gtal
off to a rocking start
Member since September 2011
Posts: 2
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Post by gtal on Aug 20, 2012 18:48:46 GMT -5
I live near the shore and I'm a beach junkie from childhood's earliest hour. My love of rocks started a little later - I was about 5 or 6 when I started picking up rocks. I even liked driveway gravel (maybe I shouldn't admit that). The beach glass is getting more and more scarce so I've been trying to tumble regular glass to make "beach glass". It's true, those of us who want it to look that way want that frosted look, but it's hard to get it to look authentic. It really comes out frosted but the scratches are very fine and the finish is very smooth, at least compared to real sea glass. And I never tumble glass for more than 3 days at a time. My next experiment is to actually put not only sand but pebbles, broken shells, etc in the tumbler to try to get the environment more like what happens in nature. I'm wondering if the minerals in sea water have an effect on the finish, but I'm not sure what sea water would do to the barrel. All that being said, I'm really liking the pictures I'm seeing of highly polished glass and I'm thinking they would make beautiful wire sculpted jewelry. Another comment - yard and rummage sales can produce some really great colored glass, and thick too, from old knick knacks and it's pretty cheap.
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teddymadison
off to a rocking start
Member since August 2012
Posts: 9
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Post by teddymadison on Aug 23, 2012 10:52:46 GMT -5
Ooh, what kind of beer has blue bottles? Bud Light Platinum. I have a bunch of them because I can't throw them out (I have some wierd fixation on blue glass lol). I've been cutting them and making oil tea lights with them using the neck and cap as a wick holder and used cooking oil as fuel Guess now I can try tumbling them EDIT: Just a note, they are thin as others stated and when light passes through only one layer they are not as impressive as a whole bottle where light is passing through two layers.
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billg22
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2011
Posts: 451
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Post by billg22 on Aug 23, 2012 13:53:33 GMT -5
I thought I had found the mother load the. I was going through Ikea the other day and found some red and pink vases for 49 cents! I bought 8 of them. I get them home and give them the hammer. They were tinted. Clear glass painted. I gave them the hammer again and again. The glass was thick and it did tumble well. It kind of looks like ice. Live and learn.
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The Dad_Ohs
fully equipped rock polisher
Take me to your Labradorite!!
Member since September 2012
Posts: 1,860
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Post by The Dad_Ohs on Sept 2, 2012 15:48:30 GMT -5
An alternative is to buy a bag of landscape glass and tumble it, it will come on various colors and different sizes are available. Also if you have a glass maker near or anyplace that replaces glass, windows and such, you can usually pick thru their garbage for free as long as you don't make a mess. You can even get large rough shaped blocks of glass that can be broken down or cut to sizes that are easier to use depending on your project/preference. BTW.... Howdy ... new rockhound/member here!! will be posting formal howdy soon!!
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billg22
spending too much on rocks
Member since November 2011
Posts: 451
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Post by billg22 on Sept 4, 2012 13:56:43 GMT -5
Half the fun of glass tumbling is breaking the glass. The other half is making sure the beer bottles are empty. I'm finding some great Russian beer (and bottles) at a local (non-big chain) market.
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