Greetings and an Introduction

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Thank you, Nynyra, it's lovely to meet you!
 
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You didn't have to delete it altogether. :brown-blink: Were my instructions unclear? I'm happy to elaborate more. Also, there is a handy stickied thread in the Introductions forum that explains (screenshots included!) how to multiquote so you can reply to everyone's posts in one of yours. :pleased-1:

I apologize, Luna Sedai, your instructions were fine, I just couldn't get it to work without showing the bracketed instructions (even removing the space) and my original sentence, so I removed it while I figured things out. I had chosen not to multiquote for this thread as I thought it more polite to respond individually to welcomes, but I can certainly use the multiquote function in future. Thank you for your welcome and your assistance.
 
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Welcome and well met!! Please don't hesitate to ask or PM if you have any questions. :)

Welcome Cynayne :pleased-1:

Welcome to TV ! :joy

Welcome to Tar Valon!

Greetings and welcome!

Thank you for your warm welcomes and kind words. I look forward to getting to know everyone better and learning my way around the boards ;)
 

Lithiel Morn

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Hmm... That is strange. :scratch It doesn't usually behave that way. I'll look into it.

At any rate, I'm sorry to be a killjoy. I just want to make sure our newest members become familiar with our community so that they'd feel even more comfortable posting. :pleased-1: The only reason I brought multiquoting up is because... well, you need 25 posts to apply for Citizenship. Generally, we prefer those 25 posts not to be mutliposting - posting by yourself several times in a row with no one in between. But there is quite a bit of leniency, I assume because few people want to be a killjoy like me and bring it up and correct people. :look:
 
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Oh, I don't think you are a killjoy at all! I completely understand about the 25 posts thing; I promise that before I even apply for Citizenship I will have more than 25 posts of good quality. From your first welcome post you have been nothing but helpful, and I appreciate all your assistance as I find my feet here. I have a lot to learn about the idiosyncrasies of the forum layout and operation, as well as the larger community of this board, and am happy to learn the proper way of doing things.

As to the spoiler codes, I tried them several times, tried capitalizing, tried writing them in, tried cutting and pasting from your post, and it just kept showing everything even after refreshing. Leaving my sentence out was just easier and safer, spoiler-wise, for all. And truly, Luna Sedai, I don't mind your guidance one bit.
 

Lithiel Morn

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Thank you very much for your kind words and your reassurance, Cynayne. I appreciate it a lot, and I'm glad I haven't been pushy. :hug

If you'd like, take a screenshot of it for me before posting so I can see what's going on there.
 

Elania al'Manir

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Welcome to TarValon.net! :D

I really like your avatar picture, and ended up Googling "SCA". :P It looks like you've got a lot of crafty skills under your belt, and I'm glad to see you found the "Hand Crafts" forum.

Please feel free to send me a visitor message (or later a private message once you're a citizen) with any questions, or just to talk!
 
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Thank you Elania Sedai! Yes, I'm slowly finding my way around. Some of the discussions are old, but I'm jumping in where I can ;)
 

Satrim Kha'os

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Thank you, Satrim! I am all too happy to share my glass knowledge with anyone who wishes it. It was something I sought to do for a living way back when, but the jobs weren't there when I'd finished my apprenticeship, so I went to University instead. I mostly teach now, and do the occasional panel to raise funds for various organizations. Ask away!

Do you use a forge to melt sand to create glass? how do you get all those fancy pretty colors? Do you think a normal air powered charcoal heated forge would create sufficient heat to melt the sand? how do cast it? Do you cut it or do you use a mold? At any stage in the process is anything toxic produced or used? And finally do you think I'd be able to do it in my backyard?

Sorry, you said ask away and the dam crumbled.
 

Roheryn ni Galghandhrei t'al'Djinn

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Welcome! If you have any questions, or just want to chat, feel free to message me!
 

Ealandrelle Melyma

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Welcome to Tar Valon! :)
 
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Thank you Lythe, it is the product of one of my infrequent forays into costuming. When I found that fabric I just had to have it!
 
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Do you use a forge to melt sand to create glass? how do you get all those fancy pretty colors? Do you think a normal air powered charcoal heated forge would create sufficient heat to melt the sand? how do cast it? Do you cut it or do you use a mold? At any stage in the process is anything toxic produced or used? And finally do you think I'd be able to do it in my backyard?

Sorry, you said ask away and the dam crumbled.

Hahaha! I did say!

Well, in stained glass, the glass is usually bought already in sheet form. Then you cut it according to the pattern you've chosen or drawn, and use lead or copper foil to put all the pieces together, soldering them in place. After cutting them the pieces can be painted with special paints and fired in a kiln. That is how you get the detail in most ecclesiastical stained glass, and that is what I trained to do.

Making the glass itself is another process entirely, but one I know a bit about. Glassblowers in the middle ages would gather some molten glass on a blowpipe and, after blowing it into a round shape, open the center of the end and spin it, forming a circular "sheet" of glass, which was then annealed and cooled. The glass was cut around the center part for use in windows, but sometimes the centers themselves were used decoratively in panels of stained glass.

Later on other techniques were developed. Modern handmade stained glass, referred to as "antique" is often blown into a long cylinder which is then opened and flattened in a big oven. This produces rectangular sheets of flat glass without the distortion in the center that you get from the blowpipe in the earlier method. Around the turn of the twentieth century, artists like John LaFarge and Louis Comfort Tiffany created many new techniques and began what is now considered "art glass", creating new recipes for special glass as well as new ways of working it. They used molds and did some hand manipulation of glass, as well as doing some pretty crazy things in the panel construction itself in order to get some amazing effects.

Could you blow glass in your backyard with a torch? I'd say no, not without some other specialized equipment. Glassblowing is what you should research if this is the part of the process you are interested in. There may be ways I don't know to turn a forge into a glory hole or a furnace, but you would need someone more knowledgeable than I to help you with that.

Could you make stained glass in your yard (or home)? Certainly. Small pieces can be done with a minimum of tool investment. You would need a worksurface you could nail into, some glass, lead or copper foil (depending on what technique you want to use), a glass cutter, and depending on whether you use lead or foil, tools for cutting that. And some flat sided nails, like horseshoe nails. Then you would need a soldering iron and some solder. Small kits may be available at hobby shops, I don't know about Queensland, but in the US you can get tools at the hardware store, hobby shops, or a stained glass shop that sells to hobbyists.

It can be a toxin-laden affair, that is certain. I have heard of lead free materials, but I do not use them. I mainly use lead alloyed with antimony, lead/tin solders, and the paints are highly toxic, so my kiln is never used to fire anything else, like pottery that I might want to use for food. Glass itself can be dangerous in that it can cut you, but with care, attention to what you are doing, and the proper protective equipment and ventilation while working, it is safe enough.

You open one flood gate, I open another ;) I hope this information is useful, I am happy to talk about this all day. Have I created more questions than answers? Again, fire away!
 
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Joined
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You made it by yourself? Wow!! I like it even more! and that fabric is really gorgeous! :pleased-1:

Aw, thanks! I joke a lot that I could send that dress to a party without me and it would still have a great time ;) I don't call myself a costumer because it isn't my main area of interest, but I try to do the best job I can when I do make them. I just don't do it often; too many other irons in too many other fires ;)
 

Ealandrelle Melyma

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I find glass-blowing fascinating. When I was at University I worked in a shop which sold decorative glass, of all kinds. The person who owned it had previously worked making glass scientific instruments. He then moved on to making things like cutlery handles, and glass flowers. The knife for our wedding cake was made by him :) And somewhere I have a glass bauble which I blew myself (with his help :laugh:) I absolutely loved that job.
 
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I find glass-blowing fascinating. When I was at University I worked in a shop which sold decorative glass, of all kinds. The person who owned it had previously worked making glass scientific instruments. He then moved on to making things like cutlery handles, and glass flowers. The knife for our wedding cake was made by him :) And somewhere I have a glass bauble which I blew myself (with his help :laugh:) I absolutely loved that job.

That is awesome! When I was a kid and saw one of those shops on vacation my parents would have to pull me out. I'd watch the lampworker for hours if I was allowed. I still love to watch them work. I haven't played with boro glass, but I do have a small torch for beadmaking with low temp glass. Once I got a proper glassblowing workshop as a gift from my husband. It was a fantastic weekend, but all the pictures from it are completely unflattering ;) I look like a frog blowing on that pipe. My eyes are practically crossed and my face all red, too, lol.

How wonderful that you have those wonderful items to remember him and your experiences there! Thank you for sharing that, Ealandrelle Sedai.
 
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