Ashtray

The very first glass work I did was to cast a cube.  I had bought a bunch of glass blocks off of Craig’s list, the kind you use for windows.  These are really cool, and pretty cheap if you buy them as junk.

I broke up the glass with a hammer, then I made a simple cubicle mold and placed it all in the kiln to fire.

The result is….interesting…  There are some things I like and some things I don’t.  One problem is that the glass is discolored.  Even though it was clear before, now it is a little more cloudy, with a beige tinge.

The other feature is that the glass is heavily veiled, meaning that you can see waves an surfaces where the glass chunks melted together.  This gives the glass a textured look with depth.  I like it, but most people don’t.

It was a learning experience.  In retrospect, I’d recommend against using recycled glass of unknown origin.  You will probably get effects like this that are hard to control.