This is the process I went through to make this cabochon~ it is time consuming but results in something unique and uses up what would otherwise be wasted glass.
1. Collect all the little bits and pieces from your torch table
without having a single good reason
or any kind of plan for using them.
2. Shove 'em in a drawer.
3. When that drawer fills up find another drawer.
4. Accidentally rediscover your Slumpy molds
and make a mental note to try fuse molding those
shorts into cabs.
5. Have a tropical storm come through
and demolish your beach plans.
6. Get out some thick canvas and a hammer
so you can beat the crap out of the glass pieces
that are too big for the mold
because today is as good as any
to try out your idea
since
you do not have beach sand between your toes
and you were totally supposed to.
7. Sort the pieces for color mixing.
8. Take a blind guess at how much glass needs to be
layered in the mold and slap that sucker in the kiln.
(after coating the mold in kiln wash)
(which is boring)
9. Ramp up to 1450 and hold for 20 minutes
because you are experimenting
and looking up on the internet to find out
if that is the right way or the wrong way
is also boring.
10. Open the kiln and discover that only
1 out of 4 actually looks anything like it is supposed to
and they all have jagged sides.
(boo)
10.5 ~ Heads up. Don't open the kiln to peek because
it turns out those molds don't like the temperature change.
At all.
11. Take those jagged babies to your shiny shack
and introduce them to the Diamond Max.
12. Grind the edges smooth.
13. Put them back in the mold adding more glass
to the really wonky ones and fire 'em again.
14. You may have to repeat steps 11-13 a couple of times
to get a feel for what exactly is the right amount of glass.
15. Fin.
~~
Here is a sneaky peek at a repurposed twistie cab
being made into a cuff~
~~
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