Recycling Broken Glass

 

Whenever I work in glass I always end up with either broken bits or things that didn't work and they all go into a tub.

Last summer I'd finally got to a place where I had enough old glass to think about recycling it.

First I had to give it a wash, then I set up my big kiln with some metal dams set up in a square, poured in all my old scrap and set it to a full fuse.

 

I should point out a couple of things here.  1. I made sure all the glass was the same brand - if you don't do this it not going to end well.  2. I lined my dam with fibre paper so nothing would stick.

Out of my kiln came a very solid slab of colourful glass and I had to think about what to do with it.

 

Later in the year I got a tile saw and a flat lap grinder.  So in the new year with some time on my hands I set about cutting up the slab and then grinding each piece down to take off sharp corners etc.  I then put half into the small kiln for a fire polish. 

 

I learn so much from this process.  For instance, you need to grind open bubbles out or you just get a cloudy mark on the surface.  Don't spend too much time shaping if using a fire polish as they are so thick they will loose their shape a bit.  Be careful using the flat lap, it will grind away your finger nails!

 

So with my second batch I took these learnings on board and tried again.

I've now got some lovely colourful chunks of shiny glass.  7 of these have had silver plated bails added and are now in my shop for sale as pendants.  Lovely chunky statement pieces.

But some of the chunks will be made into rings or brooches.  The only problems, being the price of silver right now and the amount of time I have, makes this harder to sort out.  There are some other lovely metals out there so when I have time I need to decide what I'd like to do.

I love that I am able to use my waste material to make something that hopefully people will like.  It feels much better than just chucking broken glass away.