Watch more Glassblowing for Beginners videos: www.howcast.com/videos/464585-How-to-Use-Tweezers-to-Shape-Glass-Glassblowing



Hi, my name is Ed Donovan. We are 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. Today, I'm going to be talking you about glassblowing and the use of tweezers. We basically use the tweezers to grab hold of things, or to pull on the glass. They're held with your thumb and forefinger. Usually you want to hold pretty close to the tip so you have a good grasp of the tweezers and also you have a lot of control over the tip of the tweezers. You DON'T want to be holding too far back or you're not going to be able to squeeze the tweezers together. They're a very springy steel, they're usually a fairly, very heavy gauge steel. If your hands are not strong enough, if you're grabbing the end you'll be able to squeeze down with the tweezers. You're going to grab pipes and punty rods, and/or the glass, to manipulate those[them] into the places you want the glass to be (or the pipe to be). When you're assembling the punty to the bottom of the piece your going to grab the punty rod and try and find the bottom of the piece. When you attach the punty to the bottom of the piece, you're also gonna use your tweezers as your knock-off device. When you're ready to actually transfer from the blowpipe to the punty and you've attached the punty to the bottom of the piece, you're going to use the backs of the tweezers to tap on the pipe; and therefor creating the stress in the glass that separates the pipe. That's how you use your tweezers!

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.