Glass Bottle Art

This limits your color choice, since most bottles are made out of one color of glass. But, there is an array of bottles that can be used in this process, thus allowing you to make items out of different colors, just not mixed colors.

Take your bottle and place it inside a couple of plastic bags. Usually two plastic bags are sufficient. I have found out the hard way that one bag doesn’t always work. After having to clean up broken glass all over the floor, I came to this conclusion.

Close the bag and hold on to the opening with one hand. Take a hammer and smash the bottle. Peek inside the bag to be sure that you don’t have any large pieces left, and if you do, then be sure to smash those pieces again.

Carefully remove larger pieces of glass and arrange them on your kiln shelf. One bottle will make several pieces of jewelry, or one larger glass bottle art piece. If using a smaller kiln mold, you can still make a few jewelry pieces and a larger piece in the mold, depending on the size of your bottle.

The last thing you are going to want to do is use a spoon to gather and place all the tiny chips and frit of glass. These tiny pieces really add some sparkle and texture to your finished piece.

Once you have all your pieces arranged, close your kiln and ramp up slowly. I usually ramp at about 500 degrees Fahrenheit per hour until the temperature reaches 1000 degrees Fahrenheit and then soak for about 10 minutes to allow all the pieces to reach the same temperature.

Now ramp up as high as possible to your desired appearance. Since bottle glass doesn’t slump or melt as fast as fusing glass, I usually have my pieces reach around 1425 degrees Fahrenheit to achieve a tacked and textured look.

Once you have achieved your desired look, quickly ramp down to approximately 1100 degrees Fahrenheit, then shut your kiln, turn it off and allow it to cool down naturally. Once your kiln has reached a temperature of under 100 degrees Fahrenheit, it is safe to open the kiln and observe your finished pieces.

These pieces can now be used as a decorative piece. They can be placed on a plate holder and displayed. If you are making jewelry from your glass, add a pin back, or attach a bail and wear as a unique piece of jewelry.

There are a multitude of projects with glass bottles. Try using different molds, or free form items using broken bottles to make distinctive glass bottle art. Just remember that you can't mix your bottles, because of the unknown COE.

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