This has actually turned in to a pretty cool project that we will be doing some research on and then maybe looking at producing and selling.

If we get enough interest and it sound and plays well we will be setting up a stand alone website and then launching with a kickstarter campaign to get it off the ground!

Stay tuned for lots more videos!

The post First introduction to the Glass Top Guitar appeared first on GlassShop.com.au.

I have just ordered a slightly damaged DIY guitar kit (only the body is damages this is going to be the glass bit) from DIY Guitars (a really cool company we have been following for a while) and as soon as it gets here ill make a little video showing the kit and how we intend on turning it in to a one of a kind glass guitar.

check out this kit with everything supplied!

If you want to stay informed on the progress of this project check out our facebook page for all updates and be sure to let any of your guitar or DIY enthusiast friends know

The post We’re building the glass guitar! appeared first on GlassShop.com.au.

I have been playing guitar for about 3 years and have been looking for a way to do something guitary with GlassShop.com.au I came up with the idea of making an electric guitar body out of glass and after a lot of mental figuring out I am now pretty confident that we can do it and I’m also thinking it should actually play and sound pretty dam good.

Now for the most important question Fender strat or les paul

I have been trying to decide what shape we should make the guitar for ages and  I think I’ve finally settled on doing a Les Paul shape, the reason I’m going with the Paul is there is already a perspex strat made famous by Dave Grohl in there video for “all my life” and if I do this I want it to be unique and have a real quality about it, I don’t want it to be confused with plastic, this glass guitar should be a one of a kind treasure that will play like a demon and have that real elegance and style that only glass can give.

So when are we building it?

Well that depends on you, We are not a huge company we don’t have thousands of dollars laying around to build bespoke guitars but we do really want to do this so this is how we are going to do it.

Show us that you want to see it!

If we see enough interest from this post we will know that we are not throwing money down the toilet and that we will get a return on our investment and if we know that, then the decision is easy!

The best way to show your interest is to link and share this post to anyone who you think might want to see a glass axe.

So what’s going to happen with the guitar once its built?

Well I have no idea, you tell me.

should we sell it, auction it for charity, give it to jimmy page

Email me at sales@glassshop.com.au  or leave us a message on our facebook page and tell me what you think we should do with it.

The picture on the right is a perspex Les Paul, wait till you see how the glass one will look or more importantly feel.

Now its up to you.

I now evoke the internet gods and leave in their hands, I have seen lots of wonderful projects come to fruition by using this “kickstarter” method and I’m hoping this glass Les Paul will be one of them.

Thank you for reading and sharing

Shannon Wise

The post The glass guitar appeared first on GlassShop.com.au.

Using glass to heat an area is definitely not a new technology and if you’ve eaten a tomato in the middle of winter chances are it was grown in a glasshouse.

Passive solar is the name given to the use of the sun to heat up or cool an area without any moving parts .

Let’s start with heating as its the easiest place to begin. I’m going to base all my directions based on the southern hemisphere as that’s where I live if you’re in the northern hemisphere it should be as easy as swapping north to south.

In the southern hemisphere the sun tracks on the northern side of a building and during the height of summer in most of Australia the sun is directly above your house, in winter the sun moves down to approximately halfway between the horizon and the peak height of the summer sun, which is at noon, the sun follows an arc across the sky.

One of the easiest ways to incorporate a passive solar design into your house is to find the north facing side of your house and if possible install as much high efficiency glazing as possible.

If possible the windows should be full height and as big as possible as this will let a lot of sunlight in which as soon as it is in the building is turned into radiant heat and stored in the floor and walls of your house.

Now this is all good in winter but if you miss the next step you could be turning your house into an oven .

The next step to make this a passive solar house is to make sure that the hot summer sun does not come in these new large windows.

One of the simplest ways to do this is an awning the awning should be installed at such an angle that the full winter sun will shine through the windows and into the house and then when summer comes along the awning should shade the full height of the window.

As a rough guide in Perth Western Australia the edge of the awning at the lowest point should be approximately 60 degrees from the bottom or sill of the windows use the horizon as your baseline.

Now using glass to heat a house is easy but how on earth do you use it to cool a house?

To cool a house using the sun you need to know a little bit about how hot air works in a house the first thing that you probably already know is a hot air rises this is what we’re going to use to cool your house.

Some existing house designs are better than others when it comes to retrofitting passive solar technologies and in some cases it may not be possible at all .

The first thing to look for when cooling your house with passive solar is the highest point on the roof on the ceiling line, this is the spot that you should look to vent the hot air that builds up in your house.

Hot air will naturally rise to this spot and if a large enough vent or window is in position air will escape from this point , this presents the opportunity to replace the escaping hot air with new cool air, the reason for this is all about air pressure, the escaping hot air creates a low pressure area that does not want to stay that way as long as there is a sufficient opening with minimal resistance air will be sucked in to equalize the pressure inside the house with the pressure outside.

But where should you put the intake vent or window?

The most simple place to put your intake is on the shady side of your house (in the southern hemisphere this is the southern side), this side of your house will be shaded all day.

You can increase this effect by having a shade house that you pull cool air from or even better if you’re really clever you can use the cooling effect of evaporation to cool the air down.

evaporative cooling.

This is how this works – basically when water evaporates it leaves the area colder than it was  so if you wet something and the air blowing on it evaporates the water it will cool it down, think wetting your shirt on a hot day and running in the wind.

This can be as simple as having your intake near a stone waterfall of a pond or you can build an intake box with highly efficient evaporative cooling pads and a recirculating water supply, one of the great advantages of this design is that if the natural air movement is not enough extraction fans can be added.

This has been a very quick intro to a subject that I am very interested in, it is not meant to be a complete ‘how to’ guide just something that might spike your interest in a new topic and take you on an adventure in sustainable technologies.

The elegance and simplicity of these designs is sometimes their downfall as we are a culture obsessed with the new tech gadget fix but if you look at nature for your solutions you will find that it rewards simple elegant solutions.

The post Using glass in your house to save money on your electricity bill appeared first on GlassShop.com.au.

We have a wide range of options when it comes to gym and dance mirrors from a simple large mirror glued back to the wall or for larger areas we offer a top and bottom channel that the mirrors can be fitted into which enables them to easily removed when need be .

For a cost effective option we recommend using our timber channel which is easily fixed to the wall allowing for easy installation of mirrors either by us or by you, the timber allows for a wide variety of finishes it can be simply left as plain wood stained or  painted  to suit all different decorating needs.

We also offer an aluminium channel that is slightly more expensive and comes in a mill finish which is a silver bear metal colour this channel can be powder coated to suit any decorating needs.

The most cost effective option that we have is to simply glue the mirrors back into place this is a very good idea if you intend on the mirrors being a permanent fixture, as they will not be able to be removed.

All of our gym and dance mirrors are custom cut to your requirements with the maximum size per mirror being 2400 millimetres by 1800 millimetres, if you are choosing to install the mirrors yourself it is recommended to use a manageable size panel, all the edges of the mirror are highly polished which leaves a nice neat joint between mirrors .

If you don’t feel confident fitting your own mirrors one of our professional glaziers can install them for you a very affordable price, this option includes a full measure delivery and installation of your mirrors.

If you have any questions or queries regarding a gym mirror or a dance mirror please send us an e-mail or call us and we will be happy to help.

The post Choosing the right Gym mirror or dance Mirror appeared first on GlassShop.com.au.

Hey all.

I’m going to keep this fairly short and sweet but the info in this post will save you a ton of money on any future renovations.

One simple rule Keep it standard!

This one rule will save you thousands of dollars and can save weeks of time.

Whether your out to quickly flip a property and make a good profit or your designing your castle, making all your layouts as “standard size friendly” as possible will make the whole process a breeze, well as much as a reno could ever hope to be.

Standard does not mean low quality.

While we have all seen low quality mass produced items, cheap does not always mean low quality, a lot of the items you can buy in standard sizes at Bunnings or Masters are identical to there custom made counterparts, the only difference is the economy of scale, in other words the more of the same thing you can make, the cheaper you can sell it.

Planning is everything.

With all the renovation shows out there it seems like renovating a house must just be a natural human skill that everyone has from birth I mean how hard can it be, I’m afraid not, without a few important skills your renovation can turn into a nightmare with blown out budgets dodgy finishes and impractical designs.

The first step should be a thorough measurement of the area, include any windows, doors and permanent fixtures, measure the height of the rooms and note down any special considerations.

Next its design time, have fun with this bit but don’t go into to much detail just get a rough outline of were you want everything and brainstorm some styles till you have a rough picture of how you want everything.

Now it’s shopping time, window shopping that is 

Whether you like to shop online or go to the stores now is the time to look for the real items that can make your concept drawings a reality, Remember how I told you not to go into to much detail on your original design well this is why, using your rough design as a guide find items that match your style and take note of all the different dimensions, if your shopping online save all the dimensions and print them out or in a real shop take brochures or take photos of all the dimensions and prices.

Now that you have all the dimensions, grab a tape measure and a roll of masking tape and measure out all your items in the room and tape out there outline, use your minds eye and imagine all the items in place and have a look around the room paying close attention to all the small details, make sure the room flows well and think about anywhere that two items meet very carefully, these are the places that mistakes will happen, take your time with this part and don’t continue until you have every little finishing detail locked in your head.

Timing.

After all this there is one more step before you start building, and that’s the timing, this is fairly simple just think it right through, pretend you are building the whole thing from start to finish in fast forward and look out for anything that can make you have to cover anything up or move
something or make a simple job into a very delicate job, some examples of this are, painting or messy jobs like tiling after main fixtures are in, (this will mean covering all you brand new fixtures and almost inevitably mean some damage), Or having to move plumbing or electrical after wall finishes ( A complete nightmare of a situation that can be avoided with proper planning)

Now Build it!

Now it should be a simple matter of going to the shop getting all your standard fixtures (all perfectly on budget) and fitting them to the house, never been easier to save money on your renovation, Well its good to be optimistic, some of these things you will be attempting are actually quite delicate tasks that take quite a bit of practice to become good at but the planing steps you have taken before hand will make this an enjoyable learning experience and not a nightmare.

The post How to save money on your Renovation. appeared first on GlassShop.com.au.

The most important thing to know is whether you need a sturdy table “top” or simply a protective piece of glass to go on “top” of an existing table –  try and say that ten times fast.

Glass to go on top

Use when: You are after a piece of glass to simply sit on top of your table to protect it and you still want to see the table.

Glass to protect a table

For this task, the glass that you want is 6mm toughened safety glass with a polished edge or for smaller tables, under 1 square meter, you can use 5mm toughened.

Whilst it’s not essential to use toughened glass it is highly recommended for “table protectors” as it’s a lot safer to transport, about four times stronger on the face, and you can put hot stuff on it without worrying and these days the price difference is almost zero so it’s definitely the way to go.

Glass table top protectors are usually placed straight onto the table or desk but you can also use “bump ons” these are small clear rubber domes with adhesive on one side that stop the glass sliding around.

If your table is made from a 2,000 year old piece of driftwood with exquisite colors and you can see the small marks that sea otters made whilst using the wood as a floatation device then you might consider using a low iron content “extra clear” piece of 6mm toughened glass, basically this glass is completely clear and does not have the green tinge that standard glass has, it is quite a bit more expensive but is definitely worth it for the clean crisp ultra clear look.

Glass for a table top

English: Bronze and glass coffee table in the style of functional sculpture (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Use when: You want the the glass to actually serve as the table top, so it needs to be strong. In 99.9% of cases what you’ll want to use is 10mm toughened with a polished edge or for very large tables, like over 2.5 square meters 12mm toughened may be required.

For this scenario (where it’s actually going to be the table top) toughened glass is a necessity for safety reasons and no table top should ever be made with standard glass – way too risky if someone was to trip and fall into it for example.

There are many ways that table tops can be fixed to the table, some are just sitting on “bump ons” some are siliconed (glued), sometimes there are holes in the glass and it is bolted to the table and sometimes a UV (ultraviolet) Glue is used, UV glue is an extra clear glue that is ideal for use on glass although its price and need for specialty tools puts it out of reach for most DIYers. Worth considering though if you want to do a bit of work with glass and are after a really seamless look.

A quick tip on handling toughened glass

If you need to move your table top, here is how to do it safely, making sure there are no unwanted breakages.

The most important thing to know about toughened glass is that the edges are a bit fragile, so never hit the edges on anything and never place the glass down on its edge without something soft like rubber, carpet or soft wood underneath it. The actual face of toughened glass can take a fairly big hit but the edges are actually just normal glass in a border about as wide as the thickness of the glass. As toughened glass is under a huge amount of pressure if you chip an edge it creates a weak point and the whole piece will shatter into thousands of small square pieces about 1 cm by 1 cm .

If you’re moving house, I recommend taping thick cardboard to all the edges and wrapping the entire thing with blankets and sticking a big fragile sticker on it.

If you have any questions on glass for tables or anything to do with glass, get in touch by posting in the comments section below or on our Facebook page

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A giant fish tank in Berlin. It is part of an aquarium and extends into the hotel lobby seen below. The divers come in the morning to clean the glass. This view is from a hotel elevator. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Building a fish tank is a pretty specialised area and I personally haven’t tried my hand at it, yet, however, there are some basic pointers to follow if you are considering giving it a go.

Get the right silicone: Number one on my list is, please make sure you use an aquarium safe silicone, this is not only for structure but some silicone will poison your fish and that’s definitely not what you want.

Choose the right glass: Number two is, choose the right glass, I’m not going to tell you what thicknesses to use because it varies depending on how big you want to make it, however, there are some great websites that will help you make this decision, for example check out these two really helpful sites:

• Glass Fish Tanks – how to build a glass fish tank
  
• Federation of New Zealand Aquatic Societies – calculating glass thickness for aquariums
  

My main advice is do your research, make sure you definitely have the right glass thickness and if you can afford it always use toughened glass.

And finally, always test the thing outside, even the professionals get leaks in their tanks, and the water is better for your garden than your lounge room floor!

If you have any questions – feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll help where I can.

Good luck!

Shannon

Related articles

• 87 Unconventional Aquariums – From Worldly Fish Tank Tables to Modern Walliquariums (TrendHunter.com) (trendhunter.com)

The post Build a glass fish tank appeared first on GlassShop.com.au.

The thing with cutting a circle out of glass is you can’t have your cake and eat it too, you either get the hole or you get the circle. The reason for this peculiarity, that only occurs in glass, is that you can’t just cut straight through glass, you need to score the circular line first and then remove sections or else you risk the whole piece breaking. If done correctly the glass will break perfectly along the scored line, following the path of least resistance.

The reason the circle won’t just pop out, is that you’re not cutting all the way through, even if you did, the circular piece of glass would be the exact same size of the hole so it couldn’t be removed – there is no give, which is why you need to choose between either having the hole or the circle.

Image credit: By Hendrik Kueck from Vancouver, Canada (Flickr) [CC-BY-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

So you want to cut a circle of glass

Cutting glass circles is by far the easier of the two options, however, whether you want a circle or a hole the process is mostly the same. Things you’ll need:

1. A permanent marker
2. A circle cutter (looks a bit like a compass – order online or look for at hardware stores)
3. Spray lubricant oil (not essential but helps the cutting head glide along the glass)

If you need glass, go to my choosing the right glass page to make sure you are using the right glass for the right job.

Step 1:  First up mark the centre of the circle, making sure you leave at least an inch of glass around the outside of your circle, if you don’t the cut will run to the edge of the piece you’re working with.

Mark the centre point and diameter

Step 2: The next thing you want to do is set the diameter, use the sizes on the circle cutter to set this. Circle cutters usually have four marks on the suction cup, use these marks to line up the spot you marked for the center of your circle. I usually use a permanent marker to mark my lines, this can be removed from the glass with a bit of metholated spirits after you have finished cutting. After attaching the suction cap you want to lightly roll your cutting head around, making sure you have left enough room around the circle. It’s also a good time to check that your cutter is set to the right diameter. After this, if you have it, spray the glass and cutting head with spray lubricant and lightly roll the cutter around again, now you’re ready to score the glass.

Step 3: Scoring the glass and finding the right pressure takes a bit of practice but it’s close to the pressure you use when writing with a ballpoint pen. You want to push the cutter head down at this pressure and complete one rotation making sure to stop when you reach the start of the cut, after this you need to open the cut.

Step 4: Opening up the cut can be done in a few different ways, the first option, and the way I do it is to turn the glass over and using your thumbs push down on the score mark, if you do this on a carpeted bench or a towel or something similar it will open up the score mark, this will be easy to see and if you move along the line, pushing as you go, you should see the score mark open up. Keep doing this until you get back to the start of the cut. It usually makes a click sound when it’s completely open.

The other way you can open the cut is by lightly tapping the line with a hammer on the opposite side from where you scored the glass, this can sometimes leave a rough saw tooth edge, it is, however, a good way to start a cut and I will usually use this technique on thicker glass.

Step 5: After completely opening the cut you want to turn the glass over and repeat the process on the other side. This makes sure the glass is completely separated, this can be done by pushing or tapping.

Step 6: The next step is to release the circle, this is done with a normal glass cutter, make four score marks in the waste glass in a cross shape and open the cuts in the same manner this will release the circle.

Score four lines out to each edge

Tap out the unwanted pieces

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