Q: Hi, Love your website and am planning to make an order with you. I am brand new to the recycled glass hobby fun.
I am wanting to make sun catchers our of old glass. I really do not know what I am doing yet, but am a fast
learner and have been doing a lot of reading. I have seen sun catchers online and they appear to be more pressed with a rounded edge than flat. I am at a loss as to what mold would yield this type of sun catcher. I have attached a photo from the net. I am in love with that look and don’t know how to achieve it. I am so excited to get started. I am also wanting to make sun catchers for a cause here locally to help fund raise for random community needs. Would love to know how to make my own molds to use for glass works. Thank you from Texas!
A: The photo didn’t come through (my form has a glitch, I’m working on it) but I think I know which one it is. They are made by scooping a big blob of melted glass out of a furnace and pressing it with a steel press in a hot shop. Unfortunately, it takes a glass furnace among other things. You can get pretty close with fusing though. Making your own molds isn’t too hard, you do have to have access to a ceramic kiln. If you have a ceramic supply place in your area, they can help you with the clay, and usually with the firing for a small fee. Here’s an article about making your own ceramic texture tiles, hopefully that will help! If you don’t want to mess with it, we do make custom molds and would be happy to give you a quote.
Texture Tile Molds for Fused Glass
http://glasswithapast.com/knowledgebase/texture-tile-molds-for-fused-glass/ I started out making things with the old windows from my house, it’s been a wild adventures since then!
Q: Hi Jodi,
Great website! Love the knowledgebase!! Need help on a few things.
What cutter do you use to cut the tops and bottoms off bottles?
What cutter and how do you cut 1-2 inches from the back of bottles to make flat sheets?
I have a beer growler bottle which is at least 4 inches in diameter. How much should I cut out of the back to make it flat?
How can I control the bottle of the bottle from slumping over the front design of a painted wine bottle?
A: I use a 10″ wet tile saw with an MK Diamond blade to cut bottles. I take out the 1.5-2″ by scoring the bottle on the inside from top to bottom and carefully run the scores to pull out the strip. (I use a Toyo pistol grip cutter for this part) Even with big bottles, I only take out about an inch and a half, it’s more important to make sure the cut strip is centered at the top so the bottle will unroll evenly in the kiln. The only way I know of to keep the bottom from folding over on slumped bottles is to cut the bottom off and slump the bottle. You’ll get a perfectly straight edge across the bottom and no foldover.
Fused bottle with bottom cut off