Messing about with wine bottles.

 I seem to manage to collect all sorts of glass  - glass fascinates me and if I see a nice coloured bottle or an interesting shape I can never bring myself to put it in the recycling.   Because of this habit I have amassed quite a collection.

Some I make into pretty lamps, others I melt and make abstract shapes from.

For my sustainability assignment I have decided to try and make a clock out of mini wine bottles. 

I had a box of these mini Mateus Rose bottles, just because they are such a pleasing shape, so thought it was a good time to make them into something new.

So, time for a good scrub.  It took a pan scourer and a teaspoon to scrape all the lables off, and I had to cut off the little wire ring around the neck. Neither of these would have been good in the kiln.

When they were all nice and clean I put the bottles in the kitchen oven to make sure they well and truly dried out.   My kiln is a glass kiln which wouldn't take too kindly to the presence of moisture within it.

I laid them all out, making sure none of them were touching, then programmed the kiln to do an overnight fusing fire.

In the morning I opened the kiln lid to find a set of lovely flat little bottles.  Result!

As my kiln isn't a large one I needed to do two firings to get enough bottles for my piece.  So now another patient wait until tomorrow when the next lot will be ready   :)