If you’ve made glass art for any amount of time you know there is always a ton of scrap waiting to be processed. Add to that the complication of working in recycled glass, where your glass is rarely compatible across pieces, and what do you do with all of that scrap??
I’ve actually worked out a process that works pretty well for me. The glass scrap that I process this way includes:
- Bottle Glass
- Window Glass
- Scrap stained glass
- mystery glass
- scrap fusible glass
The first thing I do is sort the glass, anything that is 3″ x 2″ or larger goes into a bin, and is later cut into strips. The strips are cut 1/4″ (6mm) wide by 3″ (75mm). I use small paper cups to keep the strips from each piece separate. Larger pieces are cut into as many strips as possible and then I make fused glass stars with this glass. I do try to keep the fusible glass scrap and the stained glass scrap separate because they usually fire at a lower temperature than the window and bottle glass.
Fused Glass Stars (Click for Tutorial)
Beads (Click for Tutorial)
Next I use my smaller scrap for fused glass beads. This is especially good if you have left over strips available from star making, those strips are the perfect size to nip down and make triangle beads. This is especially useful for the fusible scrap and stained glass scrap, they make lovely beads!
Other Bead Tutorials
- Triangle Beads with Mica
- Triangle Beads with Paint
- Floral Beads
- Fused Beads with Nichrome Loops
- Fused Glass Blob Beads
Frit Balls
When I finally get tired of making things, or I’m down to the smaller pieces of scrap, I make frit balls. I love the entire process of frit balls, and my go to destress activity is sorting frit balls, so it’s a win win for me. If you aren’t into it, you can take your scrap and continue on to the next section.
Frit balls are tiny scraps of glass that are fired at a full fuse to make little tiny glass balls. I keep a bin of already nipped pieces and add them around the edges of whatever I’m fusing, this gives me an always full kiln, and keeps the scrap moving through the shop. You can also do this with random shapes, they are great for mosaics.
What to do with Frit Balls?
That is the question isn’t it? What do you do with thousands of incompatible frit balls? Well, a lot of things it turns out:
- Bezel set frit ball jewelry components
- Mosaic jewelry
- Glass on Glass mosaic ornaments and suncatchers
- Donate them! I give away a LOT of frit balls to youth groups for art activities (see photo below).
Tumbled Glass (Click for Tutorial)
But sometimes I just run out of steam and want to hustle that processing along, or finally get to the point where I just need the glass scrap DONE! Then I chuck it all in my vibrating tumbler and let it go to town on it’s own.
I have both a large and small tumbler, the large one is great for processing a lot of glass fast, the small one is great for jewelry sized pieces, or things I want to keep track of, like beads.
What to do with Tumbled Glass
- Drill holes and make chimes/suncatchers
- landscaping cover (away from streets and sidewalks though)
- decor (fill clear jars)
- Sell it in bags, people LOVE grab bags
- Done it to teachers, youth groups, etc. Share the wealth!
- Display a bowl at shows and invite people to have a free piece (this is a great way to get people in your booth or to at least stop walking).
Recycle it!
If you are just over it or overwhelmed, check to see if your municipal recycling will take sheet glass, mine does, and it’s a great way to just move out large amounts of stuff. I prefer to process inhouse, but sometime things happen and I just need to clear the decks. For artists with fusible glass scrap, check to see if beginners in your area or glass clubs might want some cheap/free scrap. I use a lot of donated fusible scrap to do projects in schools, it keeps the costs down and let’s kids experience a new and fun artform!