I’ve been accumulating lots of bits and pieces of glass from my many fused glass projects. What to do with these scraps?  After looking at ideas on-line, I found several blogs that talked about a technique called pot melting and decided to try it.

A Pot Melt involves placing scraps of glass in a clay pot with holes in the bottom.  A terra cota planting pot is the simplest form of a pot for melting glass inside the kiln. When the glass is heated to a high enough temperature, the glass will flows from openings in the bottom of a clay pot onto the kiln shelf below. This flowing thick syrupy glass will result in unique spiral or circular patterns.

For my pot melts, I found that a terra cota pot was too tall for my kiln.  I tried to drill a hole in a terra cota pot base, but both times I tried the base cracked.  So, instead I purchased a clay pot made for pot melting.  The pot I selected had seven holes in the bottom and was purchased from Bonny Doon Pottery.

This pot was placed over a stainless steel ring lined with fiber paper.  Clear glass scraps were placed inside the ring before the clay pot was positioned over the ring.

After firing to 1600 degrees and holding for 90 minutes, the glass flowed through the holes leaving behind a thin layer of glass in the mold and a nicely swirled circle of glass below.

Lots a glass pieces – several pot melt attempts!

Now, to make these useful – that will be my next posting.

The Results: