Make Fake Glass Bottles
If you've ever seen a movie where someone has a glass bottle broken over his head and wondered how he survived without a scratch, this article's for you! Here you'll learn make a convincingly real sugar glass bottle.
Instructions
Casting Your Original and Making Your Mold
1. After removing the labels from both your empty 2-liter and glass bottles, cut off the top of the 2-liter bottle where the sides become vertically straight. Mix up the silicone casting material in the 2-liter bottle according to the manufacturer's directions. You need to mix up enough to submerge your glass bottle in without it touching the bottom of the 2-liter bottle. Pick up the glass bottle by inserting your fingertip into the mouth and pinching the topmost rim with your thumb. Slowly push it, bottom first, into your casting material, making sure you keep it in the center of the 2-liter bottle and as vertical as you can. Keep pushing it down until your casting material comes up over the top of the glass bottle, just to the opening. (Don't let it overflow into your glass bottle.) Let the mold set according to the manufacturer's directions. (If not longer, just to be safe.)
2. After you have given your mold adequate time to set, it's time to free the original glass bottle and prep the mold for casting your sugar glass bottle.
Turn the 2-liter bottle over, keeping a hand over the top so your casting material doesn't slide out before you're ready for it. Setting the bottle upside down on a table or counter, begin massaging the 2-liter bottle to allow air to get in between the bottle and your casting material. This should result in your casting material and bottle being left on the table as you slowly work the 2-liter bottle up and off of them.
3. After your casting material and glass bottle are free of your 2-liter bottle, turn them upright and get your hobby knife. Starting at the visible top of the glass bottle, cut straight out to the edge of the silicone material and down to approximately where the bottom of the bottle is. Continue to deepen your cut until you reach the glass bottle inside. Make sure your cut runs from the top of the bottle to the bottom. Hold the silicone open and remove the bottle. Spray the inside of the silicone mold with cooking spray, and place it back into the 2-liter bottle.
Cooking Your Sugar Glass and Casting Your Bottle
4. In a large stainless steel pot, pour 3 1/2 cups sugar, 1 cup light corn syrup, 2 cups water and 1/4 tsp cream of tartar. Clip your candy thermometer to the side of the pot and slowly bring the mixture up to 300 degrees F. (If you want the glass to be colored, mix in some food coloring right at the end.)
5. When your sugar mixture has reached 300 degrees F, it's ready to pour into the mold. Carefully pour some of the mixture into the silicone mold. Tip the mold and rotate it to coat the inside. Continue tipping and rotating until the mixture pours out the top. Pour some more sugar mixture into the mold and repeat the tipping/rotating process until the sugar glass at the mouth of the mold is your desired thickness.
6. Continue tipping your mold back and forth and rotating it for at least 10 minutes while the sugar mixture sets. After it's no longer able to pour out of the mouth of the mold, find a nice, cool place to let it set for a few hours, If not overnight.
7. After your mold and sugar glass bottle have cooled to room temperature, it's time to separate them. Again turn the assembly upside down and release the mold from the 2-liter as before, being even more gentle than the first time. (Sugar glass is very fragile.)
8. Turn the mold onto its side and gently pry it open along your previous cut. When you have the mold open as far as it will go, wiggle and twist the sugar glass bottle gently to release it from the mold. When it breaks free of the mold walls, remove it via the opening you've cut, and trim off any excess sugar from where the mold seam was.
Tips Warnings
Bring the sugar mixture to a boil very slowly. If you boil it too fast, it will caramelize and be no good.
Be extremely careful when handling the sugar mixture; it is very hot, very sticky and can cause severe burns.
Tags: make, fake, glass, bottles, glass bottle, 2-liter bottle, casting material, your casting, your casting material, sugar glass, sugar mixture, sugar glass bottle, according manufacturer
