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Registered Member #1334
Joined: Tue Feb 19 2008, 04:37PM
Location: Nr. London, UK
Posts: 615
I'd been looking for a top one-to-one cold-cathode display making course and had asked everyone I could find who was the best person to go to - they all said that Richard Wheater was the man at Neon Workshops in Wakefield (UK) ... it's the only place...
So, last week I went up t'north and learnt more in the hours I was there that I had in the previous 15 years or so of playing with neon. Like most of us, I have an understanding of the physics involved, but there are only a few who have got to grips with the glasswork side.
Whilst Richard is an artist and not primarily interested in neon signage, I have a specific project in mind that required me to understand how letters are made - thinking this would be relatively easy, I decided to try to make initial letters of our children - an "H", "W", & "R"...
What I learnt was that glass bending, especially with narrower tubes, is very tricky - I found it very tough, but extremely rewarding. Richard was sympathetic to my travails and helped me immensely - at the end, I was enlightened (literally) and now have an infinitely better understanding of what is involved in actually making tubes, as opposed to just wiring them up in subtly different ways.
If any of you US-based folk want to do a 3-day, hands-on, cold-cathode fabrication course with a great instructor, this is for you... and its not just during the day... evening sessions involving Q&As with well known NYC neon artists and visits to neon-related exhibitions etc. are also included. - drop me a PM if you want to get more background or just if you are interested. Its great fun...
Cheers
Nick
Attached: Two letters filled with Argon & a drop of mercury (bright blue-white) and a pure Neon letter "M" I made for my wife as a small present... The two argon filled letters will be boxed the same as the "M" - "Letter/Box"...
Registered Member #162
Joined: Mon Feb 13 2006, 10:25AM
Location: United Kingdom
Posts: 3140
when I was living in Malaysia I wanted an NST to make a SGTC, I found a neon sign manufacturer and just dropped by.
The guy was really helpful and I stayed a while to chat and watch.
Even though I didn't try it myself he showed me all of the stages, different tube bores, electrode sizes, gases, vacuum ..... truly an interesting couple of hours, so if any of you have the opportunity, I too think that you would also enjoy the art.
Registered Member #2099
Joined: Wed Apr 29 2009, 12:22AM
Location: Los Altos, California
Posts: 1714
On the West coast of USA there are regular glassbending-for-art classes at The Crucible in Oakland ().
I took Introductory Neon in 2001, and am pleased to see that instructor Christian Schiess is still around.
As Nicko said, neon "art" can be easier and more forgiving than making letters and numbers -- the century-old neon signsmithing trade. Now let's see if I can find my giant neon paper clip and get a picture of it.
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Cold-cathode art making course... UK/USA...
