Art Project – Using Old Glass Jalousie Window Slats to Make Art

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Whisky would prefer I throw her tennis ball than make art from old glass slats.

In my house I renovated last summer, most of the windows were the jalousie slatted glass type. They function like Venetian blinds, but they’re made of glass and don’t really offer much in the way of insulation or security. So, I decided to replace almost all of them.

(Unfortunately, the bulk of the replacement windows were crappy aluminum sliders—it was one of the first, and most expensive decisions I had to make, so I opted for the cheapest route. I wish I had done salvaged wood windows instead — which I did end up doing for several windows which turned out great).

IMG_0230Not wanting to throw anything away (I also had my contractor make a headboard out of the scrap wood from the ceiling) I kept the glass thinking, “One day I’ll make an art project out of these.”

I ruminated for months on what to do with the glass. My brother suggested making “sandwiches” of the glass using paint between each sheet and stacking them, letting the paint ooze out in between (a technique he’d done before with wood). But the glass was so heavy once you started stacking them, that this seemed unworkable.

Another idea was to paint the glass and then lean each slat against the wall using 2 nails to hold the slat. I was telling my friend John about the idea and he had the brilliant suggestion of buying a glass drill bit, drilling 2 holes in the glass, and then mounting them on the wall. So that’s precisely what I did.

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I made a template for the drill hole using a block of wood and this made measuring nice and simple.
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I had read that adding water as you drill kept the drill bit cool and prevented the glass from cracking. I only cracked a couple.

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Once all the holes were drilled in 10 pieces, I painted them with blue acrylic paint mixed with gel. I varied the texture of each one, sometimes using very little paint and sometimes using a lot. I also blended some with white paint to alter the hues.IMG_0037
I used aluminum spacers and rubber washers to make the glass look like it was floating off the wall (also one of John’s suggestions).

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Finished!




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