
Originally Posted by
Jem
If you have a Propane blowtorch you ought to try these glass bottles. There really is nothing to it, just heat 'em up until they soften (flame starts to give off a yellowish sodium glow at this point) and then simply prod them with various implements. Do be a little careful though as there is a fine line between being just soft enough and melting the glass completely

Thanks for the advise! I had always heard that glass, when heated needs to be cooled slowly and all that. But then, that is probably the complete melting and blowing of glass. Maybe I will give this a try since your results look so great! I am also going to try the polymer tubes since Paragon plastics is just up the road from me. They also have some acrylic and polycarbonate rods of various diameter. Maybe I can get some of those as well to try out. Acrylic has a higher melting point than propane will burn? Interesting. If you had a jacobs ladder with a wide enough gap, I bet you could probably get some interesting incursions in the rod if you used the arc to melt it.... provided the plasma doesn't burn it.
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