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I recently broke a piece of glassware that had been with me for over a decade. I have all the pieces and I'm wondering if it's possible to stick it in a kiln a

I recently broke a piece of glassware that had been with me for over a decade. I have all the pieces and I'm wondering if it's possible to stick it in a kiln and run a heat cycle that will cause all the cracks to flow together without deforming the shape, and barring that if there's a thin gold glue I could use to do some approximation of this technique but with cracks that are essentially zero width.

throwup238 2y ago
A very skilled glassmaker might be able to fuse the pieces together by heating the edges and pushing them together if the piece is simple enough but in general, no. That's why it's called glass blowing: the air pressure is what gives the glass form while it cools and vitrifies.
chris1993 2y ago
The BBC “repair shop” show recently (last year?) had an episode repairing a shattered vase with some specialist glass repair glue, so you can probably find some for this.
hcrean 2y ago
There is a method where you piece the glass together supported in investment, (a type of ceramic casting plaster), by building it up in layers. You tightly pack it and put it in the kiln, the investment holds the shape of the object when it melts. This is a very advanced and difficult method of glass re-forming.
Baeocystin 2y ago
The short answer is no. You will not get fusion without slump. That being said, there are excellent, optically-clear, UV stable epoxies that are made for this problem. Hxtal is the go-to for most. https://www.lakesidepottery.com/HTML%20Text/Tips/Hxtal-NYL-instructions-glass-epoxy.htm https://www.lakesidepottery.com/HTML%20Text/Tips/Hxtal-NYL-i... It is very thin, and will happily wick in and fill cracks. Often the join is completely invisible. The downside is that the cure time is on the order of 1-2 weeks. It does take a little practice to use effectively, and it's worth trying on less-important projects first, but it's straightforward enough that you can expect success if you follow the directions carefully.
talkingtab 2y ago
I would seriously consider kintsugi for aesthetic reasons. You do not have to go with the gold thing. Basic urushi is black so you could go with just black. You can also get Urushi in quite a wonderful red. And there is truly spectacular orange. As for the aesthetics. No matter what you do, you don't get a whole piece. It is broken and always will be. What you can do is to create something new that both has the beauty of the old and the care, beauty, whatever of continuing. I don't know how to explain this in logic, but there it is. I had quite a nice ceramic cup with charm that broke. I used black urushi which was not gaudy like gold leaf can be. I liked it even more than before. Another option is silver leaf instead of gold depending on the glassware. And finally you can get really crazy. Rankaku is where you get little tiny pieces of quail egg shell and place it into the urushi. It is painstaking - to say the least- but the results can be beyond stunning. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/jean-dunand-18771942--55309901663698206/ https://www.pinterest.com/pin/jean-dunand-18771942--55309901...

throwup238 2y ago

A very skilled glassmaker might be able to fuse the pieces together by heating the edges and pushing them together if the piece is simple enough but in general, no. That's why it's called glass blowing: the air pressure is what gives the glass form while it cools and vitrifies.

chris1993 2y ago

The BBC “repair shop” show recently (last year?) had an episode repairing a shattered vase with some specialist glass repair glue, so you can probably find some for this.

hcrean 2y ago

There is a method where you piece the glass together supported in investment, (a type of ceramic casting plaster), by building it up in layers. You tightly pack it and put it in the kiln, the investment holds the shape of the object when it melts. This is a very advanced and difficult method of glass re-forming.

Baeocystin 2y ago

The short answer is no. You will not get fusion without slump. That being said, there are excellent, optically-clear, UV stable epoxies that are made for this problem. Hxtal is the go-to for most. https://www.lakesidepottery.com/HTML%20Text/Tips/Hxtal-NYL-instructions-glass-epoxy.htm https://www.lakesidepottery.com/HTML%20Text/Tips/Hxtal-NYL-i... It is very thin, and will happily wick in and fill cracks. Often the join is completely invisible. The downside is that the cure time is on the order of 1-2 weeks. It does take a little practice to use effectively, and it's worth trying on less-important projects first, but it's straightforward enough that you can expect success if you follow the directions carefully.

talkingtab 2y ago

I would seriously consider kintsugi for aesthetic reasons. You do not have to go with the gold thing. Basic urushi is black so you could go with just black. You can also get Urushi in quite a wonderful red. And there is truly spectacular orange. As for the aesthetics. No matter what you do, you don't get a whole piece. It is broken and always will be. What you can do is to create something new that both has the beauty of the old and the care, beauty, whatever of continuing. I don't know how to explain this in logic, but there it is. I had quite a nice ceramic cup with charm that broke. I used black urushi which was not gaudy like gold leaf can be. I liked it even more than before. Another option is silver leaf instead of gold depending on the glassware. And finally you can get really crazy. Rankaku is where you get little tiny pieces of quail egg shell and place it into the urushi. It is painstaking - to say the least- but the results can be beyond stunning. https://www.pinterest.com/pin/jean-dunand-18771942--55309901663698206/ https://www.pinterest.com/pin/jean-dunand-18771942--55309901...