glass | kritterspaw

You know how you embark on a project and once you’re done, it has created a new list of projects? Kinda like when you remodel your kitchen and you do the cabinets… and soon as it’s done, the floor now needs to be done.

You read about my stained glass door here … https://kritterspaw.com/2018/12/10/stained-glass-door/

The door came out great, and is now a centerpiece in the house. I was already planning on building a stained glass floor lamp, but something simple. With the door completed, and the elks peering in on us… our lamp design took another turn. Why not use animals from our forest to grace our lamp.

So I began the task of drawing up patterns for 4 panels….

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There would be an eagle, a squirrel, hummingbirds, and a pygmy owl.

With the patterns drawn, the pattern pieces had to be made.. and glass had to be cut.

I did one panel at a time… pattern, glass cut, grind, foil / lead, solder, pack, repeat four times.

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Once the glass was cut and ground, each piece had to be foiled or leaded.

After it was leaded, all the joints had to be soldered, and then it was packed with a window caulking and glazed with a gypsum powder.

All to make a final glass panels to ready for the wood working portion of the project.

On to the next phase.

To be continued…..

So what do you do with the wine bottle after you drink it? I know, I know… make glasses! Not what you were thinking? Well, that’s what we do with them. It’s an insane project I must admit.

First, you have to drink the wine.

Then, you have to wash the bottle and score the wine bottle with a hand glass cutter. We like using wine bottles that have some fun painted-on labels these days… rather than having to take off the paper labels.

Next (we have to figure out a better process someday), we use a candle and heat around the glass score mark the circumference of the bottle for several minutes… then run to the closest cold water spigot and chill it down…. keeping your fingers crossed and your breath held hoping it breaks perfectly when you gently tap it on the corner of the sink.

Finally, you sand sand sand to get the edge nice and clean. Being careful to not overdue it, as if the glass gets too hot it will break in your hands.

It’s a long tedious process for every single glass. We often wonder why we continue to do them… but them make great gifts that our friends seem to enjoy. I wonder if they realize how much work goes into every glass?

In the end, you have a cool wine bottle glass that tells it’s own story with individuality and uniqueness…. and you got to enjoy the wine.

kritterspaw

Tag / glass

One thing begets another

Dual Use Wine