Sunday, February 8, 2009

Flattened Insulin Vial Wind Chime


I finally put together a wind chime using all of my slumped-until-they're-flat insulin bottles.  I was disappointed that the glass ended up being so cloudy, but I heated the heck out of them, so I guess that's an unfortunate side effect.  The spirals at the end of the copper wire are sandwiched between the layers of glass.  That was the inspiration for this project - fusing a wire inside the flattened vials so that they could then hang from that internal wire. 



I tried recording a couple short videos to show the nice clinking sounds that these little bottles make when they knock against each other, but unfortunately the sound didn't come through well at all.  



I just love these flattened little bottles.  They are just over 2 inches long when flattened.  Hmmm...I just realized that they are kind of the shape of an old-fashioned hot water bottle.   

Luckily when the bottles aren't slumped so extremely they seem to stay clear.  Stay tuned for one more slumping project with these babies that I'm still playing around with.  And I have an idea involving LED lights, but that's a whole new direction for the future.

6 comments:

Mary-Frances said...

LOVE them! How pretty! Hmmm, can you color the glass? It's such a pretty look tho! Bravo!

Anonymous said...

I love them, isn't there a dust you can put in the glass to make cool effects. Cloudy does not bother me!-Angela

FatCatAnna said...

I used your picture of your wind chimes in a diabetes blog I wrote - and think this is a wonderful way to put our insulin bottles to good use!!! Expect to have a few people commenting on your picture - as I've linked it up to my post on FB -
Anna aka FatCatAnna

Anonymous said...

Just wondering what sort of copper wire you used inside the slumped insulin bottles. I have tried using copper wire in slumped bottles with my high school students and the copper went black and left ash inside the bottle. Frustrated bottle slumper.

Staci A said...

I know exactly what you mean. I once fused fine copper wire between sheets of glass, not realizing that it must have had a clear coating of some sort, and it made a big soot-filled bubble in the middle of the piece. It seems like some copper wire that isn't encased like electrical wire has a varnish-like coating that burns off like that in the heat of the kiln. I've taken to sticking to recycling the old electrical wire of various gauges that require stripping off the covering, then a quick steel wool rubbing. You could try sanding the wire or using steel wool to remove anything on the surface. The wire will still oxidize to a red/brown but you shouldn't have ash. Good luck! If you think about it, let me know what happens!

Unknown said...

Maybe add some colored glass beads for color? If they melt a bit too, would have a sorta stained glass effect maybe? Would be interesting to experiment with, if I were a slumper, LOL. Sadly, I have the bottles, but no clue how you do this.