The story behind the compatible recycled glass bowls
The story how the glass bowls were made
As many glass artists might know, fusing glass bottles very rarely works as each bottle will potential not be compatible with the next. Even if you collect bottles that has the same shape and content, they might not come from the same factory. This is the story about two glass bowls made from randomly collected glass bottles identified to be originating from Germany based on their punt marks.
The two fused glass bowls 9cm high, 21cm in diameter and 10cm thick glass has been made from waste glass bottles. The spiral colouring was made using commercially available glass frits. The glass bottles have been carefully selected to create a compatible batch for glass fusing.
Round fused recycled glass bowl with a yellow spiral pattern and a red rim
Round fused recycled glass bowl with a green/turquoise spiral pattern and a spout
Punt mark- The bottles origins
The glass bottles that were used to create these bowls was collected randomly and identified to be originating from Germany and the bottle manufacturer Glaswerk Ernstthal based on their punt mark. Punt mark is an identification stamp on each glass bottle that shows where each bottle is manufactured from all over the world.
Compatibility and fusing
As many glass artists might have discovered, using glass bottles for fusing very rarely works as each bottle will potential not be compatible with the next. Even if you collect bottles that has the same shape and content, they might not come from the same factory, and this is because bottle manufacturer does not make art glass with compatibility in mind. Compatibility is when two different pieces of glass melts and stick together through fusing. Fusing is an art glass technique that is using much lower temperatures than glass blowing and re-melts, and each piece of glass is still visible after a firing.
Use a polarizing filter
If glass is expanding and contracting at different level during the fusing process it will cause the glass to crack. This is what typically happened when you try to fuse two bottles together and you cannot see with your naked eye if the glass is compatible or not. For this you need to use a polarizing filter to see if there is any residual stress left in the glass after fusing. If there is any residual stress left in the glass after firing, it will at some point start cracking and eventually fail.
As the bottles for these particular bowls had been identified to originate from the same factory it meant that the probability for the glass to be compatible is much higher. Although this is not always the case, and the glass from these bottles were checked for compatibility using a strain viewer prior to being made into a bowl.
These are one of its kind- the red rim bowl is sold
These two bowls are made with the same glass bottles from the same manufacturer, using the same technique. These are one of its kind and will not be made again. The one with a yellow spiral pattern and a red rim has been recently sold and I hope it will viewed and valued in years to come.
Round fused recycled glass bowl with a yellow spiral pattern and a red rim
Round fused recycled glass bowl with a green/turquoise spiral pattern and a spout
