Soldered “Sea Glass”… A Different Kind of Coaster

This craft idea was quite a roller coaster journey for me.  First came the fabulous idea.  (LOL)  Next, I had to make it to see if it would work.  Finally I came to the conclusion one was enough!

 

I get this cool collection of “sea glass” from Pier 1 Imports to decorate driftwood crosses.

This bag had more clear glass that it usually does, so I got the brainstorm to cover the edges of some of them in copper foil tape and solder them together to make a free form drink coaster.

 

 

After the free form design was soldered, I was happy to find it was VERY sturdy and unable to bend.  The copper foil I use is copper colored on the sticky side and since the glass is clear the copper color shows through.  When you paint copper patina on to the silver solder it changes the solder to a pretty copper color.

 

After the coaster was finished, I thought it would be fun to make another one with the other beachy colors.

 

While I was setting up the new coaster pieces in the pretty turquoise glass it dawned on me  how much a set of four coasters would fetch…about $20.00.  After my artist commission that would net me $12.00… $3.00 each. YIKES, this idea is not going to be practical idea….too much time and materials for it’s perceived value.

 

It was fun to dream this idea up and rewarding that it worked, and now I have a cool drink coaster sitting in my studio!  It is TRULY OOAK!  LOL