Glass Trivia

Ok, I'll bite. How the heck is that possible?

That is WAY cool! I didn't know you could shrink glass like that! When a hollow glass tube goes through a shaping process like this, what happens to that hole through the middle? Does it get smaller, does it fill in, does it distort? Do you end up with holes on both ends of the toy, or are they closed?

Well, Luscious Lily, the original space becomes smaller because the glass walls become thicker, or heavier as it is commonly referred. I guess technically it would be considered distortion, but the distortion is kept consistent with the shape of the toy, so in a sense it is a controlled distortion. We like to seal our toys shut with glass, although this isn't necessary to create a safe toy--it's really just the manufacturer's preference.

I will keep them coming Gary..I'm glad you found the post interesting

Thanks! There was a bit of an fuss a while back over unsealed toys, based on the argument that it was unsanitary, because while fluids could get in, they couldn't easily be cleaned out. So now I'm curious: why isn't it necessary to seal the toy to make it safe?

Another great question, ,which I will address in two parts. First, a lot of the discussions surrounding glass are those of safety concern. We are dealing with two main issues, 1) structural integrity (is this thing going to break?) and 2) is this product hygienic? Now...we all know (or should know by now) that any non-porous material (glass, metal, TRUE silicone , sealed wood and wood-blends) is going to be safer hygienically...well simply because there is no place for bacteria to hide under the surface. With regards to cleaning glass items..there are several simple ways to sanitize..the easiest being warm water and anti-bacterial handsoap...A hollow toy can be just as easily cleaned in my opinion...just more surface to cover as hollow means you now have twice as much surface to clean. So having said that, if you are cleaning your toys with water and soap, just make sure the water gets inside and you allow it time to breath and airdry...I'd honestly be more concerned about hard water spots than germs.

I have a toy by a company I'm not going to mention though I'm sure some people know, and it's latticino and hollow, with a hole on one end that was plugged with silicone but the plug came out. Water leaks in, slowly, but the hole is too small to rinse out the inner part and let the water drain out again.

It is my sincere feeling that this toy is not safe, because water gets in and stays in. Regardless of the material of the toy, standing water inside something and the inability to clean it make me not want to use something again.

Oh yes, this toy again. Well I've seen your video, the one that was reposted by another glass company I'm sure we all know, on Twitter. And yes it does look like it would be a pain to clean. With your concerns about this toy I'd probably just throw it out. I'm sure it didn't set you back financially to terribly bad. Considering the prices of some toys out there on the market.



Glass, ceramic, stainless steel are some of the only toys you can sterilize 100%. Personally, I would be more concerned about other materials that can't be cleaned properly entering my body.

A suggestion for your hollow toy... Try pure rubbing alcohol. It should evaporate completely and clan your toy. Problem solved.

Sorry clean your toy.

Do you have pictures of this? Or the process? Would be interesting to see, I think. How small does that hole wind up at the end?

We don't have any pictures that can clearly show the size of a hole inside of a hollow design (as our pieces are sealed shut with a colored glass). And..we only have one product right now that is hollow. There is a special lens that can go over a camera which would allow us to document..just as a glass artist needs to protect the human eye with special lenses and minimize visual distortion from the flame, the same goes for a camera lens as it operates the same way. unfortunately that lens is still on my wishlist! I can tell you, however, that the thickness of the wall can reach as much as 3/4". There are toys out there made of glass, solid rod glass toys that are made of 3/4", so durability, most importantly lack thereof; is not a concern of ours. Last year we were faced with some potential legal challenges..so we designed a complete line of very durable hollow products to keep the business going in the event of a cease and desist order. Well, Karma is a beautiful thing, and we didn't have to resort to changing our traditional manufacturing techniques...not to mention the way we were making the hollow pieces was very time consuming and costly.

You win the award, Luscious Lily, for challenging questions. Here is my answer..the best way I can put it because this is a tough one to respond to. Again, this depends on the company making the product, and quite frankly the product itself...assuming it's properly made. To answer your question .."would using different initial thicknesses of glass tubes give you pieces of the same approximate size and shape, but weighing different amounts? First, the thicker the glass, the heavier it's going to be--period (tubing or rod). Regarding size and dimensions, it's really all about how the artist has manipulated or shaped the glass and what specific techniques he/she has used to reach the desired form. Many products look the same by the time you guys see them, but that doesn't mean that they were made using the same techniques (I also believe I just answered another question from last week regarding the wide variance in costs of glass.) There are time consuming steps that can be skipped on certain products (XHale obviously doesn't, otherwise we would be able to offer the $50 retail pieces..I've even had an open discussion with Kevin about "time savers", but he simply won't allow it.) There is machinery that can be used to replace traditional hand labor, molds that I believe are now being used that can really cut down on TIME...which is the most expensive part of glass toy manufacture.

Now making an array of toys of similar sizes, but varying weights...yes it can be done as I've shown one example with my trivia question...but like I had said there comes a point when the labor is just too intense...we would have products that would look gorgeous, but unfortunately would collect dust because they would be too expensive.

I have personally always been envious of metal brands like Njoy and their ability to actually have varying "feelings" of weight within the actual product itself.

PSI means pounds per square inch. It's basically the pressure the gases are at when they are released to the torch. Lampworking (glass blowing) uses compressed oxygen and comressed propane for its torches. Certain torches need a certain PSI settings to operate correctly. Once these are set, you wouldn't change them.
You would adjust the torch for varying temperatures.

You can (shrink) condense hollow tubing by heating and melting the glass. When the glass is soft enough you can gather it with gravity and pushing it together. Or marvering it (rolling glass over a steel or graphit tool or surface) to shape and get desired thickness you're looking for.

I'm looking into putting a video together showing what goes into the making of one of our toys. It wouldn't be a hollow toy since it's not really our thing. Look for it in about three weeks.

Kevin and Adam are awesome. They really go into detail when explaining the glass process and doing a video, above and beyond! I personally can't wait to see what goes into making their beautiful glass pieces!

I figured it wouldn't be practical or someone would have exploited it already, but I'm always curious about how things might work theoretically. Blame the scientist in me, hahah.

That's really awesome, though. Thanks for answering so many questions, you and Kevin both! I'm really looking forward to seeing that video on the making of a toy now.