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i have a project to make a 5"x5" glass brick that will go into a wooden door 'peephole' .. it will be 1" thick ... it will be mostly transparent with colored streamers eminating from the center ... I have done bricks before but this time i want to put a texture (sort of small ice cube chunks) on one side ... there will be small trim strips that secure the brick in the door

So my question is... Should i

1) make a 5x5x1 mold that would have the textures on the bottom of the mold - and then cast the entire block in the mold.

2) make it a 2 piece brick where 1 part is a basic brick (smooth on all sides) and a second panel that is a shallower casting and mount both as one pc.

i tend to lean towards #1 ... and can i fire polish a textured pc without loosing the cast texture or would i do better with cold polishing it ???

Nutty,Dave wrote:i have a project to make a 5"x5" glass brick that will go into a wooden door 'peephole' .. it will be 1" thick ... it will be mostly transparent with colored streamers eminating from the center ... I have done bricks before but this time i want to put a texture (sort of small ice cube chunks) on one side ... there will be small trim strips that secure the brick in the door

So my question is... Should i

1) make a 5x5x1 mold that would have the textures on the bottom of the mold - and then cast the entire block in the mold.

2) make it a 2 piece brick where 1 part is a basic brick (smooth on all sides) and a second panel that is a shallower casting and mount both as one pc.

i tend to lean towards #1 ... and can i fire polish a textured pc without loosing the cast texture or would i do better with cold polishing it ???

#1 You can do it with a sand mold or a plaster mold. You might do some prefusing where the center core with your graphic is fused first, upside down. You flip it placing the bigger bubbles on the bottom and then put a couple of new layers on the bottom and 3 more on top then final fuse on the mold.

Go to the Bullseye Connection website and download the two technotes articles on working deep and box casting. This sounds like a good combination project using aspects of both techniques, (if you go with option #1.)

ch