Going Green - Recycling Glass B
I am a green girl and lover of all things recycled
so it's no wonder I wanted to make recycled bottle glass beads and components. I came up with
the idea when I wanted to make a special gift for
my roommates birthday. I wanted to make her some wine charms,
earrings, and a necklace with a bottle from her collection. This style
beads and jewelry is perfect for wine/beer lovers and those who love
recycled and repurposed pieces. I mean who doesn't get warm fuzzies from saving items from the landfill and making them into wearable
pieces of art?!
To create bottle glass beads and components I make sure the bottle is
clean from left over liquid and label stickies. Next I take the bottle and
find a place to spot heat on my torch. As you heat the bottle it will fracture leaving you larger pieces of broken bottle to work with. You can
also use a bottle cutter if you have one to cut smaller pieces of glass
with which to work. Next I take a pyrex punty(rod of borosilicate to be
used as a handle to hold the glass) to make a large gather of glass and
pull it into a rod. I then take the rod and melt it onto a mandrel just like
you would to make normal lampwork beads. Bottle glass is about the
came COE as 104 or 90 glass so you can anneal
the beads 950-980 degrees like you would for
soft glass.
https://www.facebook.com/geneabeadslampwork
http://www.geneabeads.blogspot.co.uk/
https://www.etsy.com/shop/Genea
artisanwhimsy.net