My Ramune Project

I think I talked about how the blue glass project didn't work out. I had it on a soft fuse program and it didn't slump down like I had hoped. I'm not going to post the the firing schedule, because it wasn't right. But when I do find the right schedule, I will post it.
Here is what they turned out to look like:

See, not what I had hoped for at all. The only thing that I can take away from this is that on the lighter blue one it did close up the broken hole and the glass kept it's color so it isn't just going to burn off.

I'm slumping a bottle tonight.
It is a Ramune bottle. For those of you not in the know, it is an Asian (I know how racist of me) drink with a marble sealing the soda. You use a plunger lid to pop the marble into the bottle's neck. It has a thick blue plastic top to hold the marble in.

It's a tasty soda and a unique bottle. I was eager to slump it.
First I pulled off the label, it was surprisingly easy and I was happy.
Next I moved onto the the plastic top. OMG, was that a bitch. I took at it with scissors, a screwdriver, and a knife. To no avail. Next I turned to the most potent tool of all, the internet.
I found a video that instructed me to thin out with a lighter and a knife. When it was thin enough, and that was left open, I was to go at it with needle nose pliers and just twist it off. Sounded easy enough. Except I didn't have a knife that was small enough and up to the task. The knife I was using before was a huge stabby knife you use to kill people with when you are wearing a hockey mask. I can't remember what it is called right now. So instead I used the scissors.
Several attempts I didn't get it thin enough, twice I got hot, melted plastic on my skin (yes, it blistered), and finally I was able to get it off. *insert triumphant music*
Here is what it looks like ready to fire:

You can't really see the marble in that pic, but you can see the unusual shape of the bottle.
I put it on a full fuse schedule. It is a hotter, longer one than I'm used to, so I guess I'll see how that turns out. It will take 17 hours, instead of the usual 8 hours.

Cutting and messing up

OK. I'm going to try some recycled glass bangles now. I have a blue vase/cup? that I picked up from a local thrift store for $0.50. I made sure that it was big enough to fit over my hand and now I'm cutting it into smaller pieces to make the bracelets from.
I got this new toy called the G2 Bottle Cutter. I'm trying it out for the first time.
I was able to make a nice even score, and I haven't been able to do that by hand.

It did scratch off a little of the paint, but I don't think that will end up being a big deal.
Sadly after doing the breaking process the cut didn't come out evenly. I don't know if it was my fault, or the glass's.

 The second try came out even worse, I'm not going to add a picture of that because I just don't feel like it, so bla.








I guess all there is left to see is how it will turn out after firing. I'm not going to cut the glass anymore because I don't want to go through the breaking process again and it is so uneven that it would just be a chore to cut it some more. I'm just going to see how it fires and decide what I'm going to do with the excess glass when I'm done.

Project one done, now on to #2

Grrrr.

Well I knew that the project wasn't going to turn out, but it didn't turn out as badly as I thought it would.

Still not usable, but not without some learning value.
I definitely know that I let the glass soak too long, because I had the rounded curve I was looking for on two sides of the baby food container.

If I hadn't let it soak quite as long, maybe the rest of it would have stayed up.

I also learned not to mix projects where you want different results. Did I already say that? I wanted a full on flat fuse with the classic bottle, and I wanted a rolled, rounded look for the baby food jars. There was no way I was going to get both at the same time, warm glass just doesn't work that way.
Oh, and yes, I did already say something similar.
So I'm trying with four baby food jars now.

As you can see I didn't do anything to them except take off the labels. I didn't embellish them or anything.

 I'm using a contour fuse for my firing schedule. I'll post the schedule if the results turn out.
Oh and sorry for any formatting issues Blogger is being weird and I'm not in the mood to try and figure it out.

Project one (With a hind of insomnia)

So I couldn't sleep last night. Is this what manic feels like? So I decided to be useful and work on a glass project. I had cleaning the bottles, scoring the bottles, and slumping the bottles.

I won't know until the firing cycle is over if the slumping portion worked out, but as for the cleaning and scoring, I didn't do well for my first time.

 There are plenty of websites that go over ways you can score a bottle, the method I chose for my first time wasn't an efficient method so I won't go over it in the notes.

I added some embellishments an 18k gold surround to the baby bottle, the plan is that is going to be a candle holder, and a bronze star to the bigger bottle, I don't have a plan for what that is going to be; I'm just trying things out.

I'll post pics good or bad. Gotta start somewhere, right?

I'm not sure about my slumping schedule, there are lots of different ones on the net, I'll just keep trying until I find one that works. That is if it doesn't work the first time :-)

 I have five cycles for my firing schedule. The kiln automatically goes through the cycles. I don't have to watch it or anything, it is just set and go. (I practically stole this kiln when I bought it for $25.)