WarmGlass.com

Please help! When it comes to slumping bottles I've always had a 'just say no' philosophy.

Well, my darling son's girlfriend's mother, whom I really like, has just asked me to slump a Perrier Jouet champagne bottle. It's got what appears to be enameled flowers and gold paint on it, so I warned her that the graphic may not survive a slump, which she's ok with.

I need advice on what kind of firing schedule to get this damn thing to flatten as much as possible and not crack, please!
(Or perhaps that's the ticket: crack it and I'll never be asked again! )

500 to 1100 hold 10
250 - 1300 hold 5
AFAP - 1450 hold 5 (check to see how it's going and that it's flat)
AFAP 1000 hold 1 hr
100 - 800 off.

Bottles tend to get devit on them so I put borax solution on the top side which seems to work well.

Practice with another glass bottle first if you want to see how your kiln does it. I'm sure you have a wine bottle or 2 laying around. I have a brick top and side fired kiln. You could also check out http://creativeparadiseinc.com/glass/tu ... ne-bottles

I don't typically do bottles, but was dumpster diving at the local glass recycle (OK, we were dropping things off and you can't help but look in and see what kind of cool glass there might be). I found a Sky vodka bottle -- one of the "big" ones (not the 750 ml but one about twice that size -- someone had a serious party!); beautiful blue. I slumped it yesterday, using the following schedule, which worked out well:

Seg Rate Target Soak

1 350 1100 30
2 350 1325 60
3 450 1475 15
4 1500 950 30
5 100 775 10

At the moment, I can't remember where I grabbed the schedule (maybe Creative Paradise? It was their mold), but they recommended the longer hold at 1325 as a bubble squeeze. It seemed to work well. Because it was such a large bottle, the bottom end was pretty thick (I think I'd have liked it better if I'd cut off the bottom).

I am still trying to figure out "what good" the textured bottle slumpers are... the nice pattern from the texture is on the back, and because of lack of clarity in the float glass, you can't see it from the "front". It is pretty from the back so I've decided to turn it around, hang upside down, and silicon some float to the back of it and make a wall vase for dried flowers.

We'll see.... .

Dana W.

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate it and pray this is a one-time favor.

Make her sign something swearing she'll never tell anyone who did it for her! They're like zombies...once they find out you can do it they all come crawling with "special" bottles!

if it is a big champers bottle it will be really thick where the bottom folds over. anneal for at least 1/2" i would anneal for 3/4". r.