowpipe, you don't have any way of really adding air anymore to the top of the vessel and yet you want the top of the vessel to be larger than it is. You DON'T want to use the jacks because you don't want any more rounded shape on the top. In order to do that we use steam sticks and puffers. The steam stick is essentially exactly what it sounds like. It's a stick shaped like a cone (in the shape of a cone). It's kept wet and when you put it at the neckline of the piece you are creating a seal at the top of the vessel with the steam stick. The wet, wet wood creates the steam inside the vessel because its very hot and that steam causes the expansion on the part of the piece that you've heated; therefor, making it expand. The puffers are a similar device but they are using air and you can either have a two-man or a one-man puffer. It's a conical-steel shape on the end of a tube. For the one-man, it's a vent tube so you can hold it and blow into it as well. Or the straight, which is the two-man, the gaffer will put the piece into the neckline, then your assistant will blow. The puffer takes a lot of force of air, generally. You have to create a nice little seal with the puffer. It's very important that your neckline is ready to receive the puffer or the steam stick. The shape is very important, the regularity of that is very important, and the heat of course is very important in the glass; because the part of the glass that's hot, obviously, is the part that is going to move.

1. Introduction to Glassblowing
2. What Tools Do You Need?
3. How to Find a Class
4. How to Find a Job
5. How to Pick a Kit
6. How to Rent a Studio
7. Where Is the Best Glassblowing Museum?
8. How Much Do Glassblowing Artists Make?
9. Is Glassblowing School Necessary?
10. How to Use a Blow Pipe
11. 6 Tips, Tricks & Techniques
12. How to Shape Glass
13. 4 Glory Hole Tips
14. How to Use Puffers & Steam Sticks
15. How to Use Tweezers to Shape Glass
16. How to Use Jacks & Pacioffis
17. How to Use Diamond & Straight Shears
18. How to Get Started
19. History of Glassblowing
20. What is Glass Art?
21. History of Handblown Glass
22. Can Glassblowing Be Done at Home?
23. Glassblowing Safety
24. How Hot Does the Glass Get?
25. How to Pick Supplies
26. How to Dress for Class
27. How to Marver Glass
28. How to Decorate Handblown Glass
29. How to Use Newspaper as Heat Protection
30. How to Handle Hot Handblown Glass
31. How to Handle Fallen Molten Glass
32. How to Color Handblown Glass
33. How to Use Blocks & Paddles
34. How to Blow Glass with Todd Hansen
35. How to Blow Glass with Ed Donovan

Learn about glassblowing from pros Todd Hansen and Ed Donovan in these Howcast videos.