Making Billets

One of the uses of cullet (small pieces of glass) is in casting. However, simply placing the glass into a mould and firing, leaves many bubbles and often shows the edges of the original pieces of glass. Billets (ingots of glass) are more useful because they have fewer of the small bubbles and fewer edges than cullet.

It is possible to make your own billets. This can be done in a fashion similar to pot melts, although the temperature does not have to be so high. And the results are easy to store, if the dimensions are kept regular.

You need to have a mould for the melting glass to be contained within. These moulds can be made from plaster. A simple way is to use old margarine tubs placed upside down and fastened to the base within a dammed area. Pour the plaster of paris over the tubs to make the moulds. An alternative is to use strips of refractory material (fibre board or cut up kiln shelves) surrounded by heavy bricks to stop any movement due to the weight of the glass.

The glass to be formed is put into ceramic flower pots and can be directly onto the plaster of paris or dammed areas. You should put at least one piece of glass to cover the hole at the bottom of the pot. All this glass must be clean. Calculate the amount of glass required by determining the volume of the containment area (in cubic centimetres) and multiply by the specific gravity to give the number of grams required.

Don't get too ambitious about size, as these billets need to be fitted into the mould reservoir for filling the mould. A small margarine tub is approximately 12 cm wide, 7 cm deep and 7 cm high. This is as large as required, and smaller may be better. If you are making your own from dams, something like 4 cm by 8cm by 2cm may be better. This size is convenient for filling a reservoir, and has the advantage of being able to compare the intensity of colour the different thicknesses will give to the casting.

Remember that the thicker you make the billets, the longer you have to anneal. So the annealing time of the billet may be the factor that determines time. A 2 cm billet will take at least 9 hours of annealing time; one of 4 cm will take 28 hours of annealing.

When setting up the kiln for making the billets, remember that in general the higher the reservoir above the billet mould, the fewer bubbles you will get in the billet, although you are confined by the height of the kiln. Although there still will be some bubbles, these will further reduce by the second flow of the glass during the casting process.

To fire the set up, you can advance the temperature rapidly to 650/670ºC with a long soak there (possibly 3 hours). The final temperature can be below pot melt temperatures, so a casting temperature of 830ºC with a long soak (possibly 6 hours) will be sufficient. Take note of your final thickness – including any containment material – to determine the annealing soak and schedule.

Home Made Billets

You do not always have to buy cullet for casting or billets - you can make your own. Billets lead to less veiling and bubbles than just putting in your old cullet into the mould.

Create a mould by using dams or pouring investment materials around something like a plastic salad tub to make a billet – the shape is not usually critical. Place a reservoir such as a terracotta flower post above. Take the temperature to the 650C – 670C region for a 1- 2 hour soak followed by a long soak at 830C.

Normally, the higher you allow the glass fall, the fewer bubbles, but you're usually limited as to how high you can go in the average glass fusing kiln. You'll get some bubbles, but if you then put your new billet as a single piece in a reservoir for your casting you'll get the second flow that removes more of the bubbles.

All the glass must be thoroughly clean before being put into the pot for making the billet. Do not use iridised glass as it reduces the clarity of the billet. Do not use glass that has been ground as that will cause hazing in the billet. Instead, cut off the ground sides before washing the remainder and including in the melting process. Do not include the ground off-cuts.

Based on information from Cynthia Morgan (Morganica)

More information here

Using Scraps

There are a number of ways to use fusing compatible cullet, also known as scraps. There are probably many more ways to use cullet in kiln forming processes, but these are the ones I use.

Arrange the cullet in a pot or over a mesh for a pot melt or a mesh melt and use the result on the shelf or container for elements in other fusing. 

Boil the glass. This involves arranging the cullet on the shelf – normally dammed – and taking it to around 925C with a significant soak. The resulting bubbles that rise and break leave patterns in the glass.

Pattern bars can be made through arrangement of the pieces in a dammed area to make long rectangular bars.

Cut or arrange the cullet into strips, curves and other shapes. Shingle them into appealing patterns without being concerned about gaps. The result can be presented as panels or, when slumped, as vessels.

Crush the cullet into frit and sort into various sizes for subsequent use. Use a dust mask while doing this.

Use as cullet for casting. Then you don't need to crush the pieces.

Sell it.