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Figure 2-9 shows one of these irons. Figure 2-8: A thermostatically controlled iron tip showing its temperature number. External rheostat The second way to control the temperature of your soldering iron is to use an external rheostat. You plug your iron into the rheostat and then make all your temperature adjustments via the rheostat. Figure 2-10 shows an iron that’s connected to an external rheostat. Some soldering iron manufacturers make matched sets, which means your soldering iron and the rheostat that comes with it are engineered to work perfectly together.

With your worktable in the middle of your studio, the best place for your workbench is along one of the walls. That way, you can hang a piece of pegboard directly over your workbench to give you easy access to hand tools while you work on your projects. indd 46 9/22/10 12:28 AM9/22/10 12:28 AM Chapter 3: Setting Up Your Glass-Working Studio 47 Try to keep the aisle between your worktable and workbench about 36 to 42 inches wide. You want the space to be close enough to reach across when you’re working at the table but wide enough for someone to pass through without disturbing your artistic groove.

This process is fairly labor intensive, but, with the right tools, it can be greatly improved. The first tool you can use to make the copper-wrapping process easier is called the Foilmate roller. This simple hand tool, which I invented when I was a young glass worker, uses a curved wheel and a flat roller to smooth, crimp, and burnish the foil around the glass shape (see Figure 2-21). You can also do this process with your hands and a Popsicle stick or a lathkin, a plastic or wooden tool that’s used to burnish copper foil to the glass.