The first title I considered for this blog post was “The Art of Making a Wine Bottle Cheese Board.” But truth be told, I don’t consider flattening a wine bottle in my kiln “art.” In fact, it is more science than art. More than once I had a flash back to my high school science class. Remember studying the scientific method? I repeated the Hypothesis – Experiment – Analysis cycle many times before I had a system that worked for me.
I originally started flattening wine bottles because I thought this would be an inexpensive way to learn about glass, fusing, and my kiln. This, however, turned out to be flawed thinking. The glass that wine bottles are made out of behaves nothing like the standardized glass that is available for glass fusers. Results aren’t always consistent. Different shapes, colors, and brands of wine bottles can have different results. But heck, it was fun anyway!
So here is an overview of what I learned in the last year.
- Removing wine labels is a pain.
- Bottles have to be absolutely clean.
- Some bottles have a tendency to get cloudy (called devitrification).
- Bubbles are inevitable.
- It takes time experimenting with firing schedules.
- All your friends will want one.
Look for future posts where I will go into more detail on the steps involved in making recycled wine bottle cheese boards.
Remember the fused glass screen melt I did a while back? The one that damaged my kiln shelf! Yes, I’m still mad about that. Well out of the ashes arose this beauty. I cut a piece from the glass slab. Then I used a grinder to soften the corners and smooth the edges. It went back into the kiln for another firing, and this unique one of a kind pendant is the result. The picture does not do it justice. It is much prettier when you see it in person. The clear layer of glass on top made it difficult to get a picture without reflecting the camera in it. You can find this pendant in my Wearable Art Pendants Collection in my 1000Markets store.
I recently had an order for one of my recycled wine bottle cheese boards from someone in Hawaii. I began to wonder about how many states have one of my stained glass or fused glass creations in them. I went back and checked my records. It turns out that I have sold items in 15 out of the 50 states. I started thinking… how cool would it be to have sold something in every of the 50 states.
So here is a special offer to anyone in any of the states listed below. Be the first person from your state to place an order of $20 or more and you can pick one of the items pictured below as a thank you gift. When you place your order, be sure to leave a note letting me know which item you would like. My online shops are:
www.glassartbymargot.1000markets.com
www.glassartbymargot.etsy.com.
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A while back I ordered some low-fire 22K gold fusible glass decals from www.glassartpatterns.com. The website included an instruction tip sheet that you can find here: http://bit.ly/diSchJ. I read the tip sheet and followed all of their instructions. They did not, however, provide any detailed firing instructions. So I thought I would share with you what worked for me.
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!
I've been around glass my whole life. Both my father and grandfather were stained glass artisans. In 2002 I started working with stained glass, and in 2009 I started to explore fused glass. My blog is mostly about my journey in glass, what I've learned and what I am exploring. It's a wonderful adventure! Please visit my website. 
