NKPdesigns

Tuesday, February 07, 2012

Glass Glass Beautiful Glass Embedded in Clay

This is a white stoneware clay in which I embedded car windshield glass.  It was an idea I had several years ago but I never followed through with the idea.

Car windshield glass is a type of safety glass so it can be handled without shredding your skin.  It also crumbles apart nicely into smaller bits and pieces.

I originally had a ton of this glass several years ago after our car was mutilated in the middle of the night. They took the stereo but left some beautiful glass that I thought I would eventually use. 
After a couple of years I had not done much with it and I tossed it away during one of my studio cleans. Buh Bye

A few weeks ago I ran across this bead in a bowl full of beads waiting to be glazed. It is made from a terra cotta stoneware clay. I decided to glaze it with a transparent green glaze.  After it was fired and off the rod, I kicked myself until I was black and blue! What had I done? What!? Had!? I!? Done!?

I began asking friends to look around and scoop up any broken windshield glass that they might come across in their travels. I flirted with the idea of parking my car on the street instead of the driveway so that perhaps some kind thug might whack away at my windows whilst we were asleep. 

BUT I realized I could go to the car windshield fix-it shop and plead for some broken glass. The only question I was asked was, "Do you want regular or tempered?"

What he did was empty out his vacuum cleaner and not only did I score some free glass, but 55 cents in change and a bobby pin too!

6 comments:

  1. What a wonderful idea. And, what a delightful story. I love the story. I'm going to have to get me some of the beads. How does the light react when it twinkles off the glass?

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    1. Thanks, Jean.

      I don't know yet about the sparkle, wouldn't that be great? I neglected to say that these beads are still in greenware form.

      I'm thinking that these may sparkle more with a light glaze than a dark. My sample bead does not sparkle, but it is very dark.

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  2. I've got (or had) a windshield out back to do that with at some time! How fun! Can't wait to see how they end up!

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    1. You should totally try it. I am amazed at how much fun these are turning out. I put some glass in one of the whistles I am making too. I'm thinking it may be fun on a mug or a bowl too. We'll see.

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  3. Oh my goodness, what a story! And I love your sense of humor. :-) What a brilliant idea..and the results look like the glass added some really neat texture and sheen. I won't look at broken windshield glass the same way again!

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