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Recycled glass and compatibility

I recently participated in a group show, kiln processes using recycled glass, sponsored by the Center for Environmental Economic Development (CEED) in California.

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The show was terrific, the stuff by other artists, some functional, some decorative, was really interesting. The folks who run CEED, Ruthanne Cecil, Program Director, snipped-for-privacy@humboldt1.com, Robert Kirby, Recycled Glass Engineer, snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.net, and Ed Boisson, Project Manager, snipped-for-privacy@att.net are knowledgeable and very helpful. Some of the most interesting products were tiles and tables made from recycled bottle and tempered glass.

I work mostly with bottle glass. The thermal coefficients of this vary widely. So compatibility is always an issue for me. I don't routinely test for compatibility - it would take lots of time. So I just work from experience and allow extra time for annealing. One thing I learned from the CEED folks is that glasses that are not compatible can be fused successfully if they are broken into small pieces and well mixed. It doesn't matter what the thermal coefficients are. Tiles and tables can be made from all sorts of bottle or other glass, without regard to compatibility. I'm using smaller pieces in my own fusing, and it seems to work.

John Bassett

Reply to
John Bassett
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Hi John, That's some interesting info. Have you tested these fused pieces by putting them in the freezer?

Reply to
C Ryman

learned from the CEED folks is that glasses that are not compatible can be fused successfully if they are broken into small pieces and well mixed. It doesn't matter what the thermal coefficients are. Tiles and tables can be made from all sorts of bottle or other glass, without regard to compatibility. I'm using smaller pieces in my own fusing, and it seems to work. < Small pieces have more surface area per unit volume thus less material pulling on more area, so compatibility should be less of a problem. "doesn't matter" within the limits of bottle glass which doesn't have a huge range anyway. annealling longer should not make a difference, the difference in COE, if it is enough, will still set up a strain while cooling that may be enough to break off bits or break the pieces. Annealing is supposed to relieve the strain of working and initial solidification. I have some paperweights with small pieces of incompatible color inside that show lovely silver shear planes inside the glass.

Reply to
Mike Firth

I rarely have success mixing different colored glasses together.

Reply to
Glassman

Reply to
John Bassett

See, you are using related colors which is the most common factor in mismatched COE. In Kugler color, which is widely used in glass blowing, the yellow is notorious for causing COE failures in glass that supposedly matches.

Reply to
Mike Firth

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