Is there a glass making bible out there somewhere?

gemsinbloom · #1 2011-09-21, 10:05pm

I would love to get my hands on a book that explains in detail how the glass is created. Not for recipes but more about theory. There are some facts I need to get under my belt before I can go further with some experiments.

glasshouse · #2 2011-09-21, 10:31pm

Glass Notes is a good look into furnace glass, I enjoyed it. I bet there are other good books out there too. I would love to read more!

Kelly

gemsinbloom · #3 2011-09-21, 10:41pm

Thank you Kelly! Curiousity is getting the better of me.

LarryC · #4 2011-09-21, 10:56pm

What are you looking for? Technique, chemistry, physical properties?

gemsinbloom · #5 2011-09-21, 11:02pm

Well, many things but first of all.......what is done to create opaque glasses compared to transparents.........I am assuming an ingredient is added to trasparent glasses to achieve opaqueness? If so, what is it?

gemsinbloom · #6 2011-09-21, 11:03pm

And I am googling tonight to try to find this answer but no luck so far. It is an interesting search though. I have run across many sites with useful info.

ArtcoInc · #7 2011-09-21, 11:20pm

I'm now carrying a book that goes into the molecular level of glass chemistry. It covers all of the common elements (and many of the less common elements) used in making glass ... what they are, how they effect the glass, etc.

It's a reprint of an old, out-of-print book. It's not light reading, and it's not cheap.

Malcolm

PS: This publisher is now also reprinting an old 'recipe book' of old glass recipes. I also have this in stock.

ironmountainglass · #8 2011-09-22, 1:53am

It's made when lightening strikes sand!

You need to watch Sweet Home Alabama

Sorry couldn't resist love that movie

Mitosis Glass · #9 2011-09-22, 6:07am

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArtcoInc

I'm now carrying a book that goes into the molecular level of glass chemistry. It covers all of the common elements (and many of the less common elements) used in making glass ... what they are, how they effect the glass, etc.

It's a reprint of an old, out-of-print book. It's not light reading, and it's not cheap.

Malcolm

PS: This publisher is now also reprinting an old 'recipe book' of old glass recipes. I also have this in stock.

What are the names of the books? I was looking on your site (and saw another half-dozen books that I want!) but I wasn't sure which ones you meant here.

Elizabeth Beads · #10 2011-09-22, 7:02am

Quote:

Originally Posted by glassmaker

“Henry T. Hellmers' Secret Batch Book of Glass Formulae”, by J. W. Courter.

This is a reprint of a book that is not widely known because the first printing about 10 years ago consisted of a grand total of 25 copies, all of which (I think) went to libraries and collectors. I stumbled across it at the Rakow Library at Corning shortly after that original publication and subsequently spent a couple of days photocopying the glass recipes in it. There are over 2300 of them! A huge number of those - like the ones pictured on the page posted below - are for colored glass.

As a reference book of glass formulations this book is pretty awesome. Henry Hellmers was a glass chemist who worked for a number of different American glass companies from about 1920 to 1960 and kept a recipe book that contains many of the recipes used by those companies, as well as many he collected from various other sources. There are a ton of color recipes in the book, many (most?) of which were actual recipes used in glass factory production from the late 1800's to the mid 1900's. Someone with a decent amount of glassmaking knowledge could easily adapt many of these for studio use. Even without doing that, it is a great resource just on the historical aspect of the recipes alone.

When I found out this book was being reprinted by the new publisher, I decided to make a quantity purchase so I could offer them at a discount to other people with an interest in glassmaking.

The publisher's list price for this book is $50. My selling price, which includes free Media Mail shipping to the USA, is $42.95. No international orders at the moment, but that could change if interest warrants. Payment is through Paypal only. There are a limited number of books available, but again, if interest warrants I will buy another batch of them to sell.

The images below are of a couple of the pages from the Hellmers book. All of the glass recipe pages have this layout - ingredients listed on the left, quantities of those ingredients in columns with each column representing one particular glass, and the origin of the recipe at the bottom of each column. As you can see, the pages pictured below are for transparent ruby glass recipes, one with six different selenium ruby recipes, all of which came from the Lancaster Lens Company in the 1920's and 30's, and the other with six gold ruby recipes of the Sandwich Glass Company, from the late 1800's. If you've always wanted to know what ingredients are in various types of colored glass, you will never find a better book than this.

Brad

The link to the shop in this post was broken, but you could contact Brad if you are interested.

gemsinbloom · #11 2011-09-22, 7:04am

Thank you for posting that Rose. Well yet again, I am in Canada so no soup for me.

yellowbird · #12 2011-09-22, 7:12am

tin is an opacifier

glasshouse · #13 2011-09-22, 7:40am

So is fluorine. The Henry Hellmers book is mostly glass recipes and a mini biography of Mr. Hellmers. It doesn't explain what any of the ingredients do to the glass.

Shrimp · #14 2011-09-22, 8:29am

Does anyone know where these ingredients can be purchased?

ArtcoInc · #15 2011-09-22, 10:25am

The first book has already been mentioned:

"Secret Batch Book of Glass Formulae" by Henry T. Hellmers'. As has also been mentioned, it's "just" a recipe book for different colors, but doesn't go into why the batch formulas do what they do. The price is $50.

The second book is "Chemical Approach to Glass" by Milos Bohuslav Volf. This is the expensive book ... $200 for the paperback, and $250 for the hardback.

You can read more about these books on the publisher's web site:

http://www.igneousglassworks.com/pro...ks?pagesize=40

While not (yet) on my web site, I do have both of these in stock (as well as the Firing Schedules book), and I do ship to Canada (and everywhere else, for that matter).

As for where to purchase the 'ingredients', most of these chemicals are hazardous, and will require going through a chemical, scientific, or industrial material's supplier.

Malcolm

PattyK · #16 2011-09-22, 3:46pm

There are some amazing looking technical glass books offered here as well, though most of them are pretty specialized.

https://www.orders.sgthome.co.uk/ind...bu0&ns=prodall

This one looks interesting (Coloured Glasses): https://www.orders.sgthome.co.uk/ind...rodshow&ref=CG

Shrimp · #17 2011-09-22, 8:05pm

Arsenic!!!! This is in the glass that we use as lampworkers? Who'd ever thunk that!!

houptdavid · #18 2011-09-22, 8:29pm

Yeah and it's in apple seeds too!

Damselfly · #19 2011-09-22, 9:10pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shrimp

Arsenic!!!! This is in the glass that we use as lampworkers? Who'd ever thunk that!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by houptdavid

Yeah and it's in apple seeds too!

Yep, and because it's in apple seeds, it's also in apple juice. They had an expose on that recently (was it 60 Minutes, or Nightline??), where some imported apple juice has higher concentrations of arsenic than is allowed in drinking water.

Shrimp · #20 2011-09-22, 9:52pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Damselfly

Yep, and because it's in apple seeds, it's also in apple juice. They had an expose on that recently (was it 60 Minutes, or Nightline??), where some imported apple juice has higher concentrations of arsenic than is allowed in drinking water.

I had caught the last few moments of that news report, but didn't know what they were discussing. Thanks for the info.

glasskat2010 · #21 2011-09-23, 11:07am

Books you need in your library:
Contemporary Lampworking Volumes 1, 2, and 3
Passing the Flame
Making Glass Beads
The Flow Magazine

Hope this helps!
Happy torching!
Glasskat2010

glassmaker · #22 2011-09-30, 2:34am

The most common ingredients used to opacify typical soft glasses (like we use) are compounds of fluorine and/or phosphorus, with fluorine being more common. Also, a hefty helping of arsenic will turn a lead glass dead opaque, and is what is used as a base glass for many (most?) opaque colored glasses with "enamel" in their name. Various combinations of these materials are also used, such as glasses containing both fluorine and phosphorus. Both lead arsenate and fluorine emit fumes while melting. Breathing them won't improve your health at all.

Opaque red, orange, and yellow glasses are normally made with a combination of cadmium and selenium, both of which also off-gas considerably when melted and won't help your longevity when breathed either.

Since potters use substantially the same chemicals as glassmakers, just in different proportions, nearly all the chemicals necessary for making glass can be obtained from a good ceramic supplier, such as Laguna Clay or somewhere similar. They will also usually be considerably cheaper than if bought from a scientific supplier. However, as was already pointed out by someone else, many of these chemicals - particularly the colorants - are hazardous. So if you don't know what you are doing you can put yourself in a world of hurt.

As far as finding a comprehensive bible for glassmaking, there isn't one. The information needs to be pieced together from a variety of sources.

Brad