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Jupiter,
When you find out let me know too. It is hard to get that kind of info. I guess we can google the info??? Or work with other artists!
Sincerely,
catherine

I have been working with a water jet for cutting metal for a series I am working on. Do not know what type bases you are looking for. Do you have a good description or picture of the type you like?
Dennis Swan

im just looking for basic shapes. round, square...wood, marble, metal. nothing to fancy just something to make my small flameworked pieces have a little more bulk without taking away from the piece. i recently found this page for marble but havent used them yet, ill include it at the bottom. I know someone on the island with a waterjet but thought it would be a little to expensive for me. bases in the 20-100$ range would work for me.

http://lionelhastingsmarble.com/

The best chance to find a good base maker is to find a good (local) wood artist, or a local metal smith, if you are looking for metal bases/ stands. My more complex wooden bases have been made by Timothy Sutherland, a very good local wood artist. However, be careful, with a good wood artist come high prices: some of my more complex bases and larger bases run into the thousands of dollars... Therefore, for relatively simple bases, I turn to a good local carpenter, to keep things cost effective. Hope this helps.

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Hans Godo Frabel
www.myglassart.org/frabel
www.frabel.com

Jupiter and Others,
I have been making my own steel bases. Luckily my husband has a shop at his company, so I have access to the machinery (metal saw, drill press, belt grinder, tig welder). I buy the steel through a local supplier, and off I go.
If you don't have the good fortune of a metal shop in the family, an alternative is to check at your community college. Ours here has a sculpture class that includes metal working and they teach welding. You might even find a student who would appreciate the opportunity to make your stands for a low fee.
To buy materials, I looked under either "metal" or "steel suppliers" in the yellow pages.
In lieu of figuring out how to do it yourself, as Mr. Frabel said, I would look for an inexpensive local metal worker. Before I learned how, I was able to find a decent one just looking through the yellow pages - I looked under "welding" and "steel fabricators". The welding shop I found offered me a decent price when he learned I was an artist. Also, I batched pieces so there were several stands each time, which also kept the cost low.
Good luck!
Kathleen

My father is a wood worker in Bellingham Washington and he can make any shape you want out of any kind of wood you want, he also can color and finish the wood. He is an artest but like most of us he must do production woork to eat. If you have a order for 10 or more I think it would be possable. Give him an email creativeopenings.com
Ware do you live?
also you can email me Beauxbead@gmail.com happy holladays

Good afternoon Jupiter, I would suggest looking up you local welders union for metal bases as well as any school that offers welding courses (most community colleges have them) and post a letter there. For wooden bases, your best bet for a reasonable priced albeit beautiful one would be your local wood turners guild. Some novice or the like in either field should be happy and willing to be commissioned for just about anything at a very reasonable price! I have had immense luck with both, enough so that I didn't have to take time away from glass blowing to learn the subset of skills myself!

Love and Light,
Jonathan

hey just found these base thought u might be interested. I googled display bases. They are wood in a variety of shapes and sizes also some acrylic. Seemed affordable. Hope this is helpful.
http://www.michtoy.com/MTSCnewSite/display_products/bards/bards_wood_bas...
http://www.potomacdisplay.com/pd_catalog.cgi?dct=on&tt=826
Raj

Jupiter,
You can buy directly from Bards. They have a very large assortment of bases wood and acrylic .
You need to set up an account and the prices are very reasonable. http://bards.com/
.catherine

Bases have been an issue for me for years, and I still can't find ones available that are up to my standards, sizes, and shape, so I make my own. My sculptures are very architectural so moulding filigree like Bard's is out of the question, and metal is too laborious. Natural wood like the Bard's bases are certainly cost effective, but sometimes the traditional look of woodgrain is stylistically incompatible with high-end art.

So for anyone out there that wants a clean, low key base, I have found that simple opaque black acrylic is the most overall cost effective method seconded by black laquered MDF or 1/4" mirror with a felt bottom. Assuming that most here don't have a table saw, this is important to know when pricing a shop to do it, because acrylic is so fast to get a fine finished base - if you know the right steps.

Simply cut the acrylic on a table saw to the size and shape you want, tilt blade to cut the bevel desired, then use a razor to scrape the saw marks off and you are ready to buff. Literally ten minutes or less of work. A woodworkers jointer makes smoothing easier, but you would be surprised at how quickly one can smooth an edge with a stiff razor (from a razor knife, not the thin blade razors) running the razor at opposing angles across the edge. A buffer with white rouge or equivalant (auto body rubbing compound works too) creates the final gloss.

MDF is a good choice for me for larger pcs, and the trick from pro woodworkers is to fill the porous edge of the MDF with polyester glaze found at auto body shops, sand then spray with black laquer.