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projects:glass_sphere:work_logs:work_log_1

What I want to accomplish

  • Remember how to use the furnace,
  • Experiment with different types of available glass,
  • Work out how to determine the suitability of different types of glass. What criteria do I need to test?
  • Work out whether I need to go down the road of creating my own glass.

What I've done

I scrounged up:

  • Lots of mirrored float glass,
  • A 1.5m diameter hardened glass tabletop,
  • Some (industrially) blown glass bottles.

I coated a stainless steel cup and bowl with kiln wash to stop the glass sticking.

I sanded off the silvering from some of the mirrored float glass, crushed it up and put it in the cup.

I crushed up a blown glass bottle and put it in the bowl. I washed the crushed glass in water and poured off the fine glass in suspension.

Removing silvering

I experimented with chemically removing the silvering from the back of the mirrors. I daubed a bit of chemical on the back of the mirror and put some scratches through the mirroring with a screwdriver. The silvering appears to have three layers: Grey, red and silver.

Things that failed:

  • Acetone,
  • Methyl Ethyl Ketone,
    • This one changed the colour of the grey layer slightly.
  • Zinc Chloride and Ammonium Chloride (in soldering flux),
  • Ferric Chloride,
  • Sodium Hydroxide.

Video

What I want to accomplish next time

  • Fuse and temper the crushed glass,
  • Compare the washed versus unwashed, and float versus cast,
  • Polish the resulting slugs,
  • Drop test.

projects/glass_sphere/work_logs/work_log_1.txt · Last modified: 2022/01/23 00:24 by tjhowse