Bad Idea of the Day: Glassblowing at Home
Saturday, February 7, 2009
So...
I had a beautiful vision. A little baby food jar, food for my precious babies, could be turned into a little piece of art. I was going to turn it upside-down and melt the bottom so it would drip down and touch the top and then cool in a little glass river. I thought maybe I'd position a few color-changing LED lights at the base of the thing and mount it on a little block of wood when I was done.
It was supposed to be a thing of beauty.
I took some safety precautions. I set the baby food bottle (washed and empty) upside-down on its lid -- with the lid off, and the jar slightly offset, so heated and expanding air wouldn't be a problem. I set the whole thing on a wet rag in the middle of a cookie sheet on the stove. That way, the beautiful melted and flowing glass wouldn't start any fires.
Then I got out my butane jet torch and fired away at the base of the jar.
Those of you who know anything about working with glass are already laughing at me.
For the rest of you -- here's a word of advice: don't try melting your own glass at home, unless your real goal is to turn baby food bottles into grenades.
I got it all cleaned up. Only a few little cuts on my hand. My heart will probably slow back down to normal by bedtime.
April was in the living room, watching the whole thing happen. When I apologized for blowing up our kitchen, she replied, "I suppose it was inevitably going to happen someday."
I married well.
posted by Tom @ 7:43 PM,
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