WarmGlass.com

Hi All
Noticed on the web a photo of a fused glass bowl that had glass marbles added as feet. Couldn't see exactly how attached but I assume they have been glued.
Has anybody tried anything like this and if so how did you do it and well did it work?
Regards
Jeff

I did this one with 3 transparent blue marbles. I ground identically sized spots flat on all 3 (about 1/2 inch in diameter) and roughed up identical circles on the underside of the bowl. Then I cleaned both the marble and the bowl well with denatured alcohol, let them dry, primed both with amino silane (which prevents moisture from attacking the adhesive bond). I set the bowl face-down on a board, painted the roughened areas with HXTAL, and set a stainless ring on the bowl around the rough spots where the marbles would go. The ring would hold the marbles in place and keep them from rolling off while the adhesive cured.

I painted HXTAL (it's a very runny solution) on each of the roughened areas and carefully positioned each marble on the bowl, letting it rest against the ring. When the marbles stopped moving, I packed putty around the base of each marble to keep it in place. Then I filled the rest of the ring with batting, put a board on top, and turned the whole bowl over, so that the weight of the bowl was now resting on the marbles (which helped put pressure on the adhesive). I removed the top board, filled the bowl with steel shot to weight it down against the adhesive, and left it there for a week to cure.

I used HXTAL because I had just opened the container for another project, but it's expensive, other adhesives would be faster and probably do nearly as well, so HXTAL is likely overkill for this purpose. You could also use any two-part epoxy, silicone, UV cure glues (if you use a clear marble or clear glass bowl so that light can reach the adhesive), etc.

I've used marbles for all types of constructions and have had no problems, do as Morganica instructed and you should not have any problems.[attachment=0]2015-09-06 02.18.16.jpg

Cynthia,

Was there a reason you used an amino silane on this piece? It's really hard to find a small quantity of an amino silane and it doesn't have all that long of a shelf life. Were you using it for another specific project and you happened to have it? Whose brand did you use? After reading about it, it seems like it's mostly used in making other adhesives.

I was just catching up on posts, and I saw your sculpture Tom...WOW! Fabulous! Is the middle piece that looks frosted cast?