Life hasn’t been all packing and boxes lately – I have had some time to create. I made some fun buttons, pendants, and magnets this spring. I am going to explore button-making further this summer and into the next school year. I am sensing some fun projects for the kiddos to come from this.
The buttons, pendants, and beads worked their way to pinch pots with indentations in the bottom. I filled these with shards of glass so they would melt and fill the spaces. This of course, got me thinking about melting glass in general.
This melting glass got me thinking about melting entire bottles. I knew it couldn’t be that hard, I just had to watch the time and temperature of my kiln. The green one is a wine bottle and the blue one a tequila bottle.
Using cone 5, this was the combination of time & heat that Eric used. This created a very flattened bottle with opening fused closed.
I also tried used cone 5, and fired on low for 1 hour. Then turned the temperature to medium for 1 hour, and then to high for 1.5 hours. Watch the kiln carefully when it is on high and have some heat proof gloves handy to peek into the kiln. As soon as the glass bottles have fallen flat, turn off the kiln and prop the lid. Wait until the kiln is completely cool before handling bottles.
I used cone 5, fired on low for 1 hour. Then turned the temperature to medium for 1 hour, and then to high for 1.5 hours. Watch the kiln carefully when it is on high and have some heat proof gloves handy to peek into the kiln. As soon as the glass bottles have fallen flat, turn off the kiln and prop the lid. Wait until the kiln is completely cool before handling bottles.
The white marks on the bottles above are the ash from the labels burning off. These easily wash off with soap and water.
Bluebird Hill Art 