Once you’ve mastered the art of making your own texture tiles, you can bump things up by adding frits and powders to your design. Armstrong Glass makes a line of float glass compatible frits and powders called Float Fire that work very well with recycled glass. (more…)
When you are fusing with recycled glass and metal, don’t forget that you can mix metals, both types of metal and different forms of the same metal. Here is a walk through of a recent project that I did using copper sheet and copper wire. This is also a great example about how to use glass with hard water deposits.
Using plaster elements in fused glass is an easy way to add variety to your basic stock of molds and shapes. The little plaster elements are made using a mold, and a mixture of pottery plaster and silica flour in a 1:1 ratio. However, you can also achieve excellent results with basic plaster of paris. (more…)
Every now and then I get a wild hair and decide to do something big and bold. What better way to test my boundaries than with a gigantic kiln carving? This piece was created for the Nature of Sustainable Art show at Red Butte Garden that is up through the end of February.
Spoonbill cranes for kiln carved recycled glass panel.
Kiln Carving Pattern for December
Here it is at long last, the first of the tutorials. Thanks for waiting. Really. Thank you.
This star is approximately 6″ square, and can be used for a bunch of different things, you could bend it into a plate, drill holes for a hanging wire and put it in a window, cast it in a circle and put it on the Christmas Tree. If you want to slump it after kiln carving, use the suggested slumping schedule.
Wondering why my star is all yellow and funky? I used low-E glass for this one.
So, here’s how it works: (more…)
All that champagne over the holidays reminded me that tiny bubbles appear to be a recurring theme in my life. Read on!
Very rarely I get a batch of window glass that has hard water deposits on it. Most people throw this glass away because it appears useless (and is often the impetus for window replacement.) BUT, there are some pretty cool things that can happen with hard water deposits on glass that can be used in recycled glass art.
Here are some fabulous dishes as an example. I cleaned the glass really well, then wiped the hard water deposit side down with a dilute vinegar mix and fused with the hard water sides together.
Recycled Glass Dishes
What I got was a myriad of tiny, tiny bubbles embedded between the layers of glass. The outside surface of the dishes is perfectly glassy. (more…)
Recycled glass art isn’t just for small projects. Large projects are particularly nice. These pieces have trees sculpted in the reverse side. Each rectangle panel is about 30″ x 20″ and 1/4″ thick. The frames are refinished old wood window frames. Projects this size are great for permanent installation.
Recycled Architectural Glass Tree Windows
This question was originally posed by Judy W.:
Hi Jodi,
Just saw your That’s Clever segment which made me check out your website. I am very new (read ‘clueless’) to firing glass but have aspirations. I want to make tiles for my new kitchen with found bottle glass and have been saving bottles until the garage is well populated with blue, green and brown. I would like to vary the colors as you did in your blue and white bowl shown on your web site. I would appreciate knowing what you use for flux–is that what gives it some opacity?
Also I have a new barely used glass/ceramics kiln that I am trying to learn to fire correctly. Out here in rural MO there’s not much help available so I am inquiring about an example firing schedule for crushed bottle glass — if you are willing to share such info. (more…)
Sandy P. brings this question:
Hi Jodi,
I am in Tampa, Florida and heard about you from a friend who saw you on HGTV in Charlevoix, Michigan. I am new to fusing and love the idea of using “recucled” glass. I have a question for you. Do you mix the glass? It’s always been instilled to me about using compatible glass? I’ve slumped a beer bottle for fun but haven’t done any other experimenting. I’d really appreciate it if you would let me know. Thanks. I’ll be watching for you ~
Sandy
Hi Sandy;
What you have learned is correct, EXCEPT when you reduce the size of the surface area to nearly non-existent proportions, i.e. crushed glass. Bedrock tile co. in Seattle has been doing it for about a long time, with no flux or additions.
I have one piece shown here on my blog that is mixed blue bottle glass and clear window. The piece is opaque and made with crushed glass scroll down to August 28 entry to have a look.
Let me know if you have additional questions,
Jodi
