How to make beads from bottles

[beadstillmyheart]

This is the compilation of pertinent posts from a thread that started in the bathroom:

A friend came for dinner a couple weeks back and brought a bottle of wine in a gorgeous cobalt bottle. I saved the bottle and now have this fabulous idea that I want to make beads out of the bottle (just plain spacers/shapes) to string her a bracelet.

Can this be done? I can slump the bottle if I have to....or I can just break it up into chunks and use the chunks by holding them with hemostats.

Anybody have a clue?
Kendra




I do this all the time with broken glass I find when Bob and I go hiking. They're always special reminders of trips and fun we've had. Treat them like float glass for your annealing schedule.... cannot remember the approx. COE of float glass at the moment.

Sue




Many years ago I made a series of beads from those blue Arizona iced tea bottles. I still have a few lying around. I used some gold leaf on them for decoration. It was a kinda creamier blue than the Moretti cobalt, very nice!

I busted my bottles by putting them in a heavy paper bag and whacking them with a hammer, then used the big pieces. Word of advice, avoid the bottoms..the glass is very thick and gets shocky easily. To avoid cutting your fingers, use a pair of tweezers and put some double stick tape or one of those 3M clear sticky squares on the ends to hold the glass. (Learned that that hard way.)
__________________
Karen Sherwood





I was curious to see if I could melt picture framing glass, which later I was told was "float" glass. It was a piece about 8"x10" and I cut it into 1/4" strips and used those to make some small round beads. The glass was VERY clear. Too bad it doesn't mix with 104 coe. Nice cheap glass, though, to practice making round beads.

Does anyone know the coe and annealing schedule for float glass? I guess I should google it.
Splynda




you can find it on www.warmglass.com - a LOT of warm glass artists use float.
Squid




I found this: http://www.warmglass.com/COESummary.htm
and: http://www.artglass1.com/float-glass-colors.htm

At the second link they say you can buy their colored frit to mix with clear float glass for color. They are talkling about slumping, but seems like you could use the frit to make colored beads out of the float glass. Interesting.
splynda




Not melted glass, but I was so intrigued by her Bombay Sapphire glass that I saved her website to my "favorites' list. I'm sure I picked this link up from someone here quite a while ago.

http://rebeccawardjewellery.com/index.htm
weiner




Yep...you can do that...this is actually how I started...lol...not knowing that there are rods...lol.

A good method without having the pieces "explode" is to grab a piece with pliers, a way that only a part of it sticks out...heat that and pull a thicker stringer.

I still have some blue bottles stored...hehe...for hard times...

Anastasia




I've made them before. Same as Karen - I busted mine up in a paper bag
and picked out the larger chunks. I tried making them from the chunks, but I
found I got better and more consistent bead shapes by melting the glass
and pulling it into thin rods (or fat stringers ). I never mix one bottle with
another one, but I will pull stringers and use them as a surface decoration.
I also use my molds and presses.

When the beads are done (I just use the same annealing schedule that I use
for bullseye and soft glass). I either leave them as-is, or I etch them. (When
you etch them, they LOOK just like sea glass).

From Left to right -

Chardonnay bottle, Skyy Vodka Bottle and a Japanese beer bottle I took from
the Sushi Restaurant that was this wonderful dark brown.



Karen hardy


Yes, bottles make the prettiest beads! The glass is real stiff, kinda like a 90 coe (or less). I've used raku and other frits very lightly on some with no problems. But I started getting more useable glass out of the bottles when I got a little glass cutter. My DH cuts the neck off, then the bottom. Then he tries (real hard) to get long thin slices. The bottles are generally thick themselves. He's getting better and most pieces are like 1/4" wide and up to about 2" long. Discs are easy, guess cause it's so stiff.

That's really a great gift, how sweet of you!
Barbara Joy




I forgot to add (cuz I forgot about it until DH said something)...palladium is lovely on top of blue bottle glass!
Karen Sherwood




i have a bottle cutter. I cut the necks off and the bottoms and then cut them into strips as well.
semiabstract




OMG...you guys are the AWESOMEST!

Now I have these fabulous ideas for offering "bottle beads" made from that special wine or other bottle. We have several upscale wine shops here and a winery....I could make a few posters with samples and pricing and include my business card and put them in acrylic holders for the stores. I could pay the store a "finders/handling fee" for receiving the bottle and putting it in a paper bag with the customers information on a label. Then I would pick up the bottles and contact the customer to work out details.

This could be a LOT of fun.
kendra

[beadstillmyheart]

added by Marybeth:
I have a cobalt blue bottle that I've been saving to do this. But I have actually made beads out of old drinking glasses. When my husband's grandmother died I received her aqua blue ice tea set. Not being one to store things on a shelf we actually used the set. Of course a couple of the glasses ended up being broken.

I made some beads out of them. I am going to make some jewelry for my sisters-in-law out of the broken glasses. They are a beautiful, watery aqua blue. And silver wire looks fantastic on them!

[jhana]

There was a lady at the Bowers Museum Bead show years ago who did this.
She would also make beads from special glassware that had broken or that was crushed underfoot as part of a wedding ceremony.
I don't remember who does that, maybe it's a Jewish tradition.
At any rate, she advertised it as a way to preserve memories of many different
broken glass objects.

[squid]

Originally Posted by jhana

There was a lady at the Bowers Museum Bead show years ago who did this.
She would also make beads from special glassware that had broken or that was crushed underfoot as part of a wedding ceremony.
I don't remember who does that, maybe it's a Jewish tradition.
At any rate, she advertised it as a way to preserve memories of many different
broken glass objects.

I believe that Greek Orthodoxes do that - maybe Jewish too, I dunno.

[Mustang Dawn]

I'm glad you saved this thread!

Thanks, Dawn

[Tink]

Doing this kind of thing is a big part of my business. Weddings, funerals, you name it. Any type of noteworthy occasion.

When we were in Georgia, the Southern Flames gave us some great goodies, including a bottle of ice wine (yum!). Once we'd finished off the wine, I made this Georgia Sky vessel from some of the glass:



When we were in Spain, they had a nice party for us, complete with champagne. We saved all the bottles and showed the students how to pull cane from the bottle glass the next day. We all made celebratory vessels from the glass.

[josielv]

what a cool idea !

[NightCat]

I did a recycled glass bead challenge on the WetCanvas forum a while back. It has pictures of the bottles and the beads made from them. If you want you can check it out here - Recycled Glass Beads

~R

[Karen Hardy]

Originally Posted by squid

I believe that Greek Orthodoxes do that - maybe Jewish too, I dunno.

Jewish people DO break the glass at wedding ceremonies - BUT, there's something symbolic about the breaking of the glass, and (I forgot the whole
spiel on it) there's something about it being broken glass - never meant to be together again. When my sister got married, I offered to make beads from the
broken glass, but she explained to me that the glass can never be whole again.

If anyone is absolutely itching to know, I can give her a ring and find out for sure.

[lilbrowndog]

try placing the chunks in a cool kiln at the beginning of the day and bring em up to temp. (like others suggested, whatever soft glass temp you use). its best if you place the chunks on a graphite pad just inside the bead door so you can reach them easily. form a maria on a clear rod and heat till tacky. then touch it to a warm chunck in the kiln. take it to the back flame of your torch and warm. give a lil more heat till the edges are starting to glow, then move into full heat. melt the chunk into a gather and pull rod or stringer as needed. this is a safer way to handle glass that you arent sure of - and will prevent "shocky" behavior.

if youve managed to cut strips, follow the same procedure. if you dont want to melt the strip into a gather and pull, you can use the punty'd and pre-heated strip to form your beads. it'll be safer, less shocky and quicker to melt down.

perhaps we can maintain this thread - posting photos & results with the brands of wine or other glass bottle sources we've tested.

then, buying such and such vodka cause it's "really pretty" will be worth it - for the GLASS.

[Karen Hardy]

That's AWESOME Tink! I love the colors in that.

I tried to do that (offer to make beads from "special" bottles) and I
did do a few orders, but it was just so much harder and time consuming
than just making regular beads. I had to get the label off, clean the bottle completely, break the glass, pull the rods, etc, etc. Now I only do it on
special occasions. I'm just lazy.

If someone has a secret to cutting the bottles so that they are in strips instead of broken shards (and pics of the technique!), I would do the happy dance. I tried using my stained glass cutters, but I kind of suck at that.

Originally Posted by Tink

Doing this kind of thing is a big part of my business. Weddings, funerals, you name it. Any type of noteworthy occasion.

When we were in Georgia, the Southern Flames gave us some great goodies, including a bottle of ice wine (yum!). Once we'd finished off the wine, I made this Georgia Sky vessel from some of the glass:



When we were in Spain, they had a nice party for us, complete with champagne. We saved all the bottles and showed the students how to pull cane from the bottle glass the next day. We all made celebratory vessels from the glass.

[DesertDreamer]

Originally Posted by Karen Hardy

Jewish people DO break the glass at wedding ceremonies - BUT, there's something symbolic about the breaking of the glass, and (I forgot the whole
spiel on it) there's something about it being broken glass - never meant to be together again. When my sister got married, I offered to make beads from the
broken glass, but she explained to me that the glass can never be whole again.

If anyone is absolutely itching to know, I can give her a ring and find out for sure.

I learned something cool! I've been to many Jewish weddings and never thought to ask about the symbolism.
http://www.aish.com/literacy/lifecyc...sh_Wedding.asp

BREAKING THE GLASS

A glass is now placed on the floor, and the chatan shatters it with his foot. This act serves as an expression of sadness at the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, and identifies the couple with the spiritual and national destiny of the Jewish people. A Jew, even at the moment of greatest rejoicing, is always mindful of the Psalmist's injunction to set Jerusalem above my highest joy.

Others explain that this is the last time the groom gets to put his foot down.

(In Israel, the glass is broken earlier, prior to the reading of the Ketubah.)

[playswithfire104]

I have one of those glass cutters they sell to make vases and such from bottles. You run it around the top part of the bottle just below the neck. Then run another around the bottom just above the bottem of the bottle. Then the directions suggest that you should tape the bottle right on the line that you scratched in. This is supposed to help the break to be straight.

Then tap carefully if you are lucky the bottle will break at the scores. You will have to tap and break at both the top and bottem scores.

Then score the bottle in quarters - at 12 3 6 abd 9. I use planishing pliers to break the glass.

Now you can score and break into strips of whatever size you like.

[extexnick]

If you have a ring saw then why not simply cut the bottle in strips. If you don't have a ring saw go visit your local stained glass store and they may let you use theirs. I'm going to try it with my ring saw, but first I have some serious drinking to do.

[Patti]

Cathi Milligan was on the Jackie Guerra show a couple of week ago and did a demonstration of making beads from glass bottles. Here is a link to her tutorial on DIY network:

http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/cr_jew...972067,00.html

[NightCat]

Here are some beads I made out of broken bottles, a piece of stained glass and a broken bowl. The first shot is all the broken pieces I started with. Even though coe104 isn't compatable I was able to use a glass rod to hold the glass shards.

Personally, I think using recycled glass is a pain. It shatters so easily and since you can never really know the COE it makes mixing colors a bit dodgy. I make beads out of recycled glass on request but that is about it.

I copied these images over from my Wetcanvas thread that I linked above.

Anyway, Enjoy!

[playswithfire104]

I use tweezers to hold the glass and I pre warm it. I've also successufully used goldstone with bottle glass. I don't have a ring saw and don't know where a stained glass shop is in my area.

[di]

I am always raiding my neighbors Recycle containers for wine, beer and liquor bottles. I have every color bottle imaginable. I bring ‘em home, remove the labels and sag most of the wine bottles flat, into cheese boards. I acid etch “Cheese” or “Who Cut The Cheese?” on the glass. Using Raffia I tie beaded cheese knives (I bought from Karen) to the neck of the cheese board. The beads are made from the same glass I used for the “board.”

Prior to making the beads, I break a bottle of each color in an old pillow case with one whack of the hammer. I put the broken pieces in my kiln and slump them at the same time I’m slumping the bottle into a cheese board. Slumping the glass pieces prevents me from getting any nasty glass cuts from the sharp glass edges I’m handling it to make the beads. Lord knows I have enough burns from the ufo's my torch creates.

I use my hemostats to hold the glass and melt it on to the mandrel. Some of the beads are acid etched, some are not.

I also make bracelets from the beer bottles. I use one of Mikes Drop Forcal Press Mold for the shape and then Rocio’s bracelet mold for the slumping. I still have a little bit of a problem with the Nichrome wires being displaced so I started using the fiber rope to keep the holes open during slumping. So far so good.

di
Melbourne, FL
Minor, Oxycon

[redbutterfly]

This is great! I have some cobalt blue bottles sitting around that I can't seem to part with, and now I have a reason for being a hoarder. Ha! Ha!
I purchased a bag of beach glass on ebay for making pendants but the edges are to sharp I can use them for making beads....right?
Great idea! btw here is a link with instructions and video....I like to see it in action!
I would use gloves doing this.
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-...e-SimpleVideo/

[queenofswords]

At Glass stock West 2012, one of the instructor shattered the bottle by putting it in a bowl, heating up a borrow rod and then puntying up to the bottle. it was sort of a controlled shatter and it all ended up in the bowl.

[jonibird]

I just smash the bottle and use little pieces of shards, works great!

[tammydownunder]

When I first started out, I was a girl on a budget so I did everything I could to try to save some money including making beads out of broken bottles. I learned very quickly that there is a false economy for this as the glass is made with a hardener which means it takes a longer time to melt the glass. In addition, without knowing the coe, you are very limited as to how you use this glass.