WarmGlass.com

Can I use colored glass bottles to make frit and fuse into small objects.
I will not be mixing this bottle frit with other glass.

No. No you may not. You may not bring any bottles into your glass studio and pretend to make them into art.


Oops. Did I just say that out loud? Sorry; not a fan of melted bottles.
Do something spectacular and prove me wrong. : )

Yes you can and most bottle colors are compatible not only with other bottles but with float glass (Do some testing). It's a good cheap way to learn your craft, the art will come later.

williamslaybaugh wrote:Yes you can and most bottle colors are compatible not only with other bottles but with float glass (Do some testing). It's a good cheap way to learn your craft, the art will come later.

It's a nice way to practice, yes, but I disagree with the "compatible not only with..." part of this statement. In my experience float and random bottles are maybe compatible, maybe not. Your piece may fail because the glass isn't compatible, or for some other reason. The uncertainly makes it harder to figure out why and learn from your failures. If you're going to go this route, try initially confining your pieces to smallish ones, so that you only use one kind of glass in a single piece.

Or start by learning to test for compatibility, then doing those tests on new batches of glass. Personally, I think bottles don't yield enough glass to justify the testing, especially since manufacturers can buy their containers from multiple sources. There's no guarantee that this batch of, say, juice bottles, will work with the same bottles from another batch.

I've seen some pretty spectacular work done with scrap glass, though, so it's worth playing around with it.

ok, so I can use my left over alcohol bottles, So what is an inexpensive way to color clear glass (from broken bottles)

Enamels will give colour. However, they are not cheap. Not much in kiln forming is.

Hi Stephen,
I had a look at your web site, very good, a shame i am on the other side of the world.
When you say enamels, can you explain a bit more, what type of store would sell them over here.
regards, beau

Beau, it sounds as though you need a couple of good reference books. Brad, the owner of this WGB wrote one. There are others too, that will give you the basics. Classes are given in some of the major cities here and in some smaller towns, by glass retailers.

also the free tutorial is a great way to get started. helps with jargon as well. rosanna