One of the questions I get very frequently is “How do I make holes in bottle bottoms if I don’t want to drill?” And I get it, drilling is only a tiny bit fun. So, I did some experimenting and found I could fuse loops into my bottle bottoms. While they aren’t the same as a hole, they are a solid workaround for drilling, and sometimes, a more attractive option.
We start with glass and a bottle bottom mold (in this case the very popular Leaf mold):
The mold has been kilnwashed and is ready for fusing. Add the glass bottle bottom to the mold:
and add white glue (or glass glue) dots where you want the loops to be:
Then add loops, I’m using brass loops, but you could also use Nichrome loops:
Then add a glass ring or glass tabs cut from the SAME BOTTLE. This is the very important part, if you use glass from a different bottle, you risk incompatibility.
Then fuse using the full fuse schedule:
and then you can use this to create other artwork, such as windchimes:
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Fusing with Bottle Bottom Molds
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