Posts Tagged ‘lampworking glasses’
Lampworking and Eye Protection
Eye protection is extremely important when lampworking; after all, if you can't see, you can't work with the glass. And there's more than one meaning to that.
First, lampworking involved bright flame and light, and you need to sheild your eyes from the light and the UV radiation.
Second, if you don't wear your eye protection, your vision will suffer and you won't be able to see to lampwork!
Types of Eye Protection
The most common lampworking eye protection are glasses. They not only help with the light, but they also help to protect the eyes from flying glass.
The other protection is called a bench shield, which operates on the same principle (protect against light and flying glass). It mounts on your table and you adjust it so that when you look through it to your torch, it filters the light and UV from your eyes.
There are two main types of lampworking glasses or shields:
- Soft glass: The two most common are AUR92 and Phillips. Both filter out the unwanted light and protect from the UV radiation. Either choice is good. They are available in glasses (plastic and metal frames), flip-ups (if you wear prescrition glasses) and even in prescription strength.
- Boro: You need a stronger eye filter for working with borosilicate. Boroshields are available in shade 3 and shade 5 (which are very dark indeed). Shade 3 should be fine for beads; shade 5 is best for larger work.
The cost ranges from about $50 for an inexpensive pair of AUR92 or Phillips, up through several hundred dollars. My AUR92 glasses cost abound $100, because I decided to get a set with lightweight frames (which makes them very comfortable to wear). And I have not regreted a single penny of that.
Boro shields are more expensive, and start around $50 for a pair of flip-ups, up through several hundred dollars. If you're not sure you're going to want to work boro, get a pair of the flip-ups to start, because even an "inexpensive" pair of boro glasses are expensive.
Bench shields are in the neighborhood of $200.
Are Regular Safety Glasses OK?
In a word - no. While safety glasses do help protect against flying glass, they do not help with the light and radiation that lampworking creates. So don't think that a regular pair of safety glasses will work for lampworking.
The same goes for sunglasses and prescription glasses -- neither are adequate.
Where to Get Protective Eyewear
There are several places to get lampworking glasses. Most lampworking supply sites carry a small selection of inexpensive lenses. If you want to step up a little, or if you want to explore prescription lampworking glasses, you can check with the AuraLens or Phillips sites. Both sites offer protection for soft glass and borosilicate work.
Whatever you do, don't be tempted to do lampworking without the proper eye protection; your vision is not something to take lightly.