I have an old costume jewelry Christmas tree, framed on velvet. I would like to know how to crackle the glass or break up glass bottles for the tree. Any suggestions?
Breaking bottles will leave sharp edges. Instead, you can try calling places that do auto glass replacement and see if it is possible for you to get glass from chipped car windows.
Car window glass is safety glass that shatters into small fairly uniform cubes that might be what you are looking for. I use it in lots of crafts. It's also nice in the bottom of clear vases with cut flowers.
My local car window replacement place is very friendly but you may consider stopping in person at one or more in your area since a personal appeal is often more effective when asking for a favor. Good luck.
You don't need a kiln, just an oven! To crackle glass it's all about rapid temperature change. What you do is put the glass in the oven on a cookie sheet or a metal baking pan & bake at 400 degrees F. for 45 min in your oven. You then take it out with oven mitts & quickly carry it outside & quickly dump the glass into a plastic pail of ice water.
Before doing this, you'll first have to break the bottles: Put them inside of a paper bag that's inside of a pillow case & hit with a hammer. Sometimes it's best to put a board on top of the bag of glass & hit that with a hammer. (REMEMBER SAFETY GLASSES!)
*** Wear safety glasses while doing both of these!
Do you remember crackling marbles in the oven & ice-water when you were a kid? I'm 53 & when I was a kid in early the 60's in Indiana it was ALL the rage for first-graders to crackle marbles! <*grin*> Now, you can simply buy them already crackled.
While continuing my research, I also found a couple of other ways to achieve this look. The three ways discussed on this particular page will be the Fiber Paper Technique, the Confetti Technique and the Frit Technique. Each process is extremely simple to accomplish. Read through each of the different procedures and try them out.
Fiber Paper Technique Materials Glass cleaner of choice Glass Powder Fiber Paper (1/8 inch thick) Small Powder Sifter Spray Bottle Water Kiln Prepared kiln shelf Directions:
1. Choose what glass will be your bottom piece or basic glass. 2. Clean glass and set aside.
3. Pick a contrasting color of glass powder. This will make the cracks appear clearer on your piece. 4. Cut a piece of fiber paper the size of your basic glass piece.
5. Using a small powder sifter, sift your glass powder evenly onto the fiber paper. 6. Fill the spray bottle with water.
7. Lightly spray water onto the powder. 8. Allow the powder to get almost dry and gently move the fiber paper around to create cracks in the powder.
9. Place basic glass on top of the dry cracked powder. 10. Heat piece to either a tack or full fuse inside the kiln.
11. The powder will stick to the basic glass and give the appearance of cracked glass.
Confetti Technique Materials Base Glass Glass cleaner of choice Glass Confetti Kiln Prepared kiln shelf
Directions:
1. Choose what glass will be your base piece of glass. 2. Clean the glass and dry.
3. Pick a contrasting color of glass confetti. The contracting color will enable the cracks to be more noticeable. 4. Sprinkle the confetti onto the basic glass.
5. Heat piece to either a tack fuse or full fuse inside the kiln.
Frit Technique Materials Foundation Glass Glass cleaner of choice Glass Frit Kiln Prepared kiln shelf Directions:
1. Choose a color for your foundation glass. 2. Clean glass and place on kiln shelf.
3. Pick a different color of glass frit. This will make the cracks stand out on your finished piece. 4. Sprinkle frit onto the glass.
5. Move frit around so that when the pieces melt there will be gaps. 6. Heat entire piece to a tack or full fuse in the kiln.
While trying each one of these methods, I have found that the fiber paper method gives the best results of a crackle technique. If you know of other process and want to share, please let me know your process for achieving a crackle technique. Good luck.
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