Glass With a Past has a vast library of free tutorials about making fused artwork with recycled glass. You can access these by visiting the Knowledgebase and browsing through the posts, or through the lists below. If there is a burning question that you can’t find the answer to, let us know through the contact form. If I don’t have the answer straight away, I’ll put it on the tutorial to-do list.
Bottle Fusing Tutorials
Making Fusible Flat Glass From Bottles – How to flatten bottles into sheets for easier fusing
Tie Dye Fused Bottles – How to make fused bottles that look tie dyed with paint and mica
Recycled Wine Bottle Drinking Glasses – Easy method of cutting, polishing and fire polishing drinking glasses
Leaf and Droplet Donut Tutorial – Making leaf and droplet shaped fused bottle glass donuts
Recycled Patron Bottle Birdfeeder – A no-fuse tutorial for making a bottle birdfeeder
Simple Celtic Knot Donut – Tutorial for making a simple fused bottle glass Celtic Knot
Bottle Glass Frit Ball Heart Pendant – Using bottle glass frit balls and float fire to make a heart pendant
Flaming Heart Windchime – Part 1 – 3 part tutorial on making a Flaming heart windchime with float fire and a kiln carving pattern
Flaming Heart windchime – Part 2
Flaming Heart windchime – Part 3
Bottle Glass Fritballs – Making frit balls from fusing bottle glass
Fused Gecko with Mica – Adding mica to an already fused project
Bottle Glass Frit Making – Guest Post – How to make bottle glass frit using thermal shock
Slumped Bottle Glass Dishes – Simple bottle glass dishes with just a slump firing
Striped Bottle Glass Plate – Make a striped plate by alternating strips of bottle glass
Recycled Wine Bottle Wall Vase Tutorial – Make cute wall vases with wine bottle necks
Glassline Paint on Fused Bottles – Painting on bottles before fusing
Bottle Glass Votive – Simple slumped bottle glass votive
Recycled wine bottle trinket boxes – Fused bottle glass lid paired with cold worked bottles
Fused Bottle Glass Donuts and Rings – tips and trouble shooting for perfect fused glass donuts and rings
Fusing Large and Small Bottles – Do large and small bottle fuse the same?
Fused Bottle Glass House Numbers – Using flattened wine bottles to make house numbers
Fusing with bottle glass – intro to this exciting new world
Bottle Glass and Kiln Carving – How to use bottles for kiln carving without flattening them first.
Window/Float Glass Fusing Tutorials
Fusing with Thick Tempered Glass – Follow along as Jodi paints, breaks and fuses thick tempered glass
Adding Texture and Pattern to Float Glass – Tutorial on using float fire frits and powders to enhance plain float glass
Fused Painted Hummingbird – Hummingbird dish with painted bird on float
Fused Tempered Glass Plate – Breaking tempered glass and refusing into a dish
Recycled Glass and Mica – Using mica on textured float glass
Fractured Plate Tutorial – Make a spiderweb fracture plate with float glass and float fire
Carved recycled float glass sculpture – carved and curved tree sculpture from 3/8″ float
Using Glass Powders with Texture Tiles – Add Float Fire powders to Float Glass and home made texture tiles
Fused Float Glass Lattice Bowl – basic lattice grid bowl tutorial
Fused Recycled Glass Bowl – Basic fused float glass bowl tutorial
Recycled float glass bowl for absolute beginners
Recycled Glass Name Tags tutorial – use float glass, float fire frit and rubber stamps to make glass name tags
Stack and full fuse for visual interest – making your float project more interesting
Stacking and tack fusing recycled glass part 2 – more ideas for tack fused float projects
Stacking and tack fusing float glass part 1 – ideas for tack fused float projects
Engraving on float glass – Engraving with dremel on float glass projects
Recycled Low E float glass – a remarkable color change recycled glass
Creating texture with carving – carving float glass with diamond bits in a dremel
Identifying tempered glass – Is that unmarked piece of float glass tempered? Here are some clues to help find out
Using textured recycled glass – Using float privacy glass and textured glass for fusing/slumping
Varieties of window glass – Not all window glass is float, and not all the types fuse the same
Kiln Formed Bead Tutorials
Triangle Bar Beads for Winchimes – Use the Triangle Bead Mold Kit to make bar beads
Fused Glass Blob Beads – Making beads with glass pebbles or jewels
Lentil Bead Earrings – Use the Small Lentil Bead Mold kit to make earrings
Lentil Bead Molds – Detailed instructions for using Lentil Bead Mold Kits
Triangle Beads with Mica – How to make metallic triangle beads with the Triangle Bead Mold kit and mica
Painted Triangle Beads – Make colorful marbled beads with the Triangle Bead kit and glass paint
Triangle Bead Molds – detailed instructions on how to use the Triangle Bead kit
Technical Aspects of Fusing Bottles and Float Glass
Bottle Frit and Float Glass Stress Test – see what happens when you fuse bottle frit and float glass, and how to test for stress
Mixing Bottle Glass for Fusing – Fusing different bottles together and testing for stress
Glue Chip Glass – Making your own glue chip glass
Oil Paint Pens and Glass Fusing – Using oil paint pens as a decorative feature in glass fusing
Studio and Shop Safety – Guest Post – Some shop hazards and staying safe
Fusing with Metals and other Inclusions
Hummingbird fused with Metals – Fused hummingbird with copper and brass sheet
Fusing with Leaves and Color – Fusing recycled glass with leaves, paint and mica
Fusing with copper sheet and wire – Fusing copper sheet and wire with float glass
Kiln Carving Patterns and Copper Inclusions – Using kiln carving patterns with metals
Fusing with Brass loops – fusing in loops for hanging projects
Plaster elements in fused glass – using plaster to create relief designs
Metal Inclusions in recycled fused glass – copper and brass inclusions in float glass projects
Dirt and Sand Inclusions – How to use organic material inclusions in fusing
Using Hard Water Deposits in Design – Don’t throw out that stained glass too fast, it has some unique properties
Casting with Recycled Glass
Recycled Glass Pot Melt Tests – testing glass mixes for recycled glass casting
Pot Melts with Recycled Glass – mixing float and bottle glass for casting
Casting recycled glass sculpture – creating molds and casting recycled float sculptures
Crucible cast – take 2 – pot melt tests for recycled glass casting
Other Kinds of Fused Glass
Fused Wine Glass Angel – Make a cute angel ornament by fusing a wine glass
Fusing Vintage Plates – Fusing thrift store plates, tips and tricks
Fusing a Martini Glass – just because we can, and how to make it stay looking like a martini glass
Tool Related Tutorials, including saws
Cutting a bottle with a tile saw – Video of Jodi cutting an entire bottle into rings
Stainless Steel Tile Molds – How to make your own stainless steel tile molds
Bench Polisher from a Tile Saw – Homebuilt bench polished from a deconstructed tile saw.
Aquarium Sand Fusing Experiment – What happens if you fuse with two colors of aquarium sand?
Non-Traditional Molds for Slumping – DIY molds from flower pots, thrift store items and other cool things
Alternative Floral Formers – Use fiber paper to modify the shape of floral formers
Glass Reference Books – list of books that I own and recommend
Cold Working with a rock polisher – hands off coldworking for the busy glass artist
Glass ‘Tools’ from the craft store – craft store products that cross-over to glass
Making a triangle glass bead mold – the DIY version of our Triangle Bead Mold Kit
The case for desperation and creativity – when things go badly wrong on a tight deadline
Texture tile molds and recycled glass – DIY texture tile molds tips and hints
Cold Working with a Steel Wheel Polisher – Using a slurry polisher to cold work
Recycled Glass Tile Molds – Stainless vs. Ceramic
Kiln Carving Patterns and Tutorials
Abstract Border Kiln Carving Pattern
Hummingbird Kiln Carving Pattern
Winged Crown of Thorns Heart Pattern
Duckling with Umbrella pattern
How I make a kiln carving pattern
Spoonbill cranes (one of Jodi’s projects)
If you’re interested it taking your recycled glass art as step further, there are classes and workshops available.
The blog has many more tutorials and articles, including a long list of Q & A Mondays, where we answer reader questions. Please take your time and browse around a bit. If you like what you read, consider signing up for the Tech Tip newsletter (you can check out the archive to see if you like it).