Depression glass

[Chocake]

A friend is cleaning out her collections of "Stuff." She just dropped by and delivered some of the garbage to me...
There's a tin of broken "depression glass" serving pieces. She thought I could put it to use in beads. Most of it is transparent green but some is a lovely transparent pink. Does anyone have any experience melting it? Can you offer any incites/advice? (I'm on a hot head If that matters). Thanks in advance.

[one hot beader]

You can certainly recycle this glass. I have made beads from pink and green depression glass.

Only one problem I can see, are you sure the pieces are all from the same item?

You generally can't mix glass from different items as the COE from one batch to another may not match.

If the pieces are large enough to get a bead from each one then go for it!

You need some pliers or haemostats, hold the piece well out in the flame and heat it very slowly.

You can just make plain beads and etch...these look lovely
or you can make raised decorations, bumps and swirls are nice
You can try a small amount of frit too. But I personally think this detracts from what you are trying to do, which is showcase the recycled glass.

Annealing's a bit of a guess, I just annealed mine with my regular 104 schedule and crossed my fingers. Small plain beads are fairly safe anyway, and none have cracked yet.

Have fun!

[cgbeads]

Maybe use them in fusing? or make a mosaic out of them?
-D