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Anybody tried casting with bottle glass? How was it?
Franklin

Hey ya' Franklin.........it's so-so!. Depends on what type of visual effect you're trying to achive. If clarity and light transmission through the glass is not a priority, then some interesting pieces can be made.

It will never have the sparkle of lead glass, but you might try using the drip pot method to ratchet up the clarity, which will produce a more bubble-free glass.

Getting bottle glass completely clean before casting is a chore and it's a good idea to add some flux to the mix so it melts and moves in an easier manner. This type of glass is better suited for simple mold designs. It may not flow completely into an intricate mold.

Franklin Sankar wrote:Anybody tried casting with bottle glass? How was it?
Franklin

Though it's not exactly what you've asked about, the Clean Washington Center has done a study of using bottle glass for blowing and casting. The results weren't very good, with extra cleaning time and compatibility issues with cullet from multiple bottles being the biggest issues: http://www.cwc.org/glass/gl965.htm

bottle glass is designed to be machine blown into a mold, unmolded, and cooled within a few seconds. if you've ever seen a bottle production plant, you'd see this in action; they turn out thousands of bottles an hour. the glass just doesn't flow well, because it isn't supposed to. you don't want the bottles slumping whilst moving down the production line.

charlie wrote:bottle glass is designed to be machine blown into a mold, unmolded, and cooled within a few seconds. if you've ever seen a bottle production plant, you'd see this in action; they turn out thousands of bottles an hour. the glass just doesn't flow well, because it isn't supposed to. you don't want the bottles slumping whilst moving down the production line.

Franklin

I was going to say that but Charlie beat me to it.

However when I was at Pilchuck they were using mayonaise jars with lots of flux and some manganese added. It wasn't beautiful crystal, but it worked for blowing and sand casting. So if you can resmelt it with the right stuff, you might have something.

Thanks for the replies. I have been experimenting with blowing bottle glass and have gotten a lot of advise from some of you and others on the the other board(craft ). My experience so far is the bottle glass needs some help especially for the newbie, but it does train you to work faster. For blowing you can reheat but for casting it a different story. By the time I get it out of the furnace into the mold It is very viscous. I would need to add some chemicals to make it less viscous or add more heat.
The site Brad showed in his post melts the bottle at high temperatures. For most wire electric furnaces that will push it to the limit.
Bottles are a cheap or a free source of glass and for a poor community its a good alternative to creating some fun , social activity and mayby generate some income. Glass will not make a poor community rich but at least it may keep some people off the streets. So if you have any suggestions on any experiments we can do with making bottle glass workable and also to share your experience in using bottle glass ( was it stiff, did you have to work fast , it cant be done.. etc.) please let me know.
Franklin
fsankar10@hotmail.com

Franklin,

I followed a link that Carol posted in another post and saw info on using recycled glass in kiln casting. The info is further down the page on this link http://www.art.net/Studios/Sculptors/Stina/FAQ.html

Hope this is of some help to you. And, thank you Carol for posting the link to this artists site.

Joe from Wisconsin

Thanks Joe, the link Carol found was very interesting especially the material to cast into. I wonder if it would make a temporary pot to melt color . Hmmmm. Now if I can find the material here in the middle of nowhere.
The article mentions MnO2 and I am sure you know this but I just found out that MnO2 can dammage ones liver plus another important organ.
All the good things are bad.
Franklin

Mn02... Manganese dioxide..this metal oxide gives that wonderful rich purple colour .. it is said that when using this material ..its the fumes that could be one of its problems as the belief is they can cause the loss of brain cells and effect the users nervous system............Colin