Hello world! I am Cam the "glassblower" and entrepreneur. Let's get started by giving a few things away :)

Hey what's up steemit? I am a Borosilicate Lampworker from the USA. I love #Glass and crypto related things are a hobby of mine. Wait what is that again? 

I am a #Glassblower ;)

It is time for the good 'ole #introduceyourself and a giveaway!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lampworking

Here is an older #Pipe from my early work that I love. It reminds me of how far things have come these past few years.

This is only my second post. I am sure I will need verification before anything is official. I do have a few questions about that and hopefully someone can help with those (below).

LET'S DO A GIVEAWAY TO GET THINGS STARTED:

If this post hits the front page by the weekend I will choose 5 pipes to send to 5 different comment posters from the finished product video below.

The first person to help me with my questions (below) will get a free pipe shipped to them if they desire. That's right you will be "steeming" up that pipe very soon! I will ship one from the finished product video that I have posted. I really do appreciate the help!

Rewards will be of my choosing. I will pay all shipping charges on anything within the USA only. Sorry international folk but that does get quite expensive. I will check back daily and initiate the giveaway this weekend if the thread picks up. A total of 6 pipes will be given away should things work out. A total of 1 pipe will be given away regardless for help with questions (below).

Quick Intro:

Something quick about me so we can get this out of the way. I don't really want to type out my whole life when I was younger because grade school was shitty. I was kind of an at risk youth. 

Growing up I was a...

#LazyPotHead

#FestivalKid

#SneakingOut

#Degenerate

#NoLifeGamer

I loved all the concerts or raves and had plenty of friends don't get me wrong. While I had a lot of fun my main issue was responsibility. I had a serious wake up call shortly after high school and whipped things into gear to make something of myself. Weed was never the problem, and I made the changes I needed.

I love to create. I love art. I love technology and innovation. I love freedom. I love to smoke. I love to have as many hobbies as I can. I yearn to learn it all, but I have chosen my niche to work in. That niche is a mix of 3 things. Cannabis culture, Boro-glass culture, and Internet culture. I am the owner of the LLC for our glass company, and that does keep me busy most of the time. I try to stay in the loop though it can be hard sometimes when managing so many things. I will not be releasing my full name, the name of my LLC, or any website information until a decision is made about how I want to approach online exposure. I will be opening an Open Bazaar store shortly as IPFS is around the corner, and I did not want to fiddle with hosting my store node. Enough about that now back to the good stuff.

Let's melt some glass:

Glass work became wildly popular in Murano, Italy in the 14th century and has come such a long way from using furnaces to heat lumps of glass. Early "Torchworking" or working in front of a gas powered flame started with a flame produced by oil lamp. This involves a "Blowtube" and with consistent spinning and the natural centrifugal forces of earth you can "blow out" the glass into hollow vessels. This has transformed into the "blowing" of glass that we know today.

Things have changed a lot and glass chemical makeup has been refined incredibly. We as a species have become masters of recrystallizing Borosilicate glass. Anyone who has seen modern chemistry knows this without even studying glass. Borosilicate glass is a type of glass with Silica and Boron Trioxide as the main glass-forming constituents. Borosilicate glasses are known for having very low coefficients of thermal expansion (~3 × 10−6 K−1 at 20 °C), making them resistant to thermal shock, more so than any other common glass. The picture of modern "Boro-tubing" below is a great example of our ability to control glass in its liquid form as it cools. From Fiber Optics stretched incredibly thin all the way to incredibly thick high PSI vacuum chambers, Borosilicate glass never ceases to be a modern marvel with countless applications. Keep in mind there are many other scientific applications with other types of glass. I am not well studied in those types of glass as they are not worked in the type of shop that I have. We are geared completely towards working on the torch and kilns are only used to heat up, stabilize, or slowly cool down glass to form strong bonds. Look up the terms "Garaging and Annealing glass" to learn more about this process. 

Today we use propane and oxygen powered torches that oxidize the flame to a very clean blue color to work this glass. With all of these amazing breakthroughs comes amazing art and scientific equipment.  Check out modern triple mix torches, they will blow your mind!

http://www.glasstorchtech.com/

Below is a video of me using a heavy propane flame to Anneal the glass to an even temperature before putting it in the kiln. This is a yellow color flame that will not actually melt the glass and is much cooler than the normal blue flame. This is a shot glass from a "Mad Scientist" shot set I was working on. The beaker holds 1oz of your favorite drink.

Now for all you science lovers out there who perked up reading this please keep this one thing in mind. I study glass in every way possible and respect all sides of the trade. From chemistry application all the way to a regular pipe. I will try my best to answer any questions about either. I am not interested in scientific glassblowing as my main source of income and would rather approach glass like a craftsman. I am doing this because I love to create, and I chose the side of the industry I am in because I also love Cannabis. I will not focus on Cannabis, but know that Cannabis/Hemp and all products related are very close to my heart. Of course I like to identify with the "Weed Culture" but it is not my main goal here. There is plenty of info online about Cannabis, and I want to bring something else to the table.

I have a 1200sqft warehouse space and a few GTT Torches and Skutt Scarab Kilns. Perhaps my next thread should be about my shop? I also have two very good friends of mine who work alongside me. Each of us have a very different take on glass and it is very fun to collaborate and work together to make quality products to be sold at shops or trade shows ETC. We make pipes, water pipes, jewelry, and much more. I will post pictures and videos of recent work and perhaps my mates will also be convinced to share their portfolio. This time it will be pipes only. I will move on to water pipes, bubblers, pendants, marbles, and a lot more in the near future as I know many are eager to see pictures and videos. For now here is a water pipe teaser.

Verification and Questions:

I was wondering what I would need to do to verify my account before posting about glass endeavors and crypto interests. I really do not want to post pictures of myself because I am not comfortable with others having pictures of me right now. I see some people using hand written signs and I could write one up real quick and put it over some glass that I post? Perhaps I could set a piece of paper on fire with my torch the info written on it?

I am open to questions and suggestions about what to post and will accommodate to the best of my ability. I am thinking perhaps I can do a series of pictures around the shop and how all the equipment works. Perhaps some shots of glass melting in action? Or perhaps a short montage of making some items?

I will also post some pictures of finished work, starting with a little video.

Here is a little teaser of finished product:

The videos above contain the product for the giveaway. 

Cheers!