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Awesome Glass

How to Make a Neon Sign

How to Make a Neon Sign

You can approximate the look of neon with LED or electroluminescent lights, but there’s nothing like the warm glow and high-voltage buzz of a real glass neon sign. Eater’s Katie Pickens takes us on a tour of Brooklyn Glass to learn how they make these colorful signs for restaurants and other businesses around New York City.

Cutting Glass with a Sandblaster

Cutting Glass with a Sandblaster

NightHawkInLight built a homebrew mini-sandblaster that’s powerful enough to cut glass. With the help of some electrical tape and paraffin wax, he shows how to cut a perfect helix shape out of a test tube. If you plan on trying to DIY, be sure to follow his recommended safety precautions.

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Shredder vs. Bulletproof Glass

Shredder vs. Bulletproof Glass

The PressTube channel has made a name for itself by destroying stuff just for fun. In this video, they fed sheets of bulletproof glass into their industrial-strength shredding machine. Naturally, the shredder won, filling our ears with a jarring crunch as it chewed through progressively thicker panes.

Golf Balls vs. Doors and Windows

Golf Balls vs. Doors and Windows

The guys from How Ridiculous take a momentary vacation from tossing stuff off of a tower to play some golf. While on the fairway, they performed various destructive and unscientific experiments, including testing many hollow-core doors and panes of glass they could drive a golf ball through.

Map on Glass Lamps

Map on Glass Lamps
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These unique accent lamps can be personalized with a map of a city of your choice. Faytown Designs makes each one by etching the design onto its glass shade. The tabletop lamps measure 19″ tall and come with a T45 Edison light bulb to accentuate the details. They also can do logos and other custom images.

Hydraulic Press vs. Glass Sphere

Hydraulic Press vs. Glass Sphere

The guys at the Hydraulic Press Channel are always on the lookout for things that hold onto so much energy before failing that they explode catastrophically. Paper does the trick quite well, and now we see that solid glass spheres have similar explosive potential.

Making Glass Guitar Picks

Making Glass Guitar Picks

We’ve seen how Morningstar makes guitars out of glass, but it turns out they also make glass picks to go with them. The time-consuming process involves cutting strips of glass into triangles, then sanding the pieces down to smooth out their edges. The picks are available for sale on their website for $30 for a set of three.

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Saguaro Cactus Drink Glasses

Saguaro Cactus Drink Glasses
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These tall green glasses from DOIY Design are modeled after the color and texture of a saguaro cactus (minus the prickly bits). They come in a set of four, and when stacked they form one tall plant, complete with those upwards-pointing arms. They also make a shorter version, though it’s currently sold out.

Hokeki Pour-Over Coffee Set

Hokeki Pour-Over Coffee Set
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Perhaps it’s the ritual, but we find that pour-over coffee just tastes better than automatic drip. This clean and minimal set from Hokeki will look great on your kitchen counter. It comes with a 20 oz heat- and cold-resistant glass pot, a high-fired ceramic dripper that regulates drip time, and a stand for putting it all together.

Copper Ring Magnifier

Copper Ring Magnifier
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Garrett Wade’s handsome copper desk accessory makes a great display piece or paperweight, while its 6″ diameter glass magnifying lens makes it easy to read details on maps and other printed diagrams. The curvature of the glass pulls in light, improving illumination as well.

Glass House Bird Feeder

Glass House Bird Feeder
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Created by Ontario, Canada artists Erica and Steven Moore, this glass and brass bird feeder attaches to your window using clear suction cups, letting you watch birds nibble on seeds up close and personal. It measures appx. 8″ x 8″ x 8″, and is suitable for a variety of avians from chickadees to blue jays.

Making a Giant Nixie Tube

Making a Giant Nixie Tube

Dalibor Farný is one of the world’s only experts at making custom nixie tubes. In this 22-minute video, he crafts the prototype for an enormous tube filled with numeric filaments. The process requires surgical precision for the filament wiring, masterful glassblowing skills, and the tiniest defect can make tubes unusable.

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Shattered Glass Portraits

Shattered Glass Portraits

Swiss artist Simon Berger creates portraits by shattering glass. His technique involves gently hammering away at a sheet of laminated safety glass, which holds together the pieces as his finished image comes into view. Watch him create another of his smashing portraits here.

Making a Glass Guitar

Making a Glass Guitar

There are lots of guitars out there made out of fiberglass or cast resin, but ones made out of actual glass are rare. Morningstar Glass Guitars walks us through the tricky process of building one of their very special instruments, which has both a glass body and a glass neck. The Starlight II shown here sells for $3859.

Glass Spacer Robot

Glass Spacer Robot

From the “Satisfying Robots” file comes this video footage of the LiSEC TPA-A, a fully-automated system that applies thermoplastic spacers that provide insulation between panes of architectural glass. The robot securely holds the glass in place using suction, then rolls it along its conveyor as it works its magic.

The Microcosm in Glass

The Microcosm in Glass

Using high-precision digital models and laser etching techniques, CinkS labs is creating a series of glass cubes which display intricate 3D images of viruses, bacteria, and cells. The crystal cubes come in 3cm, 7cm, and 10cm sizes, as well as an 8cm sphere. And yes, they even have a COVID-19 model.

Incanter Infusing Bottle

Incanter Infusing Bottle
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Sempli’s leaning glass carafe is designed to infuse spirits with fruits, vegetables, and spices, imbuing them with new depth, flavor, and character. The 13 oz vessel comes with a perforated infusing tube for ingredients, and a rubber stopper. Once infused, simply remove the tube, and decant straight from the bottle.

How Crystal Head Skulls are Made

How Crystal Head Skulls are Made

While enjoying happy hour at home, raise a glass to Dan Aykroyd’s Crystal Head Vodka team. They make some fine hooch, but it’s the iridescent, skull-shaped bottle that’s so head-turning. Designed by artist John Alexander and manufactured in Milan by Bruni Glass, here’s an inside look at the heads being made.

Making a Logo Nixie Tube

Making a Logo Nixie Tube

As we learned previously, Dalibor Farný is a true master of the craft of making nixie tubes. In this clip, he shows off the process of making a large, custom tube, that instead of displaying digits, glows with the logo of his client, Keysight Technologies. We want one with The Awesomer logo now!

Manual Coffeemaker Nº4

Manual Coffeemaker Nº4

To celebrate five years since its launch, Chicago designer Craighton Berman is back with a new run of his sculptural, yet practical object for your morning pourover. Each one is made from borosilicate glass, and this time comes with a white, black, or stoneware ceramic baseplate.

How to Make a Mirror

How to Make a Mirror

While most mirrors today are made in big factories, UK ornamental glass artist David Smith shows us how to do it the old school way. It’s done by taking a clean sheet of glass, pouring silver nitrite on one side, then carefully moving it to evenly coat its surface.

ShotsClub Gun Decanter Set

ShotsClub Gun Decanter Set
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This party kit combines two of America’s favorite pastimes – guns and booze. The set comes with two gun-shaped spirit decanters, eight shot glasses, a belt holster, and a padded metal carrying case that’s sure to get you stopped by the TSA if you travel with it.

How Gorilla Glass is Made

How Gorilla Glass is Made

Up until the mid-2000’s, the displays on devices were mainly covered with plastic. Then in 2006, Steve Jobs asked Corning to create a durable and scratch-resistant glass, and Gorilla Glass was born. Here’s how Corning makes its money-making material.

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