material recycling system ︎
casting and molding ︎
casting and molding ︎
Ripple
A series of dinnerware and decorative bowl set created from post-consumer soda-lime glass waste. Through collection, sanitization, material breakdown, fusing and slumping, bottle glass waste is regenerated into new functional objects that can be recycled again just like a beer bottle at the end of its lifecycle.
RAW MATERIAL PREPERATION
COLLECTION & SANITIZATION
Glass waste is collected from sources like resturant and bars who are not working with recyclers and discard their bottles with the landfill.
Glass waste is collected from sources like resturant and bars who are not working with recyclers and discard their bottles with the landfill.
DIY STEEL GLASS CRUSHER
CRUSHING INTO SHARDS
SHIFT & SANITIZE
MOLD MAKING
3D MOCKUP & PROPOSAL
LASERCUT JIG
TURNING W/ JIG
CLAY POSITIVE
︎︎︎ Slip cast molds were made using the clay positive method above, the slip cast molds were used to batch produce stoneware glass slump molds. ︎︎︎
FUSING PLATE
TOP: SLIP CAST MOLD
BOTTOM: STONEWARE END PRODUCT
TOP: SLIP CAST MOLD
BOTTOM: STONEWARE END PRODUCT
SLUMP MOLD 1
SLUMP MOLD 2
FUSING SHARDS
FUSED FLAT PLATE
GLASS SLUMP
END PRODUCT
THE CHALLENGE
Different types of glass fuses and slumps in different temperture and require a meticulous firing schedule with specification in tempeture, tempeture changing speed, and hold time in relation to velocity of slumping.
Having no available information on firing commercial recycled soda lime glass, I had to estimate based on relative information and reaching out to a dozen of experienced glass workers across the US. With extensive investigation and a little bit of luck, I was able to produce successful products within 2 experiments.