Cold Working

[Becki]

Paul Tarlow has written a new soon to be published book on cold working.  Thought some of you might be interested in taking a look.
http://coldworkingglass.com/

[Anne]

looks interesting!

[ct4mom]

Thanks for posting may think about this one!

[Becki]

Paul is a terrific glass artist and teacher.  I think this book will be great for anyone that doesn't have the money to sink into expensive cold working equipment. 

[Evelyn]

I'm confused, what is cold working?

[Becki]

Cold work is usually done between the fusing and slumping process to straighten and clean up edges or imperfections in the glass.  It can also be done after the slumping process to clean and polish edges or flatten an imperfect bottom on a finished piece.

[Stephen Richard]

Well, I would say that most cold work (by those that have the equipment) is done after the final firing.  This is especially true with cast work.  It can make the difference between an ordinary and and exceptional piece.

[Becki]

Well, I would say that most cold work (by those that have the equipment) is done after the final firing.  This is especially true with cast work.  It can make the difference between an ordinary and and exceptional piece.

Yes Stephen, I guess if we're talking about the majority of cold working you're probably right.

[Stephen Richard]

I see we haven't answered the question "what is cold working".
Cold working is the modification of the surface, or shape of dimension of the fired piece.  It can involve a number of grinding and polishing tools from simple wet and dry sandpaper to sophisticated water jet or laser cutting.  Often it is used to provide polished surfaces.  It is also often used to give flat bottoms to blown objects, or to slumped objects where the bottom is round rather than flat.  It can provide engraved features whether as in cut glass or stipple engraved.
In short it can include a huge variety of processes used on cold glass.

[Becki]

Sorry....I obviously didn’t give near enough information, did I?  Some of what Stephen described can also be done by hand.  Yes, it is time consuming and can be tedious but it can be done without expensive machines and equipment which is the subject of Paul’s book.

[Evelyn]

Thank you all for your explanations - I now understand what cold work is - I only do foil and sometimes lead stained glass, so some of the methods described here get confusing - so thanks for taking the time to explain.

[Becki]

I received my copy of Paul's book and am very pleased with the purchase.  He did an excellent job explaining the process of cold working by hand accompanied by pictures taking you through the different stages.  Kudos to Paul for a job well done!

[glassman52]

I would go to say that any grinding or "fitting" of your pieces would probably fall into the cold working category.