Tempered Glass Experiment with Liquid Polymer Clay

[crafty_lady]

No there isn't a limit to the number of questions you can ask!     Tina (MMQ) asked a million questions before she tackled her first mosaic which was her kitchen backsplash. You need to wait until it is clear (or at least mostly clear) before grouting...not an easy thing to do when you are anxious to get it done, right?

[shrty411]

pressing too hard is a common beginners mistake. Best to just take some old glass and practice. There are youtube videos that are helpful. The oil is a big deal, too ( one of my early mistakes). I'm still not that great at it.

I use dap regularly and have never had issues with paint under it. I think it was Mac glue that caused problems. then of course, it could react with one think and not something else.

I would wait until the Weldbond is clear to grout. That time can vary.


Ask away!!

[Andrea]

We drug you into the mosaic world; the least we can do is help you along. 

Did I read that correctly that you scored both sides of the glass?  If so, that's a no-no.  Only do one side of a score, and only do it one time.  Trying to go over the initial score to make it deeper will just confuse the glass, and it won't break correctly.  Running pliers do help with long cuts, and I've found that if I pinch the end opposite of the pliers it helps.  That said, even with a single score and running pliers I don't always get perfect cuts. <shrug>  As someone said, there are good glass cutting days and bad glass cutting days.  If you've got the time, a class with a live instructor can't be beat.  He or she will be able to immediately correct anything you're doing wrong before it becomes a habit.

You know, Muncie's only about six hours from me and I love road trips... 

[Eileen ~ PantherFL]

Modified to mention that I didn't see the other replies before I replied, maybe because I didn't notice the next page hiding in the blue background, LOL.  I keep doing that!

You only cut once, steady continuous score (no starting & stopping) and you break then, not later.  
Classes would be an excellent idea if you have access to them.  There are some pretty good books out too, maybe you can check your library.  Also youtube has some videos that are decent.  Buying some cheap window glass makes the mistakes less painful until you feel more confident (because stained glass is not usually cheap!)

Lady in Glass & some others are more proficient and may be able to give you some good pointers.

I'm of no help on the grout, I think you just need to wait until the glue is dry, but I'd not swear to it.  And I think I remember someone recently saying they grouted before the glue was even dry.

[jillpalumbo]

Oh, thanks for the advice, I have not had a chance to get more glass, but I may later this week. 
I found out yesterday that my good friend (the one I made the rocking chair for at Thanksgiving) is the daughter of a glass cutting expert and her brother runs the glass company that was once their dad's.  And she also told me that the business next door is a stained glass store that offers classes.  Wow.  I know what I'll be doing this summer.  I know I have to wait.  Waiting, and waiting, not sure I can take it.
This waiting for glue to dry and for glue to dry and for glue to dry .....well it is enough to drive an impatient person crazy! 

Here is an update on the first tg project.  (I have four gluing tg projects under my belt now )
I took apart the first pedestal (the one with too much glue) and redid the base and seat idea for my heartless statue guy. I will still need to grout (after it dries). 

[lorimendenhall]

looks like you did a great job gluing that glass down! oh, and I know what you mean about being impatient... it takes 3 days for resin to completely cure. that drives me nuts.

[Andrea]

As much as it sucks to wait, that really is the best option.  There just isn't any good substitute for live instruction.

This is looking good.  Will he be getting a peacock tail? 

[LadyInGlass]

Jill this is why one always should have more than one project going at a time, glue drying on one, got to a different project and work

[LadyInGlass]

Here is a test I heard about before, although I have not tried it myself (didn't need to by the time I heard of it).  Take a piece of paper and place it on a hard surface, run your glass scorer along the paper at the same pressure you were using on the glass.  If the scorer cuts the paper you are pressing too hard, you want it to just put a groove in the paper, not cut it

Basically all you are doing is weakening that line in the glass so that it will break along that line (hopefully).  Think of folding a piece of paper to make a tear line, it's sort of like that.

Warm glass breaks better than cold glass, you can even use a heating pad to warm your glass before scoring and breaking, it works

Get some plain sheet glass, you can even use old picture frame glass if you have some around, and practice scoring and breaking on that.  One of the best things I have learned is to tap your glass from the underneath side of where you scored, tap it all along the cut line.  You sometimes have to guess at where you just scored but in the right light you should be able to see it.  Tap gently, on the opposite side from where you scored, this helps to weaken the glass even more and will often start the glass breaking along the score line.  When I tap I use the metal knob on the end of the glass cutter, the knob that is the oil reservoir cap.  You can use other things to tap though, they should be metal.

If you have more questions you need in depth answers to Jill, email me strawberryblondie@charter.net , this goes for anyone else too   I don't proclaim to be any sort of expert but I have cut my share of glass and then some over the years

[jillpalumbo]

Oh, thanks so much for the advice, Linda.  You could have made a "how NOT to do it" video on how I tried it.  I read the hint about tapping the glass before, so I was tapping with my jewelry pounding hammer, and I scored the glass real "good" on both sides.  I pressed down nice and firmly like when I cut thick paper with a rotary cutter.  I always go that extra mile.  No wonder it was a total flop.  Probably the only thing I did right was wear safety glasses. 

[LadyInGlass]

Jill you just make me    You are funny  and so cute   It will take you no time at all to get the hang of glass cutting, really!  I really had to chuckle about the tapping with the hammer.  We all press to hard at first when scoring, you know you are pressing too hard when you come to the end of the glass and little shards fly off the end    I still do that sometimes.  Practice, practice dear Jill, it just gets to be addicting like clay and mosaicing.  I love the sound of the scorer doing it's thing and then the "crack...snap" when it breaks.  And then when it doesn't break correctly all of the *&^&%*())*&^% that comes out of my mouth, not the best sounds there 

[crafty_lady]

Jill you just make me    You are funny  and so cute   It will take you no time at all to get the hang of glass cutting, really!  I really had to chuckle about the tapping with the hammer.  We all press to hard at first when scoring, you know you are pressing too hard when you come to the end of the glass and little shards fly off the end    I still do that sometimes.  Practice, practice dear Jill, it just gets to be addicting like clay and mosaicing.  I love the sound of the scorer doing it's thing and then the "crack...snap" when it breaks.  And then when it doesn't break correctly all of the *&^&%*())*&^% that comes out of my mouth, not the best sounds there 

Ditto! 

[MilliMoMo]

Jill, a couple of years ago I took a glassc-cutting class at a stained glass shop.  It was a required class for those people going on to take the actual stained glass class.  I was only interested in the cutting, and that class gave me SO many "a-ha!" moments!  Glass cutting is a breeze now (plus they showed us the grinder, ring saw, etc.)  You definitely need an oil-cutter and just a little practice.