#glassslumping

At some point in your life, you have likely seen the glass blowing process. You probably just thought about a glowing ball of glass on the end of a long metal rod being blown, twisted, and manipulated by a glassblower to create a work of art. However, you have likely never heard of glass slumping. So what is glass slumping, and how is it different from glass blowing?

Glass slumping is a process that combines intense heat from a kiln and the effects of gravity to melt glass in the shape of a mold. The glass can be melted over a mold, into a mold, or in some cases, the mold material is melted into the piece. With this method, you can create bowls, coasters, plates, and other works of arts.

In our case, we start by using the kiln at a temperature of around 1500 degrees Fahrenheit to flatten a previously used glass bottle. The melting process takes a few hours, and then, the bottle is left to cool, usually overnight. Once cooled, the flattened bottle is put into a slumping mold. It then goes through the process in the kiln a second time at the same temperature until the bottle melts into the shape of the mold. The slumping process can take up to two days to fully complete.

Check out two of our slumped wine bottle pieces, pictured below.