Ode to silicone
Yesterday, I wrote about making fused glass mushrooms. I thought I was done with the behind-the-scenes story. All of the components were made. I just needed to add a little clear silicone to attach the cap to the stem. Easy.
Except not easy. I created so much work for myself in the clean-up process.
Love it / hate it
I am of two minds when it comes to using silicone as a glass glue. I will outline the pros and cons.
Pros
- Low toxicity – very important for me. I also work with gloves and good ventilation.
- It is clear in the tube and dries clear. Extra important for glass.
- It is strong. It also has some give, which is better than a non-flexible glue for the expected bumps.
- it is readily available and low cost.
- Easy to use (in theory!).
Cons
- Messy – big con for me. I am hoping to improve my application skills.
- Adheres well to glass (this is also a pro). The ‘con’ here is post-application clean-up. It took me forever to get the silicone off of the glass, and, as you can imagine, the sandblasted surfaces really held on extra tight.
On a positive note
Yeahhh… this is all part of the experimentation and learning process. Next time will be better. Right? ?(Hey DIYers who love using silicone -feel free to email me your tips!)
As if this wasn’t enough, I dropped a mushroom on the tile floor while cleaning it. The mushroom took most of the impact on the bottle stem, and it broke. But! Look! The silicone held it together post-impact. Wow. Not salvageable, but still cool.
And, I should add, the mushroom cap stayed tightly adhered!
I will say that the silicone is tough. I really had to pull to remove the chipped cap off of the bottle stem. I need to completely clean off this chipped blue cap before I can refire it, and it took forever!
The end?
Hopefully, this is the end to this little story. Enough of this silicone stuff. I am eager to get back to cutting and fusing glass!