artistic problem

[Bentiron1946]

I've thought of melting glass into some of the punched holes in some of my art objects but was always told by glass folk it would just break out when the glass cooled. A friend of mine cast a marble inside of a sphere and it worked ok.

[keykeeper]

I do not think a marble will explode, unless maybe one that was hollow or filled with some sort of liquid. I have watched several glass blowers in action, and the wares they make have to be treated or annealed sort of. What happens is if the piece cools too quickly in the open air, it will contract and break. The glass blower at the state arts and crafts fair make things through the day, and places each in some sort of oven/container that holds the temp. and gradually lets it cool, I think.

Besides, why would glass explode? It is in a molten state when they work it by blowing, or mold it by pouring, much like metal.

As an aside, the same mentioned glass blower had a really cool kiln, fired by blown natural gas, I was sure to make some notes after looking at the setup. He came over when he saw me checking it out, so I explained the blacksmithing obsession to him, thus the examination of the burner. Turns out he and his father do some smithing too. Go figure! Needless to say, I told em all about our state association, and will be forwarding info about it to them!!!

[JWBIRONWORKS]

Paul,
I was flipping through Alex Bealers book "The Art of Blacksmithing" on Pages 287 and 288 He has a description and an illustration of inlaying ground colored glass from soda bottles. It a short quick discription but most of the info in the book is. If you don't have it you might see if your local library does. I think I paid 10 dollars for mine awhile back.

John

[Dodge]

John, I've see something similar where they simply broke bottles, jars, what ever in small pieces. Main idea is to relieve any stress in the glass so it won't explode like a marble could. Relieve you own stress when you bust it up, too. LOL

[Dale Russell]

G'Day all.
yeah i know i said i wouldn't post again , but .....
I've " tried " the mixed medium of glass in iron look , i found if the iron cools too fast the glass will chip / spall , reason being the iron cools slower then the glass & contracts on cooling ( crushing the peice of glass as it cools )
I found if you leave on top of the fire , slowly moving it away i have better results that way ( less chipping / spalling )
Works for me ....

Cheftcook ,
make your basket as usual , cool ( i dunk in slack tub ) put in vice , pry open 1 strand of the basket enough to fit what ever it is you want to put inside , close up again ( i usually do this after i've finished whatever it is i'm making )

Dale Russell

[mcraigl]

Dale kind of brought out what I see as the main problem. iron and glass have different heat expansion coefficients. Different kinds of glass do to for that matter. My wife is getting into blowing glass and doing lampwork. She has to make sure all of her glass is compatible. Mike-hr will occasionally melt a glass bead into the eye sockets of a wizard. So I know that it is possible.

[habu68]

you can heat and quickly cool marbles with out them shattering:
We used to make these when we were kids( back when the world was still in black and white)

Fried Marble Jewelry

What you need: 1 bag glass marbles (clear - one color only) or cat's eye. No
multiple colors or milky type marbles; 1 skillet; ice water; bell caps;
jeweler's cement; jump ring or jewelry loops.

What to do:

1. Place marbles in cold dry skillet and set on burner at medium to high
heat. Stir marbles constantly as they are being fried. Keep them in pan
until they are completely heated through - about 15 to 20 minutes.

2. Pour marbles into a pan of ice water. The sudden change in temperature
will cause the inside of marbles to crackle, while the outside retains its
round shape. The crackle inside will pick up rays of light in bright
sparkles. If marbles were not completely heated through, they will crackle
only a little. Note: You may repeat the process only once to achieve the
desired effect or the marbles may break completely.

3. Cement a bell cap to each marble. Spread prongs of bell cap to conform to
curve of marble.

4. When cement has set, open a jump ring and slip through loop in top of
cap. Bend ends of ring back together again.

The marble is now ready to be slipped onto a necklace chain as a pendant or
you may place several on a charm type bracelet.
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[ralphy]

Hey all, I took a r/r spike knife and melted two marbles into it, no explosion!
I also took a cross made from square stock, broke the marble into pieces and melted them in the center, it came out nice. Sorry I gave it to my daughter's classmate, so no picture, but I can say it will work. A gas forge will give a cleaner melt though,but coal will also work! good luck.

[cheftjcook]

Ralphy,
That is great, can't wait to get at it myself...This weekend!!!

DALE,
G'day Mate, Good to here(read) from you! Thanks for the info on the project. This weekend is gonna be full of experiments.
Hope to hear{read) more from you
Thanks
Tim

[Glenn]

Ralph Douglas put red marbles into Fredrick's crosses. He would then place the whole thing on a hot piece of steel and let the piece of steel control the cooling of both the cross and the glass.