What's In the Oven? Glass With a Past

Clear the Air Challenge Awards

2010-08-31T11:49:00.000-06:00

Recently, I was lucky enough to be able to make the awards for the top three companies for the Clear the Air Challenge.

Step 1, Proposal:

The proposed award would be made with 3/8" thick recycled glass bent into a gentle curve about 12" wide by about 6" high. We would use the logo of the program and do a pseudo-screen print on the glass. The winners names would be engraved on the front after the ceremony.

Step 2, Photoshop Magic and Preparation:

Using the original photo and some photoshop magic, I separated the colors into four color "plates" that would be used as stencils to apply the colors individually, in order.

This is the green "plate" printed of transparent plastic prior to being perforated.

Here are the four different color "plates" that have all been perforated with a million 1/16" holes to let the frit through.

Base glass cut into the appropriate sizes. The glass was recovered from a sign company that was going out of business. Originally these were large glass panels with shopping mall names on them. It looked like they had probably been used for a trade show exhibit.

Step 3, Applying the Color:

Since I wanted the color to be on the back of the glass, I had to build up the image in the reverse order, i.e. white first, then blue, green and black.

Here the white frit has been applied over the stencil. The blocks of glass you see are holding the stencil flat against the glass.

White finished:

Green:

Blue next:

and black last.

Wash, rinse and repeat!

With one extra, just in case. It often saves time in the long run to do an extra from the start.

Here is the finished award, after firing and slumping.

Of course, what are awards without an awards ceremony? Here is Mayor Becker with an award in his hot little hands, ready to give away.

And finally! At long last! The envelope please....The winners are:

2010 Top Small Company Lloyd Architects. Congratulations Lloyd and crew!

2010 Top Medium Company: New Dawn Technologies.

2010 Top Large Company: ADP, Inc.

Excellent project wrap up team, take a break.

Performing in Vegas

2010-07-16T13:51:00.000-06:00

Not many of you know I recently had a brief performance in Las Vegas on the strip... at the convention center... as a booth assistant... at the ACRE show. Yea, okay, it isn't broadway or anything, but it was still pretty cool!

I went as slave labor with my dear friend Colleen of Turtles Wings Art wages payable in cocktails. This was both of our first experience at a wholesale trade show. Colleen, obviously made of sterner stuff than I opted to actually have a booth, whilst I just went along to watch.

Here is the view from our hotel room on the 10th floor of the Las Vegas Hilton. Crazy blue sky like a giant inverted bowl.

and the other direction:

And here I am, off the plane barely 15 minutes and she's already got me working:

The set up wasn't nearly as hot as we had been led to believe. It may have something to do with the fact that Salt Lake City is pretty darn hot in and of itself. We're tough girls, used to this kind of hardship!

Here is our across the aisle neighbor, Kent Eppler of Laughing Boy Art, wearing his lucky shirt. He let us touch one of the cacti so the luck would rub off.

Beautiful glass at the booth next door. Really lovely blown and sand-carved pieces with added metal.
Other swanky booths (photographed with permission, of course):

The jewelry people really go all out on their booth displays.

What we learned: A wholesale show can be a great tool, but it isn't a magic bullet in and of itself. You have to integrate it with all of your other art marketing tools!

Red Butte Garden Glass Donation

2010-07-16T13:34:00.000-06:00

Now here's a whacking big pile of glass that won't go to the landfill! Approximately 3 cubic feet of glass that was replaced during the Red Butte Garden gift shop remodel weighing in at over 480 lbs.

Very exciting to have such a nice stash to work with. And, the new gift shop is lovely, you should go check it out if you haven't already.

Glass Art Guild of Utah show at the Patrick Moore Gallery

2010-06-10T11:19:00.000-06:00

The Glass Art Guild of Utah is holding it's annual Gathering of Glass show at the Patrick Moore Gallery through June 11. The gallery is located at 2233 South 700 East in Salt Lake City, open 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

And I'm very excited to report that my large recycled glass panel "Hatchlings" was given the Juror's Choice Award for Kiln Formed Glass.

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2010-04-30T09:17:00.001-06:00

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Monday Morning Brain

2010-03-22T10:44:00.000-06:00

Yesterday it was 62 degrees here in Salt Lake City. There was just a tiny breeze the keep the air moving around. I spend the afternoon digging out garden boxes and compost bins.

Today, I'm at the computer longing to be finishing the garden boxes. Would I rather be outside planting peas? You betcha.

Why aren't I? Because, this is my job. My full time employment. And you know what? I would choose it again without even a second's worth of consideration. I do what I do because I love it and I've never found anything I like better.

So, how do I switch gears from weekend brain to Monday Work brain? Well. It's not magic really. I set the timer for 15 minutes and start writing long hand, with a pencil, knowing full well that most of it will be crap. Right around minute 10 though, I can feel the switch flip and start to feel enthusiastic about what's on my plate for the week, and we're off!

I also check in with my imaginary board of directors; business people and blogs that are consistent and high quality and always inspire me to move. I imagine telling these people that I'm just not in the mood to work, and trust me, it's imaginarily embarrassing enough that I get right to work!

Great Monday Reads:

ittybiz.com
http://whitehottruth.com/
http://www.jonathanfields.com/blog/
http://www.enchantedeye.com/

Toggle anyone?

2010-03-11T14:03:00.000-07:00

I have a fairly large kiln, so when I make jewelry parts, it just doesn't make any sort of sense to make a single pair of earrings (for example). So, I make 100 earring pieces. After picking out my favorite two for the pair of earrings and throwing away the 5 or 6 fugly pieces, I have about 90 left over.

What to do with this bounty and largess?

Recycled Glass Tile Molds

2010-03-04T14:00:00.000-07:00

Often I get questions regarding the molds I use to make recycled glass tiles. There are two types of molds that I use, stainless steel and ceramic. I make both types and each has its strengths.

Stainless steel molds are:

easy and quick to make
work best in small sizes, tend to warp in larger sizes
must be kiln washed before every use
can have sharp edges and corners

Empty Stainless tile molds (1" x 6")

Filled Stainless Tile molds (1" x 6")

Ceramic tile molds:

more difficult to make and require drying and firing.
very durable and inexpensive to make.
can be very nearly duplicated for production work.
easy to kilnwash

Empty ceramic tile molds (1" x 4" and 2" x 2")

Filled ceramic tile mold (4" x 4")

Crucible cast - Take 2

2010-02-25T15:53:00.000-07:00

After isolating a temperature and aperture through testing, the actual project firings have begun. The goal is to create a slab of glass that can be used for a future sculpture collaboration project as well as a large flat disc that can be formed into some type of lighting piece.

The kiln that I'm using for this project is a side fire Skutt, so I'm going to do two crucible melts at the same time, stacked with shelves. The bottom of the kiln is lower in temperature than the top, so I'll load the thin disc on the bottom and the thicker slab on the top.

Here is the large saucer kilnwashed and loaded with supports and a pot of glass. The center of the glass is large chunk tempered, the blue frit is trickled in around the edge.

After firing:

And the final product:

The top shelf will be loaded with the slab set up. I was trying for streaks of blue through a clear base, so I used a square pot with the side broken out and loaded the clear glass in the center with turquoise frit down both sides.

After firing:

The final result:

Conclusion:

The slab is successful and can be taken to the next step of the process. The glass for the blue disc had some impurities in it that I missed, which came back to haunt me. Some of the disc can probably be used, but a new round of firings are in order, perhaps with different colors.

Recycled Architectural Glass

2010-02-23T10:28:00.001-07:00

Did you know that I can make large architectural glass pieces for you home or office? These pieces have trees sculpted in the reverse side. Each rectangle panel is about 30" x 20" and 1/4" thick. I can go as large as 58" x 28" with nearly any pattern included in the glass.

Recycled Glass Pot Melt Tests

2010-02-08T10:23:00.002-07:00

One of the things about recycled glass that everyone who uses it knows is, you have to test everything. Twice. And then do it all over again, since your results could have been a fluke and the worst time to realize that is after you've spent a very long time on something.

So. In preparation for some cast sculptural work that's coming up, I decided to do some potmelt (crucible) casting tests. The factors I need to isolate are: glass particle size, aperature size and temperature.

The most obvious way seemed to test three aperature sizes and three glass sizes at the same temperature. This would allow me to isolate one factor at a time.

The glass I used was: ground clear window glass larger than 16# and smaller than 1/8", ground clear window larger than 1/8", smaller than 1/4" and large chunk tempered glass. All three were mixed with one third by weight of ground Bombay Sapphire bottle glass.

Next I used 9 terra cotta pots, all of the same size, drilled 1/2" holes in the bottom of three, 3/4" holes in the bottom of three and 1" holes in the bottom of three. Next step; loaded one of each size with one of each glass mixture.

I set them all up in my side-fire kiln (a.k.a. the EZ bake). Based of past experience, I knew that 1700 wasn't hot enough. I decided to try 1850 for 15 minutes.

Here are the pots post firing (the bottom shelf, the remainder were on another shelf). With the exception of that center pot, it looks like we got pretty good drainage of the crucibles. The center pot:

This pot contained the smallest particle size (16# mesh) and the smallest aperature (1/2"). This is very useful, because it gives me a baseline for the bottom end of the success spectrum.

The next step is to look at the resulting melts and see which other combination would suit our purposes the best.

This is the smallest particle size (16#) through the 3/4" aperature. The result is shiny and smooth, but not translucent.

Med size (>16# <1/8") clear through the 3/4" aperature. The results are very shiny, with some translucency.

Large chunk (~1/2") tempered glass through the 3/4" aperature. Very translucent and shiny.

So, the conclusion here is that we need to use about a 3/4" aperature or larger. Any of the glass particle sizes will work with that aperature, but each gives a very different result. Next step in the casting process is mold making and further temperature refinement based on increased quantity of glass.

Eeeew and yet fascinating.

2009-09-15T16:26:00.003-06:00

I volunteer regularly at an elementary school and the teacher did an experiment that so fascinated and revolted me that I wanted to share. (I'm generous that way.)

Kirsten (the teacher) had all of the 1st/2nd graders sit in a circle and we had a long discussion about germs. These kids know a lot about germs and bacteria already, I was impressed. Then Kirsten passed around a peeled potato half and had the kids rub their hands all over it. I have to confess by the time it got to me I COULD NOT touch it, it was already so disgusting.

Then, the kids all washed their hands as prescribed by the health department. It took forever.

We all came back to the circle and Kirsten passed around the other half of the peeled potato and the kids rubbed their hands all over it again.

Here are the two potato's after 1 week.

My hands are cracked from so much washing with anti-bacterial soap since then.

Avenue's Street Fair

2009-09-15T16:23:00.003-06:00

Last weekend I spent the day at the Avenue's Street Festival. It was so much fun! People I hadn't seen for years were there so I got to hang out with great folks.

Next weekend I will be at the 9th and 9th Street Festival, 9th S. and 9th East from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

If you're around, stop by and say hi. I have delicious stuff in the kiln right now that will make it's debut this weekend.

Recycled Glass Wave

2009-09-04T16:22:00.003-06:00

Here is another photo of the recycled glass wave. This project is the brain child of Chris St. Jeor, if you'd like to see the surfer that will go with this wave, look here:

Everybody do the wave!

2009-09-02T20:18:00.002-06:00

I've been working with sculptor Chris St. Jeor for the last couple of months to create a glass wave. Chris wants to combine the glass wave with his stone and steel sculptures. We took this wave out of the kiln this morning. We will have better photography after some cold working, but for now, this is so exciting I had to share.

This is version 5, cast with a combination of clear and turquoise frit (recycled window and Bombay Sapphire Gin bottles). We are looking forward to version 6 over the weekend. Stay turned!

Lightening Bolt Man

2009-07-14T09:00:00.003-06:00

That's his super hero name, his secret identity is Erik Morgan (oops!). Erik came and spent a few days in my shop seeing how it's done. He also made this great bowl all by himself from start to finish, including the block printing. Considering that his very first glass cutting was a circle, he get's an A+!

New work finished June 27th

2009-06-26T08:53:00.005-06:00

Fresh baked and hot from the oven, these pieces will be at Farmer's Market on July 11th. (unless someone snatches them up first). The pieces that come home from Farmer's Market will go online.

The long, modern orange and brown one is very cool. It's tucked in at the far end next to a small oval with dots (and it's upside down). Come check it out.

What's in the Oven

2009-06-24T09:30:00.006-06:00

These pretty pieces finished fusing this morning. Tune in tomorrow to see the finished pieces. My favorite so far is the orange and brown asymmetrical piece on the lower right (second photo). All of these pieces were made with glass from the Utah Museum of Natural History. The glass is from defunct display cases and is about 35 years old. (estimated, of course)

Girl Scouts - Not just for cookies!

2009-06-24T09:20:00.002-06:00

I had the pleasure of visiting with a very bright group of girls in my studio on June 10. Their troop was visiting with various types of entrepreneurs, one of which was me.

Despite the pouring rain, which severely limited our ability to break stuff, I think they had a good time.

And the cookies were GREAT!!

North Rose Wolcott High School, Student Work

2009-06-18T11:30:00.002-06:00

Last January I had the pleasure of talking with Howard Skinner, the art teacher at North Rose Wolcott High School about the possibility of his students working with recycled glass. What a fabulous surprise to get photo's of the projects. These students are doing some seriously cool glasswork.

From an artist's point of view, this is really about the best thing that can happen. If my work and knowledge can inspire kids to branch out and explore, then I'm doing my job right! (of course, having an expert like Howard as your teacher helps too...)

Here's a bit of info about the school:

North Rose Wolcott High School is located in between Rochester and Syracuse New York. We are a smaller school of about 650 students; we have a very competitive art program, with classes
in the drawing arts, 4 levels of ceramics, a new sculpture class and or fused glass class. The ceramics room has 13 wheels, a 24 x 36h front loader kiln ,a raku kiln, and new hot box kiln and a new scutt glass kiln. The principal has been fantastic this year getting two new glass kilns in one year. We love to do competitions with the other schools. Some schools being much larger. This year the kids sent work to 8 different shows, some national and winning some top awards. I guess that is why we get the support we get. These days you have to push and put in the news papers any thing positive to keep your budget for the art dept. But after 25 years of teaching its still fun and developing new exciting glass class is why. Giving the kids the love and appreciation for art, is the secret of keeping the arts alive.

And here are the photo's:

New Work at Beloved Artisan Jewelry

2009-04-23T09:59:00.003-06:00

Just left a whole batch of delicious jewelry at Beloved Artisan Jewelry in Trolley Square. If you haven't been in, you should go. Amy and Brian are both artists AND business people, which makes for a very nice experience. They also change things out nearly daily, it's never the same store twice!

Here are some preview photo's, stop in for the full range of goodies!

Wood and glass cuff bracelets ($42-$48) rescued maple veneer bent into cuffs and secured to recycled glass chunks. I get the maple from a cabinet shop in Lindon. These are all new scraps that were discarded and saved from the landfill. Woo! The glass chunks are made with recycled window and bottle glass.

More cuffs ($42-$48), these are much more supple in nature, reclaimed glazed leather fit with recycled glass pieces. The leather is a great caramel color and will darken as you wear it.

The leather is from discarded handbags, the glass recycled from window and bottle glass. The glass pieces are all cast, then tumbled for about a week. The brown glass cuff is polished and has plush dark velvet on the inside.

And then we have the candy link bracelets. ($35) These are made with recycled window glass cut into 3/4" circles and squares. The pieces are stacked with an after market color in between the layers, as well as tiny metal loops. After fusing, the links are joined with silver jump rings and a sterling clasp is added. These are the ultimate eye candy and feel great on!

Matching but not matchy earrings in the link style. There are a variety of colors and materials available, some with reclaimed leather, some with recycled metal.

These little darlings are made with recycled brass from vintage (1950-60) light fixtures. The fixtures came from a light shop that went out of business and was trashing all of their left overs. Luckily, I got to pick out what I wanted before it went in the dumpster, not that that would have stopped me!

Other pairs have aluminum parts from the same source. There is a great variety to choose from.

New Work at Evergreen Gallery

2009-04-01T18:08:00.002-06:00

I've just delivered a whole batch of brand new pieces to Evergreen Gallery. These pieces feature the new block printing technique that I've been working on since before Christmas. The pieces are made from recycled window glass with original block printing on both sides, usually in two colors. Sometimes more, sometimes less (but not much less!)

Here are a few teaser photographs, please visit Evergreen (3295 S. 2000 E.) to have a look at all of the pieces.

Welcome New Polisher!

2009-02-12T10:45:00.002-07:00

Yes, around here I tend to anthropomorphize my tools. They work hard, after all, and are often as quirky as people, so why not give them a name?

Recently I acquired this 24" steel wheel polisher from Jenkyn Powell, a renowned stained glass artist located here in Salt Lake City.

As yet, it doesn't have a name, since I haven't used it long enough to get a feel for the personality. I'll keep you posted on that.

What that means for me in terms of capabilities; this tool will allow polishing of large surfaces to a perfectly flat finish. Also, beveling, faceting and some rudimentary carving. All very exciting for a glass artist.

Sundance Film Festival

2009-01-30T12:45:00.002-07:00

(or, The closest I will ever get to meeting a movie star.)

I'm tickled to have my work included in Park City TV's celebrity gift bags for the Sundance Film Festival.

Here they are, swanky clear and bronze votive holders made with recycled glass windows. Woo hoo, Hollywood, here I come!

You light up my life

2008-02-05T09:38:00.000-07:00

Last summer Bill Hadfield of The Lamp Store in SLC was kind enough to donate 7 cases of very old light fixtures. The fixtures themselves are (were) round, heavy clear glass with a thin coat of white glass on the inside.

Before I can use these, they have to be processed. The first step is breaking them into pieces that are small enough to fit into Chewy, the glass grinder.

Here I am at the start of one of the few lovely January mornings in Salt Lake City, hammer in hand. To the left are the cases of lights.

Fast forward a couple of hours and I've reduced 7 boxes of fixtures (12 per box) to a total of 3 buckets of chunks.

Next step is to run all of the chunks through Chewy.

Red Bow event at 873 Gallery

2007-12-11T17:08:00.001-07:00

Arrowmont Day 2 - July 16th, 2007

2007-07-26T18:04:00.000-06:00

Monday was a long and busy day at Arrowmont. Kerry began the day with an explanation of mold making techniques. Each student carved a small image to make positive and negative molds from. We started with a little chunk of Sculpey each, carved it and made a negative mold with Alginate (dental mold compound).

Here are pictures of our talented group at work:

After the molds were made, the students mixed up hydrocal/silica casting compound and poured negative and positive plaster molds. Here are pictures of the molds loaded with frit and billet. (Anyone have pictures of the fired projects? I somehow missed that.)
This was our morning project, the evening/afternoon was spent preparing cast images for our large projects. There will be a brief pause here while I figure out how to create a YouTube account, there are several good video's coming up and I don't want anyone to miss anything.

Arrowmont Day 1 - July 15, 2007

2007-07-26T11:23:00.000-06:00

Slightly belatedly, here is an account of my week at the Arrowmont School of Art and Craft in Gatlinburg TN.

It all started some months ago when Kerry Transtrum offered me the opportunity to be his teaching assistant for a week long casting class at Arrowmont. The dates of the class were July 15-21.

After boarding a plane at a bleary 4:20 a.m. on Sunday, July 15, then spending a dismal layover in Houston, I arrived in Knoxville. The Knoxville airport is just delightful. I was absolutely charmed. The rental car agency (Enterprise) personnel were charming, the drive through the winding Tennessee roads were charming.

Then I got to Pigeon Forge. Pigeon Forge is NOT charming. At least the traffic wasn't. I didn't see a whole lot of the town itself.

Gatlinbug is 6 miles from Pigeon Forge, the intervening miles were beautiful, but Gatlinburg suffers the same traffic woes as Pigeon Forge. Here's a picture, although it is hard to see the traffic part.

Those green humps in the distance are the Smoky Mountains, which are beautiful, but I had a really hard time keeping track of them. They were so...hill like.

Here is a view of the Wasatch Range from my yard, so you get an idea of where I'm coming from. I'm used to mountains being BIG and easy to see. Maybe all those trees confused me.

At long last, here is the school, which is exquisite. And, our fearless leader.

The class was about casting with relief images in the glass. We started Monday morning bright and early by creating negative and positive castings. More detail in the next post...

Windbreak

2007-07-10T07:39:00.000-06:00

Windbreak is a new piece, 10"x15" hand carved and slumped recycled glass tabletop.

Tile - Slicks

2007-06-19T17:57:00.000-06:00

Here is a sneak preview of new tile from my shop. These are from the Slicks line, we have sanded, then frosted and clear, followed by aqua and cobalt. These will be standard colors, and will follow the price structure listed in a previous posting.

Whirlwind week

2007-06-07T07:22:00.000-06:00

This has been a whirlwind week. Catch me here:

KUTV Channel 2, Friday June 8 at 6:50 a.m.
Farmer's Market, Saturday June 9, from 8-1
Patrick Moore Gallery, Saturday, June 9 from 6-9

anytime after that hiding in my closet eating chocolate.

Tile Prices

2007-05-13T19:39:00.000-06:00

Thank you so very much to everyone who came to the Live Green Festival yesterday. It was a terrific event, and the weather was wonderful.

Here are the prices and sizes for all of those who didn't get a copy of the price list. I'll have pictures of all the colors and sizes very soon.

Thanks again for your support and interest!

2 x 2 Triangle $2.00
2 x 2 Square $2.50
1 x 4 Rectangle $2.00
2 x 4 Rectangle $3.25
4 x 4 Square $4.75
1 x 6 Rectangle $4.75
2 x 6 Rectangle $6.00
6 x 6 Square $12.00
3 x 8 Subway $7.50

On to the next show

2007-05-08T13:23:00.000-06:00

The Spring Art Party was great fun, we had lots of people come and look at our artwork, made lots of new friends and of course, ate way too many cream puffs.

Now, on to the next show. Live Green is this coming Saturday, May 12th from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. in Library Square (400 S. 200 E) in Salt Lake City. There will be a whole lot of things going on, including some kids activitites (I think).

Bring the family down and splash in the fountain, at the very least.

Tile Testing

2007-04-30T19:40:00.000-06:00

Recycled Glass Tile - Coming Right Up

The question that I get more often than any other is "can I mix bottle glass?" The answer is yes, with caveats. I wish I could claim credit for the technology, but the CWC.org folks figured all of this out for us sometime in the late '90's. You can read the white papers on their website.

The long and short of it is, it all depends on temperature and glass particle size. What you see here is one week's worth of testing of different glass colors, temperatures and particle sizes. I am working out the last few bugs on a line of recycled glass tiles. This is about a third of my test firings. It's hard to see the stacks and stacks on the right hand side of the photo.

Tile photo's coming up. Stay tuned.

Spring Art Party

2007-04-18T11:23:00.000-06:00

Please come and hang out with us at the Firth Annual Art Party. This will be my fourth year at this event. It is a small intimate show hosted at the home of Russ and Laurie Lyman. They are cool people and unfailingly generous with their home and support. Here is a quick rundown of some of the people who will be there:

Russ Lyman, (aka Russlee), abstract painter extraordinaire, see new Russ stuff here.

Lisa Peterson will be bringing amazing glass and silver jewelry, here is a sample.

Ken McRaney will have bent willow furniture, as well as some new designs.

Dave Windham, talented photographer, whose work can be seen here

And, of course, yours truly. I promise to have all new works, plus some of the new tile I've been working on. (More about tile later).

And last but not least,

the address is 1925 East Hillcrest. Hillcrest is 2500 S.
if you get lost, call me at 865-7911 and I'll do my best GPS impression and guide you.

See you there!

New Work at Utah Artist Hands

2007-04-15T19:38:00.000-06:00

Please drop by Utah Artist Hands sometime soon and view a whole pile of new glass work, including this beauty.

The lighting on this photo is odd; my white balance was out of whack. I find it strangely mesmerizing though. The piece itself is formed of nearly 100 strips of single strength recycled window glass fused together into a graceful vessel.

To add to the treat, Pam has an adorable new puppy that loves to give nips and kisses. If you are just starved for glass and puppy kisses, head on over. Utah Artist Hands is located at 61 West 100 South in Salt Lake City.

Technical Question, Compatibility & School Projects

2007-04-09T07:20:00.000-06:00

Mali C. bring this question:

Hello Jodi:

I took a visit to your site after viewing you on HGTV That's Clever. Which by the way you did a nice job and I hope you were eventually able to view it if you haven't already.

I work with elementary school children doing art classes as a guest artist. Most of the material I use is recycled, or things I donate. I have done quite a few fused glass projects, but donating these supplies (purchased 90 COE fusing glass) is becoming quite costly for me. I am looking into using recycled found glass to use with my elementary kids. I was given a case of wine bottles from a winery, all different colors. I was hoping to use the different colored glass (combined) on one piece. Kinda like how you crushed the red glass onto the one example you showed on your site. My question #1 is: are all bottles the same COE, (like wine bottles)? Question #2: Is all regular, float window glass the same COE, or do you just use all the glass from one window in each piece and not mix from other windows? Question #3: Do you experience a lot of devit on your recycled glass pieces? I actually like the look of devit at times and have seen some nice jewelry made from recycled milk bottles that had devit and they were wonderful.

Hopefully I can work out using recycled glass so I can offer more glass fusing projects with my school kids.

Thank you in advance for any help you can give me on this subject. Please see below a photo of myself (in the black shirt) and some of the kids I work with. Also, thank you for the information you offer on your web-site.

Sincerely,
Mali C.

Hi Mali;

I still haven't worked up the energy to look at the HGTV spot. It's been over a year since it was filmed and the horror is starting to fade.

Here are the answers to your questions:

#1 is: are all bottles the same COE, (like wine bottles)?

In my experience, not only are all wine bottles NOT the same COE, often bottles of the same wine are not the same COE. I have had very consistent results with microbrew beer bottles (all the same brand) and Skyy Vodka bottles. They seem very consistent over multiple bottles. Everything else I fuse test chips before I mix them. There is a way around this, which is by grinding the glass to powder and then you effectively neutralize the COE problem completely. The down side is that grinding glass is a miserable messy job and the resulting powder requires the use of respirators. (if you want more info on this, let me know)

Question #2: Is all regular, float window glass the same COE, or do you just use all the glass from one window in each piece and not mix from other windows?

I typically do use only one sheet. Except, I have had pretty good luck using multiple windows from the same building. I check the color to make sure it is the same (often the color ranges from green to blue to clear depending on the recipe and vintage). If you are buying a case of float directly from the manufacturer, it is probably safe to assume that all the sheets are the same COE. Just don't assume that the NEXT case will be compatible with the first.

Question #3: Do you experience a lot of devit on your recycled glass pieces?

I typically get devit on older glass, that isn't float (it's rolled or plate) and on the inside of bottles. Hard water deposits will also cause heavy filming. Other people swear that the tin side of float glass will devit (or maybe it is the non-tin side?) I don't know, I just get it really clean and that usually takes care of the problem. I use white vinegar and water with microfiber cloths to clean with. I don't use any chemicals if I can help it.

The red piece on my site is made with a commercially available float glass powder, I've gotten it from two different manufacturers, Hot Line (through Sundance Art Glass Co in CA) and from CR Lu in Denver. It runs about $8-$12/8 oz and also requires a respirator. However, you could fuse it on the surface of float, then cut it up for the kids. That would neutralize the dust hazard. An 8 oz bottle will do several sq. feet. (I'm thinking 4+) Make sure you get a wholesale account if you can, that knocks a couple of dollars off. I water down Elmers glue, brush it on the surface of the float, sprinkle the powder, tap off the extra and fire. You can do a tack fuse and get really cool texture, or full fuse for a solid color layer on the surface.

Another answer to your problem may be to contact other glass artists and beg for their scrap. That would leave you with purchasing just the clear base, which might not be so bad.

I get scrap from stained glass artists and then tumble it in my rock tumbler. It leaves a beach glass finish with no sharp edges. I then use it at my daughter's preschool for art projects. It can't be fused because it is all different COE's, but we do a lot of mosaics and pieces that are glued together.
Another project that I wanted to try out with kids is to take play sand, mix it with water and elmers glue, put it into a plant saucer or plate and mold it. The glue should hold the sand solid as it dries, then, you could put an entire bottle over, or fill it with broken bottle glass and fuse it solid. I had pictured kids pressing things into the sand, like rocks and shells, but I haven't had time to follow through. If you decide you want to try it, let me know and I'll send you the firing schedule that I would use.

I would love to hear your results and ideas. I'm hoping to be able to take recycled glass into schools here as my daughter gets older. May I use your questions and photo's on my website? I'm building a new site that will hopefully launch Jan. 1 and it would be really fun to show you and the kids.

Let me know if there is anything else I can help you with. Viva recycling!

Jodi

Question 2:
Hello Jodi:

Nice to meet you and thank you for you detailed answers to my questions, which will help immensely. I like the Elemer's glue and play sand project idea you mentioned. That would be great to try with my little kindergarten kids. I will defiantly run some test pieces like you mentioned, maybe load some different tests in the kiln all at once and just make a log of the results. That is very interesting about the micro brew bottles, I wonder why that is? We have a micro brewery here and possibly they will be willing to donate some of their broken bottles. By the way, I live in State College, PA. I was able to go to a winery and get some bottles donated to me, lots of different colors, same type of bottles. They will be my first tests. Float glass is easy to come across, since I do mosaic window art. Many people give me windows for that.

I was showing my daughter "Alison" your web-site (she is 6 years old) and you mentioned using a rock tumbler for your glass. We got pretty excited about that because "Santa" just brought her a rock tumbler and glass is going to make it's way in there. Alison also does fused glass art and has sold some of her own creations at craft fairs. I was concerned about safety when I first started doing glass projects with the elementary school aged kids. But I went over some safety rules and paired up children who may be hyper with myself, the teacher or class helper it worked out well. So far, no injuries, hopefully it will stay that way. The kids and their parents really love the fused glass creations they make.

You are more than welcome to use my questions and photos for your site. I think most people think glass art is just for adults, but children age five and up really can create some beautiful work. I use scraps and pre-cut bases (I cut nothing at the schools) and I give them each two bases to glue their glass on (about 3"X 2" or 3"X 3") and maybe a small square piece to use as a pin or a pendent on a paper plate and I let them have at it. I bring scraps of small glass, frit and rough frit in Tupperware containers, one container for every four children. I allowed the kids to rotate their containers when they want some different glass to use. I have them write their names on their paper plates to keep track of who's is who's. I then photograph (digital camera) each plate before I put it in the kiln or make a diagram and to keep track of who's is who's. When they come out of the kiln I have baggies with the kids name written on with perm marker, wash them and they go right into the bag. I then finish them as needed. These school projects usually require about one hour of time for kids age 5 and up.

Thank you again for all the help and you are welcome to use anything you wish. Please let me know when you get your site updates up and running.

Thanks, Mali

Technical Question, Compatibility and Temperatures

2007-04-09T07:14:00.000-06:00

This question was originally posed by Susan G.:

I enjoy your website. I am a beginner with fused glass. I was very excited to find someone who uses reclycled window glass and bottle glass ro work with.

Can you tell me:
1. the maximum temp to fire window glass and bottle glass
2. can window glass and bottle glass be fired together to make one piece?

thank you
Susan

Hi Susan;

The maximum temperature ranges from between 1375 for a slump to 1590 for a cast piece. The holding time varies as well, based on what you want to do. Different thickness and age of window glass all play a part. Different colored bottles melt differently as well. Generally I have found that newer windows melt more smoothly, and the darker the bottle glass, the lower the melting point.

I heard once that sky vodka bottles (the blue ones) and float glass are compatible. I tried them and have one piece that "worked". It didn't explode, but it did develop a crack about a year later. I've been meaning to try it again, but have been following other tangents. It also is possible to fuse the two together if you grind the glass into powder, the super tiny surface area generally eliminates the surface tension. There is a piece on my blog made with this technique, scroll down to August 28 to have a look.

Here is a good website to get you started: http://www.cwc.org/glass.htm

I also highly recommend the glass fusing books by Boyce Lundstrom. They contain really good firing schedules to start from.

Good luck, do let me know how things are working out for you and if I can help with anything else. You can actually watch me make two pieces with recycled window glass on HGTV's "That's Clever" show my segment is airing today.

Jodi

Technical Question, Compatibility & Bottles

2007-04-09T07:11:00.000-06:00

This question was originally posed by Judy W.:

Hi Jodi,
Just saw your That's Clever segment which made me check out your website. I am very new (read 'clueless') to firing glass but have aspirations. I want to make tiles for my new kitchen with found bottle glass and have been saving bottles until the garage is well populated with blue, green and brown. I would like to vary the colors as you did in your blue and white bowl shown on your web site. I would appreciate knowing what you use for flux--is that what gives it some opacity?

Also I have a new barely used glass/ceramics kiln that I am trying to learn to fire correctly. Out here in rural MO there's not much help available so I am inquiring about an example firing schedule for crushed bottle glass -- if you are willing to share such info.

Any help your can provide will make my kitchen look the way I envision. I have purchased fiberboard and kiln wash to make molds for the tiles and a glass crusher from a guy in British Columbia but have yet to smash any until I figure a way to contain it sufficiently that my dogs won't have teeny shards in their toes.

Judy W.
cactusgrandma from AZ now in MO

Hi Judy;

It sounds like you are well on your way! My carport is jam-packed with bottles, so I can relate to the collecting frenzy. The dish that you liked on my website is both complicated and surprisingly simple at the same time.

I used a hand pasta maker (the chrome looking ones that are also used for polymer clay), adjusted it until the rollers were just narrower than the glass, shoved the glass in and cranked away. It made an awful mess, bits everywhere. I did have a nice pile of nearly powdered glass left over though. I sifted the glass through a wire strainer and then used a magnet to pull the metal bits out (pieces of pasta maker).

I mixed the blue bottle glass and the clear (now white) window glass with a flux made of borax and water. I used the laundry soap type of borax, I think the mix is a couple of tablespoons of borax to 2 cups water. It wet the glass powder so it kind of stuck together, a lot like wet sand. Then I spooned it into a mold and packed it down as well as I could. The small glass particle size is what gives the glass its opacity, it is also what allows the two different types of glass to work together. I have also done a green and white one.

I fired it using a typical firing schedule, you will probably need to experiment. It was something like this:

500degrees/hr to 1100 h 20 min
500 degrees/hr to 1550 h 8 min
9999 degrees/hr to 1100 h 30 min

then cool to room temperature.

For more really good info about recycled glass, you could check out this website: www.cwc.org
That is where I started years ago, they have good info.

I would love to see pictures of how your tiles turn out, do keep me posted! I started just like you, I bought a kiln, put in a bottle and pushed go. Then again and again. Take careful notes, you'll soon get to know your kiln and the nature of the bottle glass.

Jodi

**UPDATE**

I've switched from a pasta maker to a glass smasher to process bottles. I had my friend Kyle (http://www.alteredelements.com) weld a block of steel on the end of a pipe for me and then put a circle of steel in the bottom of a bucket and smash away.

Technical Question, Bottle Cutting

2007-04-09T07:09:00.000-06:00

Flo S. posed this question:

Hi Jodi,

Saw your show on HGTV - great looking pieces. I love recycling but I am not into glass- EXCEPT I work with 4H and Scouts as well as some private schools. I just came into a windfall of colored bottles, mostly wine/alcohol I guess, after a friends Mother passed over. I want to cut the bottle into rings - then on my demo for the children on the Kiln I want to fire them - to smooth the edges - and they can then make into wind chimes. I am finding it hard to cut the bottles with the little kits, where you put in a cradle and run a cutter around the bottle, heat and drop in cold water etc etc. Any easier way to do this. I will never get enough done this way. Thanks, Flo

Hi Flo, I bought one of those little kits too. The cutter is not very good. I still use the cradle, but use my own glass cutter, which is much higher quality. I score the bottle, then use a propane torch to heat it and drop it in ice water. It takes a good bit of practice, and I'm not sure you want to show the kids the torch part. I can cut the tops and bottoms off of bottles at about 45/hr. The bad new is, I've never been able to make rings. I know the little book that comes with the cutter shows them, but I've just never been able to consistently do it.

The bottoms of the bottles melt nice and flat, in fact, I make sun catchers out of them. The downside to that is they have to be drilled and wired together. I've had requests from local schools about projects with recycled glass, I'm still testing some of my ideas, I'll keep you posted.

If you want to go ahead with the bottle cutting, you can get a professional grade cutter at any stained glass supply house, I use a Toyo. I think they run about $20. It will last you forever, I've been using mine for 7 years.

Good luck,

Jodi

Technical Question, Recycled Glass Compatibility

2007-04-09T07:05:00.000-06:00

Sandy P. brings this question:

Hi Jodi,
I am in Tampa, Florida and heard about you from a friend who saw you on HGTV in Charlevoix, Michigan. I am new to fusing and love the idea of using "recucled" glass. I have a question for you. Do you mix the glass? It's always been instilled to me about using compatible glass? I've slumped a beer bottle for fun but haven't done any other experimenting. I'd really appreciate it if you would let me know. Thanks. I'll be watching for you ~
Sandy

Hi Sandy;

What you have learned is correct, EXCEPT when you reduce the size of the surface area to nearly non-existent proportions, i.e. crushed glass. Bedrock tile co. in Seattle has been doing it for about a long time, with no flux or additions.

I have one piece shown here on my blog that is mixed blue bottle glass and clear window. The piece is opaque and made with crushed glass scroll down to August 28 entry to have a look.

Let me know if you have additional questions,

Jodi

Shades of the dentist

2007-02-26T10:53:00.000-07:00

My newest obsession is a spiffy set of diamond grinding bits that I ran across at the trusty Harbor Freight. They burn out rapidly, but man are they fun! Here is a picture of a vessel with carved droplets that has been fire polished. So pretty. This piece is on the borderline of "Stuff you won't see at shows"

The irony and the agony

2007-01-25T19:33:00.000-07:00

Shortly after my last post, my trusty PC running Windows XP died a quick and incendiary death. Somehow, I assumed that the karma of working with windows (glass) and windows (software) would be in my favor. Oh, was I ever wrong. I won't ever recover the years worth of financial data, nor the database with all of my artwork in it.

I have been informed by my computer geek husband that XP stands for X-tra Pain.

Still, now I have a cute, spunky little Mac. Bah to Windows.

Look for a completely new website soon, a forum for Recycled Glass Artists to trade technical tid-bits and an online shopping area.

Oh, and more frequent blog updates.

HGTV "That's Clever"

2006-09-13T10:59:00.000-06:00

Many of you know that I recently had the opportunity to appear on HGTV's show "That's Clever" So my confession here is: I haven't seen it. I don't own a television, and certainly don't get cable. Surprisingly enough, the HGTV people told me about half of their artists don't have televisions.

Anyway. If any of you did see it, and I looked completely silly, please spare my feelings and don't tell me.

The upside to the whole experience is that I've been meeting wonderful new people and glass artists via e-mail. We've been having interesting discussions about all sorts of glass art questions. I thought I would post a few here so if anyone else has the same questions, or additional information, we can share and compare.

I think I'll post each topic seperately, so we can keep the conversations somewhat coherent.

Sagebrush Gallery

2006-09-12T08:57:00.000-06:00

I am delighted to announce that the Sagebrush Gallery in Trolley Square has consented to carry some of my recycled glass artworks. The owner Teresa is a wonderful gracious woman with a real eye for exquisite art.

Please pay the gallery a visit and admire the artwork. Particularly check out Chris Miles, one of my favorite local artists.

Things you won't see at shows - 3

2006-08-30T08:08:00.000-06:00

This piece is one of the first round bowls I made. My brain works in straight lines, particularly squares. It took a while before I saw the possibilities of curves and circles.

This piece has a series of recycled copper wire squares in descending size that actually bend over the rim into the bowl. This one wasn't in my personal collection originally, but it grew on my until I realized my fondness for it and snatched it back up from the table at a show and hid it away.

Things you won't see at shows 2

2006-08-29T09:05:00.000-06:00

Although the picture doesn't do this one justice, it is achingly beautiful. The glass is heavy 3/8" plate glass, cut into a perfect square and slumped over an inverted spun steel wok. The beauty lies in the details; the inside of the bowl is ringed with fine concentric circles from the steel of the wok. One corner of the bowl carries the rivet marks of the handle that was removed. the outside is crystal clear, almost slippery in its perfect glassiness. Needless to say, I'm hoarding this one too.

Things you won't see at a show

2006-08-28T16:53:00.000-06:00

I thought I would spend the next week or so posting pictures of pieces that are in my personal collection. These are the pieces that I don't/won't take to shows, I'm hoarding them all to myself.

The first is "Utah Skies" This is a blue and white cast oval dish. The blue bottle glass and clear window glass were hand ground, filtered and then mixed with a flux prior to being packed into a mold and fired. The surface is matte and the piece is opaque. I love it. Especially beautiful with light shining through.
Check back tomorrow for another hidden treasure.

Shake it up baby!

2006-07-17T15:38:00.000-06:00

Just picked up my new super deluxe coolest tool on the planet rock tumbler from the fine folks at The Rock Shop. It will shake 50 lbs of scrap glass a day into the finest of beach glass. First project: parking strip.

Stay tuned for photo's, and visit www.rocks4u.com to get your own tumbler or just to see what kinds of cool stuff they carry.

I'm so excited I'm wiggling. Can't wait to run out in the 102 degree heat and bust up glass!

Great Green Goods Feature

2006-07-13T17:11:00.000-06:00

In a very exciting turn of events, Liz Hincks of Great Green Goods fame has featured my work as her July 11 product. Check it out at: http://greatgreengoods.com/

Thanks Liz!

My life as a super model

2006-06-14T20:28:00.000-06:00

Well, okay, my hour as a super model. I finally mustered up enough whatever to get professional photo's taken. Although the photo session itself was very pleasant (thanks to uber photographer Amanda Bowman; http://www.amandabowman.com , looking at the photo's was still excruciating. Does one ever get over that flashback to high school prom pictures? On the up side, now y'all can see what I look like.

Ancient technology and siblings

2006-05-07T21:41:00.000-06:00

Had the singularly oddest experience this week trying to explain what a typewriter is and how it works to my youngest brother (11 yrs old). Apparently they don't have typewriters in public school anymore, he was completely mystified by the idea of an ink ribbon and even more so by a correction ribbon. Mind you, my typewriter is a nice little electric model that has all of the bells and whistles. Even so, I wondered if this is what the baby boomers feel like when someone asks them about their blog. Strange. I'm trying to explore the feeling and convince myself that I speak a valuable nearly dead version of technology language, but really, it just makes me feel old.

Viva la strong women!

2006-03-26T22:01:00.000-07:00

Started a new project that I'm hoping proves to be both thought provoking and challenging. I visited my grandmother and took plaster casts of her hands, hoping to then take casts of three other generations of women (mom, me and the Bean) to make some sort of three dimensional hand thingies. What, I'm not sure. Casting my grandmother's hands was pretty inspirational. My grandmother is the most successful entrepreneur I know. She claims that her mother Lucille was even better, but since I don't remember Lucille, I'm going to ignore that claim. My grandmother built an empire with the MLM Shaklee. That is seriously hard work. Right at this moment, she is winding down after a couple of strokes and various health problems. Despite that, she is one supremely stylish, beautiful and amazing lady. I take the Bean (my daughter) to visit, but not nearly enough. Unfortunately, the Bean is only 3.5 and probably will have as little memory of her great grandmother as I do of mine. That makes me sad and determined at the same time. The legacy will be preserved! More about the strong women of my family later.

Outside eyes -- design trends

2006-03-06T12:46:00.000-07:00

As I'm trying to figure out a logical way to organize my website, I realize that I focus intensely on each piece that I make as I make it, where it fits into the schedule, what it can or can't be fired with. The upshot is, until now I haven't looked at my entire body of work with "outside eyes" As I do so, I realize that there are trends. Even though I make each piece as a seperate entity, there are common denominators. There is always a story, but the stories focus on different aspects.

Form: These are pieces where the story is all about the final shape. Usually these are experimental pieces where I am pushing the envelope and trying something new.

Material: The story here is all about the glass. The glass itself is the most important element, the final piece must somehow preserve or continue the story of the glass.

Glass Plus: The story in these pieces is about the interaction between the glass and something else. Usually it will be something added to the glass piece (copper, sand, color) to make the final piece a whole.

Texture: I often use texture in the design of a piece, the story in these pieces is about changing the glass during the process from one state to another while retaining some characteristics, but changing others to get an entirely new combination.

It may be hard to visualize these differences, but stay tuned, the website will shortly show pieces divided out into these groups, with the individual story for each piece.

Website - What is up with that??

2006-03-04T13:59:00.000-07:00

Well, let me first say that I find website design to be a wriggly, slippery kind of thing. Just when I think I have it all nailed down, I find I'm trying to nail down water, or an eel, or something. So, expect the website to change and then change again. I'm finding that the website is sucking up too much of my studio time, so I am trying to simplify the electronic side of things. Please be patient and do let me know what kinds of things you would like (or do like) to see.

Inaugural post

2006-03-01T07:43:00.000-07:00

A few days ago I participated in the opening of my first group show. Three other artists who also use recycled materials and I are exhibiting at Red Butte Gardens in SLC. The artwork is terrific and the Gardens are so beautiful. Dash up today while the weather is good and check it out.