Hey there everyone! Sorry there haven't been as many beads listed on Etsy the past few days. I've been having a fun (not really) struggle with my propane. It's been going on for a few days now and I finally just ordered some new parts.
It started on a cold snowy evening of -1 degrees out. I'm all ready to start torching! I get my boots on, my coat and scarf and head out to my backyard through the snow to turn on my propane. I go up and down the icy snowy porch steps, trudge through a foot of snow, get inside, take off my winterwear and head to the studio to get some work done.
I turn on the propane of my torch and I get nothing. Hmmmm...this can't be a good thing. I put my winterwear back on, trudge back through the snow to the propane tank to see that the gauge is on zero. I notice that the little arrow on the gauge is frozen and not moving. I carefully listen for the familiar sound of propane rushing into the hoses as I fiddle with the knobs. Nothing....sigh. My propane must be out. That sucks.
The next day, my husband brings home a fresh tank of propane for me and hooks everything up. Hooray! I'm ready for another night of torching. I go outside into the lovely Rochester winter wonderland (blech) and turn on the propane. It's not as cold today so the knob moves to its normal setting and life is good. I head back inside and to the studio to start torching away.
Everything's good for about an hour. Hmm....why's my flame getting huge and then tiny? I try to turn down the flame to apply some stringer and it turns into a giant bushy candle. I try to turn up the propane to reduce some silver glass and my flame almost dissapears. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills here!
I've given up on making anything productive at this point. I shut everything off, go outside and take the regulator off the propane tank. Why is the needle on zero? It was on earlier. I've been making beads for an hour. I turn it off and dissconnect the hose and apparently the needle had gone so high that it went back around to zero. Ooops!
So anyways, my regulator is pretty much shot at this point. It has been cleaned out and then accidentally frozen to the tank because I didn't dry out all the water. I've cleaned it and left it on a heat vent for 24 hours and still nothing. My husband even took the entire thing apart and cleaned it up, but still nothing.
So I'm currently not able to torch and I'm waiting for a new regulator in the mail. Yuck!
