One of the blog
followers contacted me recently to ask if I knew of anyone who might be
interested in purchasing sheets of glass. I did not and suggested I rather do a
few blog on using glass for crafts and she seemed keen on the idea. Here is the
first of these blogs with promises of more to follow.
I have to admit that
this was the first time I would be cutting glass and I will readily admit that
there was vast room for improvement. Still, I was given a rather large pile of
glass by someone towards the end of last year and I have wanted to do something
with this ever since. Having received the glass for free, I was able to
experiment to my heart’s content. In the end a bit of glass was wasted, but not
nearly as much as I initially allowed for. This is something you always need to
budget for when starting a new hobby. Allow yourself room to experiment and
learn and it will release a lot of the stress.
You need a little bit
of machine oil and a sharp glass cutter.
Dip the wheel of the
glass cutter in the oil.
You also need a clean
sheet of glass. I used a very thin 2 mm glass from a frame that broke. (It was
probably the only time in my life where a frame broke and the glass stayed
intact). I also used a metal ruler and wax pencils also known as china markers.
China
markers are able to write on just about any surface and are therefore brilliant
for marking glass. The marks can easily be erased with a cloth and the leftover
residue of oil (from the knife) on the glass afterwards.
Having watched
demonstrations on cutting glass by experts, I believed it would be as easy as
they made it out to be and set of marking my glass with the china marker.
I laid the glass on a
flat smooth surface and cut. Nothing. I listened for the distinct grind that
you should be hearing, but only got a slight swoosh. I then applied more pressure
and finally achieved a cut, nowhere near the lines I had drawn!
I used a pair of flat
nosed pliers to gently break the glass on the cut.
This was the result of
my first day’s attempt.
I could work with most
of these, but the ones that were not usable; I collected in a box to discard
with properly later. Never discard broken glass in plastic bags.
Glass splinters can best
be cleaned up with a wet cloth, or better yet, a wad of wet newspapers.
I went back the next
day to try my hand at cutting glass again. This time I had no thin pieces of
glass left over, but only 5 mm thick sheets. There were two broken sheets in
the pile and I decided to experiment further on one of these.
I took a couple of
cuts, before I realized that I needed to apply less pressure, more oil, and
lift my hand a little higher. I also found it worked better, for me at least,
if I pulled the knife towards me, rather than pushing it away from me. In the
end I got some rather clean cuts and straight lines that broke straight as
well. I also found that it was mush easier to cut straight lines in glass than
it was to draw it by hand. Go figure!
I also learned that if
I slipped my ruler in under the cut and gently tapped the cut piece with the
back of the cutter or pliers that the glass would cleanly and effortlessly snap
off.
In the next blog I
will show you how to decoupage the glass to create your own glass tiles.
For more
crafty ideas and great products, visit APrettyTalent.com.
Remember to
keep nurturing your TALENT for making PRETTY things.
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