In good temper
Tempered glass aka safety glass. You know the stuff. The glass you get from broken windscreens that you sometimes find in carparks or the side of the road.
Tempered Glass Is So Beautiful When Smashed, originally uploaded by deaddamien.
Well, some people use it with spectactular effect in their mosaics.
Meet Ellen Blakeley. She is a pioneer in the field of using safety glass.
Full Spectrum Charlie, originally uploaded by Pixie Dust.
This 2005 sculpture was Ellen’s contribution to the Santa Rosa/Schultze family celebration of the 55th anniversay of the Peanuts comic strip.
Here are some more examples of her work from her website:
There are some really interesting things under the safety glass in Blakeley’s work.
Find out how it is done in the FAQ on her website.
wow! transparent mosaic! i’m guessing that this is either glued onto glass with transparent epoxy or acrylic or formed in some way. i’d love to make a screen or window mosaic for my streetside french windows does anyone have any ideas how its done. do i just glue onto existing glass? i was looking at the bowls – are they glued onto something or formed? everything i’ve done until now has been cement/stone or glass or ceramic glued onto backboard and grouted and i know epoxy is not easy to use, has limited life, temperature restrictions and toxic whew! any advice gratefully received
I am in awe of your tempered glass work and hope one day to learn your techniques. I have attempted my own forms but hjave a long way to go.
Fabulous work, fabulous colors! I have a big sheet of tempered glass but yet to break it. I’m anxious to begin my first project!
have searched all day for directions on working with tempered glass.i want to cover pictures withe the tempered glass and mosaic around them with china but don’t know what to use to stick glass down and about sealing etc. help any info please……….
Ann,I took Ellen Blakeley’s Tempered Glass Class & she uses Clear Epoxy but you can also use a clear silicone. Hope that helps…
thanks for glue advise now i am wondering since i can’t take her class …when you break the glass do you put a film on it surely you don’t pick up tiny tiny pieces with tweezers?i thought some of the pieces would stay attached like 3″by3″ anyway but the glass store said no…so why do you see pieces laying on the road after a wreck that are still attached? thanks again i have a 3 by 4 foot sheet of glass but don’t want to break before i can get more info
Hi Ann,
You break tempered glass by hitting it the side edge of the sheet with a hammer. Much of the glass does break in clumps, which are very cool to use. The smaller pieces are used to fill in between the larger bits & you can also incorporate non tempered glass bits into the mix… don’t know if that makes sense, but I hope I’ve helped…
Wrap T.glass in plastic, hit hard on outside edge. Use a non toxic epoxy (mix well) to affix your photos, foils, glitter, etc. into place. Then cover all your collage with a thin layer of more epoxy and begin applying plate glass (not tempered) over the photos and fill in remaining areas with tempered glass islands and shake (loose stuff). Magic smooth is water soluble epoxy, with a working time of 1 hr.
There are other good (art) epoxies as well.
I would like step by step instruction on making a tempered glass mosaic using paint, ribbon, foil, etc underneath so it looks like there is depth to the piece. What kind of adhesives do u use and can u glue tempered glass to wood or do u need regular glass/