Now to the not so fun part! The wine bottles that will be fired need to be absolutely clean. My process is to load up the sink, soaking the bottles in hot water with a little bit of detergent for 20 minutes. I find that if I get back to the bottles before the water cools off, the labels come off easier.  I then take a plastic scraper to scrap the label off and put the bottle back into the sink. Next I take a sponge with a scrubby side on it and a little abrasive cleaner to remove any residual glue. The cleaner is whatever I have under the sink. Ajax, Comet, Bon Ami, Bar Keepers Friend should all work. After I get all the glue off the bottles they get a good rinse inside and out in clean water. The last step is a little Windex and a paper towel to clean and dry the outside of the bottle. This last step may be a tad overkill, but it avoids any water spots, and it often shows up where I might have missed some glue. Finally I turn the bottles upside down on a wire rack to dry.

Some other tips:

• Give wine bottles a quick rinse as soon as they are empty. Residual red wine left to dry in a bottle can be difficult to clean.
• Some labels peel off nicely with a heat gun or hair dryer. This may be worth experimenting with, especially if you use the same type of wine. I get bottles from everywhere, so usually it isn’t worth my time to try it.
• Don’t forget to dry the bottom of the bottle before you turn it upside down to dry.

I can’t stress enough how important it is to have the bottles clean. The pictures below show what happens when you don’t clean the bottles carefully. I am not 100% sure, but I believe I dried the blue bottle upside down. It looks like water collected in the indentation in the bottom of the bottle. The water dried but left a residue behind.  On the green bottle, I am pretty sure I missed some glue on the neck of the bottle after taking the collar off.

Next week I’ll write about the firing schedule.

Recycled Glass Cheese Boards – Part 2

Recycled Glass Cheese Boards – Part 3

[Show as slideshow]

The instructions for getting the decals on your glass are pretty clear. The decals loosen quickly in water and slide easily onto the glass. I wet the glass with my wet fingertip before sliding the decal onto the glass. Once I had it positioned where I wanted it, I blotted the glass and decal with a paper towel. Next I took a piece of paper towel wrapped around my index finger and use a rolling motion to make sure the decal was flat on the glass and as dry as possible. I then waited until the next day to fire the pieces.

The instructions say to vent the kiln during the burn-out phase and provide good ventilation. The decal backing contains organic matter which needs to vaporize. The resulting fumes should be avoided. I have a fan that I use to blow fumes away from my work area when I am soldering. I used this fan a few feet away from my kiln blowing directly across the kiln. Here is my firing schedule that I used in my Paragon Pearl 22 kiln.

• I used kiln posts to vent the lid 2”
• I ramped up 400 dph to 900 degrees
• Close the lid, then ramp up 400 dph to 1225 degrees and hold for 5 minutes
• Ramp down AFAP to 1150 degrees and hold 15 minutes
• Turn kiln off

Here are some of the pendants I made. The gold stayed nice and bright. The only thing I would change next time is to use gold bails. All I hand in my stock was silver. Personally, I don’t mind the two-tone look, but traditionalists will. Now if only someone made silver decals, that would make me really happy!

[Show as slideshow]

It’s September. That means I start thinking about Christmas. Specifically I start thinking about something I can make to give to friends. If it were up to me, and not the budget, everyone I know would get a gift from me. So I usually make something and keep a bunch around for gifts. Since my new kiln is still a week away, I decided to make a few snowflakes in my small kiln. By themselves, they would be perfect for small gifts, or they could be tied to a package, hung from a wine bottle or gift basket. By the way, should you be a friend of mine reading this post, you will have to forget you ever saw it and act really surprised when you get one for Christmas.

Who would have known that this little item would require several experiments to perfect! So for anyone else who decides to make snowflakes, here is what I have learned. And if you’ve made some snowflakes, please share your tips by leaving a comment.

The pattern for a snowflake is easy enough to come up with, but I found a free pattern at http://www.alpineglass.com/shop/detail/7572. It seemed simple enough, so off I went.

Attempt 1 – I used some clear scrap glass for my first attempt. I followed the layout in the pattern. Much to my chagrin, when I looked in the kiln window after 30 minutes, I found some of the small tip pieces had fallen off to the side. Maybe I placed them to close to the edge.

Attempt 2 – I tried again making sure the pieces were placed carefully. Guess what? Some of the pieces fell off again! So now I have concluded that the expansion of the glass with the heat caused them to move. Maybe I’m heating up too quickly?

Attempt 3 – I used a really slow ramp speed. UGH! Still have pieces falling off. Maybe if I made the pieces a little wider they would be heavy enough to keep from moving. This was a possibility, but by now I was ready for Plan B.

Attempt 4 – I decided to put the smaller pieces on the bottom with the larger ones on top. Finally! Success! Well, sort off. The amber snow flake, pictured below, is the one I made in this attempt. It was difficult to place the small pieces. As I used tweezers to gingerly move the pieces in place, I had flash backs to playing the game Operation. Being the perfectionist I am, I decided I needed to fine tune the process and pattern.

Attempt 5 – First, I made a template that I could trace onto my kiln shelf showing where to place the small tip pieces. Then I changed the size of the small tips. Instead of 12 pieces the same size, I made 6 of them longer. I placed one longer and one shorter one together at a right angle. This gave me a little more contact between the pieces of glass. Finally, I had a piece I was happy with. It measures about 3.75 inches.

One other thing I learned along the way is how to position the wire loop. I positioned the wire loop on top of the long piece of glass then placed the small piece of glass on top.  Use two pieces of scrap glass under the wire loop to support it while fusing. Have fun…. Let it snow!

[Show as slideshow]

Update – 10/5/09

As I mentioned above, I wondered if a slightly wider strip of glass would help in keeping the tips from sliding off. Today I tried out that theory and I am happy to report that when I used 5/16″ wide strips, everything stayed in place.  It is definitely easier to place the pieces on top.

Update – 9/28/11

Today while surfing around, I found a blog that had instructions for making a snowflake that has some nice instructions and a variation on the theme. With the Holidays just around the corner I thought I’d pass the link on:

http://dean.ujihara.org/blog/?p=13

Easter is right around the corner, but it’s not too late to make these stained glass Easter eggs. Hang larger ones in a window or make smaller ones to hang from a basket. Here is a pattern with three different sizes Egg Pattern.

It’s all about the glass here. Look for really cool opalescent glass in different colors. Or try an iridized glass for some sparkle. You can also use leftover glass from another project.

Here are the steps:

1. Cut glass to the pattern shape. If your cutting skills are pretty good you won’t even need to grind the edges. Here is a tip if you plan on making several of these: Make copies of the pattern and use spray adhesive to adhere the pattern onto card stock or poster board. Then cut out the shape and use as a template to trace the design onto the glass with a sharpie.
2. For the edge treatment there are several options:
   
   • Wrap the edge with foil and solder. One of those wavy foils would look great.
   • Wrap with a U lead. This is the way I did mine, and definitely the way to go if you’re in a hurry. Cut the lead, wrap, solder one joint and your almost done! I soldered the joint at the top where the loop is. If you are a beginner to stained glass, I recommend you put your joint at the bottom and the loop at the top. If you put the loop on the joint, you have to be quick about it, or the joint can open up. I used a rubber band around the egg to help keep the came in place while I soldered the top.
   • If you plan to put your eggs in a basket that will be near food or children, you will need to use a lead-free came and solder.
3. Then take some tinned copper wire and add some squiggles or curly cue designs. While these aren’t necessary, they add a nice design element. They also help keep the lead from stretching away from the glass. If you use lead-free came, this came is stiffer and should not stretch away from the glass. Solder on a loop, and you are done!

As a word of caution, I never use a suction cup to hang any stained glass sun catchers. First, I don’t particularly care for how it looks, and second, suction cups fail! I’m not willing to take that chance. I screw a cup hook above the window and hang my pieces from a chain. You can purchase cup hooks and chain at any hardware store.

Happy Easter!