Making beach glass

Ok, I skimmed a few threads before we started this project, but I
didn't go into a lot of heavy detail as I am viewing this as
experimental and using this as my lab notebook. :-)

My 9 yo daughter received a rock tumbler for Christmas and we did a
batch of rocks that we bought from a lapidary supply from a
wheelbarrow they said was bulk for tumbling. I personally think we
could have pre-polished (did 3 days) and polished (about 5 or 6 days)
longer but oh, it was painful for my daughter to wait as long as she
did.

Next project in line- beach glass. I went to a local stained glass
supply house and bought stained glass "scraps"- 10 lbs for $15, IIRC.
Then, I decided I would rather do mosaics with the stained glass. :-)

went to the local Salvation Army- after trying various other thrift
stores and coming out emptyhanded- at least wrt colored glass :-)- and
bought:

light amber ashtray- 4" across
dark amber coffee cup- made in France "duralex" brand
dark blue heavy candle holder- 8" high
light blue votive
smelly red Avon candleholder- 8" high
cheap opaque white vase

what we learned: thick glass is really hard to shatter. the french
Duralex coffee cup shattered instantly into teeny tiny pieces that
were all stuck together- I guess it was tempered. We ran out of room
in our tumbler with the above mentioned stuff- didnt' get to use the
white vase or the clean clear rum bottle. oh, we have
http://www.sciplus.com/singleItem.cf...LogFrom=Search
which is a (3) lb. ((1) qt.) fifteen sided rubber barrel. :-) so we
have enough for a next batch which will likely use a green or brown
wine bottle in addition to the ugly white vase.

the barrel was pretty full but I added about 2 cups of play sand from
my son's sandbox and topped off with water. It's tumbling quietly
now- my daughter thinks the sand is cushioning the sound.

tomorrow I'll check for off-gassing. and figure it will be well on
it's way to a fine matte finish. :-)

=====
Kate, http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~kolina/a...f-formula.html
Mom to Ursula (9!), Sage (6.5), Benno (3!!) "A successful person is
one
who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks that others throw at him
or her." David Brinkley, News Journalist
http://listserv.uts.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/parent-l

Kate, do you live near the ocean? I do, and what gets washed up on the beach
is usually trash glass.

So if you want authentic-looking beach glass, just bust up some bottles.
There's a bottled water you can get in the fancier supermarkets that comes in a
cobalt-blue bottle, for instance. Beer bottles, etc. make great beach glass --
that's what I find on most beaches here (SF Bay Area). You don't need to smash
ashtrays -- that's way too much work!

Prowl around on recycled-trash pickup days, and snatch a few bottles from your
neighbors' recycling bins. And I'm sure Harry has a zillion tips -- he's our
resident beach-glass-tumbling expert.

light amber ashtray- 4" across
dark amber coffee cup- made in France "duralex" brand
dark blue heavy candle holder- 8" high
light blue votive
smelly red Avon candleholder- 8" high
cheap opaque white vase

what we learned: thick glass is really hard to shatter. the french
Duralex coffee cup shattered instantly into teeny tiny pieces that
were all stuck together- I guess it was tempered.


~~
Sooz
-------
"Those in the cheaper seats clap. The rest of you rattle your jewelry." John
Lennon (1940 - 1980) Royal Varieties Performance
~ Dr. Sooz's Bead Links
http://airandearth.netfirms.com/soozlinkslist.html

On 12 Feb 2004 19:52:59 -0800, (Kate) wrote:

the barrel was pretty full but I added about 2 cups of play sand from
my son's sandbox and topped off with water. It's tumbling quietly
now- my daughter thinks the sand is cushioning the sound.

tomorrow I'll check for off-gassing. and figure it will be well on
it's way to a fine matte finish. :-)

=====
Kate, http://www.cs.colorado.edu/~kolina/a...f-formula.html

Hmmm... I will be very interested in the outcome of placing regular sand
in your tumbler. I have never tried it.. please let me know.
Words of wisdom: Be sure not to over fill your tumbler... it will burn up
the motor. Make sure the barrel and contents are NOT over 3 pounds for
a 3 pound tumbler. 2nd: 2 cups of sand is way to much. When you measure
your grit or tumbling media use about 2 ouncese per pound. I normally use
between 3 and 4 tablespoons of grit per tumbler load... depending on what
I am tumbling. The secret for beach glass is bs sats srnsr sns. lol
Just kidding.... lol. In your first tumble use a very course grit. It's your choice
as to which one to use. The range is: 36, 60, 80, 90 anything over 90 takes
you into a medium grit. Experiment with them all and you will see many different
effects on your glass. If you want something similar to what you find on the beach,
use the 36 grit and tumble for 4 days. You can check each day and stop when
you have the glass you want. No law says you have to tumble for a week, BUT,
if you are wanting beautiful polished stones... tumble all stages for a week.
Most important advice: Only fill barrel 1/2 to 3/4 full. The media needs room to
tumble. Goodness.... talk about rambling! Good luck and good glass!

Harry

My Ebay Auctions are at http://snipurl.com/3okw

On 13 Feb 2004 20:13:01 GMT, uppies (Dr. Sooz) wrote:

Kate, do you live near the ocean? I do, and what gets washed up on the beach
is usually trash glass.

So if you want authentic-looking beach glass, just bust up some bottles.
There's a bottled water you can get in the fancier supermarkets that comes in a
cobalt-blue bottle, for instance. Beer bottles, etc. make great beach glass --
that's what I find on most beaches here (SF Bay Area). You don't need to smash
ashtrays -- that's way too much work!

Prowl around on recycled-trash pickup days, and snatch a few bottles from your
neighbors' recycling bins. And I'm sure Harry has a zillion tips -- he's our
resident beach-glass-tumbling expert.


~~
Sooz
-------
"Those in the cheaper seats clap. The rest of you rattle your jewelry." John
Lennon (1940 - 1980) Royal Varieties Performance
~ Dr. Sooz's Bead Links
http://airandearth.netfirms.com/soozlinkslist.html

Whoa! My head is swelling! Thank you Sooz for the wonderful compliment.
I tried not to get to winded on my reply to her post, but you know me... ramble on! lol

Harry
My Ebay Auctions are at http://snipurl.com/3okw

I tried not to get to winded on my reply to her post, but you know me...
ramble on! lol

Call it whatever you want, Harry -- but that post was full of great info,
useful and concise. You didn't ramble at all. You hardly ever do. :-)

To wit ---
ramble:
1 a : to move aimlessly from place to place
b : to explore idly
2 : to talk or write in a desultory or long-winded wandering fashion

You don't ramble, Harry! You don't wander. Seems to me you go from point A to
point B directly.
~~
Sooz
-------
"Those in the cheaper seats clap. The rest of you rattle your jewelry." John
Lennon (1940 - 1980) Royal Varieties Performance
~ Dr. Sooz's Bead Links
http://airandearth.netfirms.com/soozlinkslist.html

There used to be a beach near a common dump site in Mendocinp. Called Glass
Beach. Used to be full of garbage glass that had been all churned up.

Tina


"Dr. Sooz" wrote in message
...
Kate, do you live near the ocean? I do, and what gets washed up on the
beach
is usually trash glass.

So if you want authentic-looking beach glass, just bust up some bottles.
There's a bottled water you can get in the fancier supermarkets that comes
in a
cobalt-blue bottle, for instance. Beer bottles, etc. make great beach
glass --
that's what I find on most beaches here (SF Bay Area). You don't need to
smash
ashtrays -- that's way too much work!

Prowl around on recycled-trash pickup days, and snatch a few bottles from
your
neighbors' recycling bins. And I'm sure Harry has a zillion tips -- he's
our
resident beach-glass-tumbling expert.

light amber ashtray- 4" across
dark amber coffee cup- made in France "duralex" brand
dark blue heavy candle holder- 8" high
light blue votive
smelly red Avon candleholder- 8" high
cheap opaque white vase

what we learned: thick glass is really hard to shatter. the french
Duralex coffee cup shattered instantly into teeny tiny pieces that
were all stuck together- I guess it was tempered.


~~
Sooz
-------
"Those in the cheaper seats clap. The rest of you rattle your jewelry."
John
Lennon (1940 - 1980) Royal Varieties Performance
~ Dr. Sooz's Bead Links
http://airandearth.netfirms.com/soozlinkslist.html

There used to be a beach near a common dump site in Mendocinp. Called Glass
Beach. Used to be full of garbage glass that had been all churned up.

Shhhhhhh....Tina! Dang!
~~
Sooz
-------
"Those in the cheaper seats clap. The rest of you rattle your jewelry." John
Lennon (1940 - 1980) Royal Varieties Performance
~ Dr. Sooz's Bead Links
http://airandearth.netfirms.com/soozlinkslist.html

Unfortunately it's been pretty much denuded by now.

Tina


"Dr. Sooz" wrote in message
...
There used to be a beach near a common dump site in Mendocinp. Called
Glass
Beach. Used to be full of garbage glass that had been all churned up.

Shhhhhhh....Tina! Dang!
~~
Sooz
-------
"Those in the cheaper seats clap. The rest of you rattle your jewelry."
John
Lennon (1940 - 1980) Royal Varieties Performance
~ Dr. Sooz's Bead Links
http://airandearth.netfirms.com/soozlinkslist.html

Unfortunately it's been pretty much denuded by now.

I know....I went there a few years back, and one guy was using a shovel and
buckets to get all he could. I wanted to snatch the bucket from him and whack
him with it. It was just....morally wrong, somehow.
~~
Sooz
-------
"Those in the cheaper seats clap. The rest of you rattle your jewelry." John
Lennon (1940 - 1980) Royal Varieties Performance
~ Dr. Sooz's Bead Links
http://airandearth.netfirms.com/soozlinkslist.html

On 14 Feb 2004 01:43:40 GMT, uppies (Dr. Sooz) wrote:

I tried not to get to winded on my reply to her post, but you know me...
ramble on! lol

Call it whatever you want, Harry -- but that post was full of great info,
useful and concise. You didn't ramble at all. You hardly ever do. :-)

To wit ---
ramble:
1 a : to move aimlessly from place to place
b : to explore idly
2 : to talk or write in a desultory or long-winded wandering fashion

You don't ramble, Harry! You don't wander. Seems to me you go from point A to
point B directly.
~~
Sooz
-------
"Those in the cheaper seats clap. The rest of you rattle your jewelry." John
Lennon (1940 - 1980) Royal Varieties Performance
~ Dr. Sooz's Bead Links
http://airandearth.netfirms.com/soozlinkslist.html

Thank you.... I feel good knowing NOW what the meaning of
ramble is. ) I do this from tine to time in my own house. lol

Harry
My Ebay Auctions are at http://snipurl.com/3okw