Using old bottles to make beads

[poledra1958]

I have seen several threads on here about using old bottles to make rods and then make beads, my mother in-law has given me a couple of the dark blue sherry bottles and I would like to try this out but have a couple of questions.


1)  Most important   -  Is this something I can do on a Hot Head and if so then questions 2 and 3 come into play if not then it is a case of put them away somewhere till I upgrade to a dual fuel.

2)  I have seen some descriptions on how it is done, but is there a step by step (Idiots) guide on how to do it. or
3)  Is there anyone in the Bracknell (where I live)  or Staines (where I work)  area who is willing to give up some time (either paid or skills swap (I can do Bead weaving, Polymer clay or Art Silver Clay) to show me how to do it.

Jenny

[sparrow]

Wrap the botte securely into newspaper or similar and whack with hammer. Go through the debris looking for the longest, thinnest shards you can find (i.e. long, slim surface, like a river, not like a lake). Use some tweezers to hold, and pre-warm v. gently - they most likely will shock. Line up a few shards, so you can switch to a new one if your first shard runs out and your bead isn't the right size yet. Main trouble is annealing, because you won't know what COE the glass is.

Oh, and before you start, give the bottle a real god scrape with a nail to find out if it's genuinely coloured glass, or just coated - if it's coated, you'll be out of luck

[poledra1958]

That sounds a lot easier than the other instructions I have read which was on about melting and using a punty and gather and pulling rods.

I have a plate warmer would it be an idea to put the glass on that to warm it as I try to use it ?

As it is clear glass I can use the tip someone said on here about using polarised lens to check the annealing.  I was going to use my standard annealing schedule and then check and if necessary run it again a little hotter, and just keep trying like that.

Jenny

[sparrow]

Plate warmer sounds good - yes, you can melt and pull rods.....I never bothered 

[poledra1958]

I take it that as I melt the larger pieces I could always try picking up some of the smaller pieces on the end of the melted bit and melt them in at the same time.

Thanks for the info will give the bottles a good wash to get the labels off tonight and give them a scratch with a nail to check that it is coloured glass and not a coating.

Jenny

[mariag]

I take it that as I melt the larger pieces I could always try picking up some of the smaller pieces on the end of the melted bit and melt them in at the same time.

Thanks for the info will give the bottles a good wash to get the labels off tonight and give them a scratch with a nail to check that it is coloured glass and not a coating.

Jenny

Hi Jenny, if they're Harvey's Bristol Cream bottles then they are fine to use.
I made beads on my Minor & oxy set up. I smashed the bottles & just worked my way through the pieces. The glass melts a lot slower which I found really helped with using different size/shape pieces.

I made this bracelet with the beads (also some made from a Spanish mineral water bottle & I used some BeadySam frit on them too )

[poledra1958]

Yes they are the Harvey's Bristol Cream bottles.  Hummmm if it was slower for you on a minor.  Possibly going to be a very slow for me on a hot head, but I will give it ago.  I did think about getting the blue gin bottle so that I could do some light blue ones to go with it, or possibly etching some of them or contrast.

That bracelet is lovely.

Jenny

[AnnaSpanna]

Oh thank goodness this has simplified all the other posts that exist across the various forums. My friends have been asking me about sea glass and "dead" bottles and I was just going to suck it and see (and hoped not to get "sharded" in the process)!

I am feeling brave and bold now for a new glassy adventure!

[SueP]

I've used the smash and grab (with tweezers) technique and made this ages ago  not a good pic



ps would you be Polgara's mum 

[poledra1958]

who me "The women who watches"   

Jenny

[SueP]

Ah! yes you are then 

[poledra1958]

the OH is known on a few boards as Belgarath and our house is called Aldurs Vale.   

So you could say we like the books.  Funny think is we both read and liked the books before we even knew each other.

Jenny

[Dragonvine]

Me and my dad made our first beads with crushed bottles and a HHish BnQ torch. Very crude set up. We smashed the bottles in newspaper, used the largest longest bit we could, pulled it into a rough stringer, and made the bead (with our own bead-release). It didn't melt very hot, but it was hot enough to make the bead

[SueP]

the OH is known on a few boards as Belgarath and our house is called Aldurs Vale.   

So you could say we like the books.  Funny think is we both read and liked the books before we even knew each other.

Jenny

Going off your topic - just re reading the Belgariad for the nth time - my fav character has to be Silk

[Dragonfire Glass]

the OH is known on a few boards as Belgarath and our house is called Aldurs Vale.   

and my son is called Geran