Analysis, Discussion and Tips for Success

General Discussion

Glassblowing is one of the most popular ways of training the Crafting skill. It is easy to do, and well-suited to multitasking, because you can do the entire task at a bank. It also gives generally decent to very good XP rates, especially at higher levels. Of course, like most skill activities that earn good XP, lots of players engage in it, which results in large demand for molten glass, raising its cost, and large supplies of end products of glassblowing, generally depressing their value. The result is that making glass items can incur a fairly hefty financial cost, though some items are better than others in that regard.

Dorgeshuun light orbs are a recent addition to the Crafting skill, intended to provide a faster XP option for higher level players. They are made in two steps: first you blow an empty light orb from molten glass, and then you add to it a cave goblin wire. You get XP for both halves of the process, but the empty orbs (without wires) are untradeable, and you get more than half the XP from adding the wires, so you should do the full job. The finished light orbs can be used to repair broken lamps in the cave goblin city of Dorgesh-Kaan; this gives substantial Firemaking XP (1,000 per lamp), so the orbs are useful, but there's an oversupply of them on the market (because of the high Crafting XP) so this is a fairly expensive powertraining option.

Location and Access

You can blow glass at any bank; I like the one-click bank at Castle Wars for these sorts of activities.

Required and Recommended Equipment

A glassblowing pipe, available at Crafting shops or a Tool Store 3 in a player-owned house.

Required and Recommended Supplies

You need one molten glass and one cave goblin wire per completed orb. The wire is tradeable, or you can get it yourself by thieving it from the wire machine in Dorgesh-Kaan.

Familiar Suggestions

Summon a foraging familiar to earn extra money for you while you work -- I prefer the magpie, given the high value of rings and gems today.

Technique and Tips

First, make the empty orbs. With the glassblowing pipe in your inventory, withdraw a full load of molten glass. Use the pipe on one of the molten glass piles, and when the dialog box appears, right-click on the Dorgeshuun light orb and choose "Make All". Wait about a minute, bank the items you just made, and repeat.

To finish the orbs, set your Withdraw-X to 13. Take out 13 empty orbs and 13 wires. Now click the orb pile and the wire stack in your bank to take out a 14th of each. Move the mouse down to the last orb in your inventory, click it, then click the wire next to it. Now click that wire, and then the orb next to it, going back and forth until you have made all 14 orbs. Bank and repeat.