New Slumped Bottle Plates

I've been slowly working at getting photos taken and descriptions written for some of the pieces I had finished before my surgery. The doc told me not to push myself at all, and to have a very boring month. I've listened, and it's driving me nuts! I can't wait until I can use my right hand again. And I'm sure my family feels the same, I know they're tired of tying my shoes.



I've got another "tie-dye" bottle ready, this one is yellow, pink, and orange. It's so cheerful! And I was thrilled with the way this Grey Goose Vodka bottle came out. All of the printing on the bottle is intact, and it's lovely! Apparently someone else thought so too, because it's already been sold.



This cobalt blue tequila bottle came out nicely too. There's something about blue glass that catches everyone's eye! My favorite, though, is this Midori bottle. All of the lovely, bumpy texture of the original bottle held up through the kiln-firing process, even as the bottle slumped to a fairly flat shape.

My First Tie-Dyed Bottle Plate

Okay, it's not really tie-dyed, but it does remind of a tie-dyed shirt. This bottle took over two weeks to make. I thoroughly washed and dried an empty liquor bottle, then diluted some kiln-hardy blue paint and dripped it in inside. Then I waited for the paint to dry. And waited. And waited. Several days later it was dry enough to add the purple paint, and then the waiting began again. I didn't want to put the bottle in the kiln while there was any hint of moisture inside for fear of the bottle popping in the heat and causing a lot of damage. Seven days later it looked dry, so I let it sit another day just to be safe. After a full day (and night!) in the kiln, it came out looking like this. I love the look, so I've got a few more in progress. In the meantime, I'll have this available for purchase in my etsy shop tomorrow.

More Fun with Bottles

I've been experimenting with more bottles. I like how this Absolut bottle turned out: it's fairly flat except for the bottom, which has curled up in a nice way. Natalia asked if I cut the bottom of a bottle off if the bottle would fuse without the bump. When I get a glass saw in my studio I plan to give it a try. I've been wanting a saw since I first laid eyes on Deb DiSalvo's blog--she creates some of the most beautiful and creative glass work I've ever seen.


This Crown Royal bottle came out nicely, too. There are no dark spots in the glass, this was just a difficult piece to photograph. It's got a nice shape, and I think it will be nice to add some rubber bumpers on the bottom so it won't mark up a table. It might make a nice clock, like Journeys and Adventures suggested, and I might try that with the next bottle shaped like this.

Artist Victoria O'Neill suggested hanging a bottle in a window, and NothingLikeit asked whether I could put some small pieces of colored glass inside the bottle before I flatten it. I thought that pretty-ing one up for a window decoration sounded like fun, but I didn't want to risk mixing different kinds of glass. (Different kinds of glass expand at different rates, so putting glass with unknown expansion rates togther means that at best the glass will likely be unstable, and could shatter at any time. So I put a ton of pink/purple mica inside a bottle, put it in the kiln to flatten, and got this surprise.


It looks like sparkly sand, not at all pink or purple, and much more clear areas than I expected. It's nice, though, and reminds me of a day at the beach.