Tweezers

In a previous post I was talking about my favorite tweezers for lampwork. These are large tweezers. I originally purcahsed them in a set of three (shown). One set (the longest ones) I use for moving things around in the kiln - they keep me out of the heat! The shortest ones are grunt work - look at those poor tips. And the third ones have been altered by one of the wonderful glassworkers from Glass Act – The Southeastern Michigan Glass Beadmaker's
Guild. He is a furnace glass and borosilicate worker who makes wonderful goblets and beads.

Mark did this at a retreat we all attended. At first I thought they’d be too big – after all I was taught by Kim Fields to pluck little tiny pieces of glass off my work with miniscule pointed tweezers that looked like you could pull the antennae off a poor bug. Yikes! I still have those little tweezers – and until I began to get the hang of it I burned the ends off of them more than once…it was pitiful. The number of times I had to refile those tips was a disgrace.

It was a big switch to these honkers but I love them. Can I still pluck the hair off a frog? Yes, but I do that with a stringer now days. For just about everything else I use these altered tweezers.

Remember – these had big rounded ends and teeth too. He used a grinder to take them off and to narrow the tips. He made them pointed but what he didn’t do was thin the thickness a whole lot. It gives them power – they don’t bend and if you have the time to alter some for yourself you’ll love them.

Happy Torching!