Bottle find.

[bob10]

Took the dogs for their walk to Brighton park, at the mouth of the Pine River, saw a bottle buried in the sand, with a broken neck . If a person had walked on it, it would have caused some damage, so went back to the Disco, grabbed the shovel, & dug it out, all the time cursing the drunks leaving their broken bottles behind. Imagine my surprise when it turned out to be a smoky coloured bottle, with the words " SHEPHERD & CO, SANDGATE & BRISBANE " written on it. SHEPHERD & CO. had a shop in Rainbow St. from 1910 to 1920, selling 'aerated waters, cordials &c'. The huge tides had pushed back the top of the beach, and revealed it. Who knows how long it had been there.

My Mothers maiden name was Shepherd, her family lived at Deagon , during the depression years, the 7 children went to Sacred Heart School, and her Father, my Grandfather, played in the locally famous [ or should that be infamous] 'Shepherds 11' Cricket side. So, I feel I must do something special with this bottle. My first thought was finding a glassblower & cutting the jagged top off, cleaning it up, & making a pint glass out of it. :angel: . Not sure what else I could do with it. Bob

[d3syd]

Nice find. I like collecting old bottles myself. Got a picture of your find?

[isuzurover]

The uni of qld glassblowing workshop has the best glassblowers in brissie.

We also have a member on here who is a glassblower (in VIC though).

[bob10]

Nice find. I like collecting old bottles myself. Got a picture of your find?

I will , with the help of my daughter attempt to place a picture here. After my previous attempts, don't hold your breath, Bob

[bob10]

The uni of qld glassblowing workshop has the best glassblowers in brissie.

We also have a member on here who is a glassblower (in VIC though).

Thank you, is there any chance the Uni chap would be interested in doing something with the bottle, do you think, properly compensated of course. Bob

[The ho har's]

Yes, would be nice to see a pic of it:)

Mrs hh:angel:

[isuzurover]

Thank you, is there any chance the Uni chap would be interested in doing something with the bottle, do you think, properly compensated of course. Bob

Hi Bob, they do work for customers all across brisbane (mostly unis and labs). Their rates are very reasonable.

For information or request for services, please contact:
Mr Robin Berlyn (Workshop Manager - University Glassblowing Services)
Email: r.berlyn@uq.edu.au
Phone: 07 33653904/ 07 33652691
Fax: 07 33657046

[digger]

something like this?

Australian Lamont Bottles / Shepherd & Co., Sandgate. 26 oz (http://pinterest.com/pin/218987600601745379/)

I am not sure if you can safely cut old weathered glass so will be very interested to see how it goes, even if it was cut to use as a small vase or something..

cheers

[RichardK]

SWMBO could melt the glass and anneal them into glass beads for a bracelet, in fact she could make the bracelet

A sample of the beads and bracelets

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/05/130.jpg

[Landy Smurf]

something like this?

Australian Lamont Bottles / Shepherd & Co., Sandgate. 26 oz (http://pinterest.com/pin/218987600601745379/)

I am not sure if you can safely cut old weathered glass so will be very interested to see how it goes, even if it was cut to use as a small vase or something..

cheers
is there anything you cant find....

[digger]

is there anything you cant find....

lost my sanity a while ago....

I know i put it somewhere safe but Im going crazy looking for it :)

[D110V8D]

Depending on the quality of the glass and it's current condition it is pretty straight forward to remove the neck from a bottle and turn it into a drinking glass. Like Isuzurover said contact a glassblowing shop. They should be able to flame polish the top edge afterwards too so you have a nice smooth finish on the lip. It should make a nice glass when finished. :)

Last Christmas I finally made up (had been thinking of doing it for years) some "pint" glasses for presents etc by removing the neck from some longneck beer bottle's and then melting down the neck piece and re-attaching it to the side of the bottle, making a handle for the pint glass/mug, leaving the "thread" section where the cap goes on intact, and then replacing the cap after the whole thing cooled down.

Beer drinking family members thought they were wicked. :D

[D110V8D]

SWMBO could melt the glass and anneal them into glass beads for a bracelet, in fact she could make the bracelet

A sample of the beads and bracelets

https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/05/130.jpg

Hey nice beads RichardK. Has your wife been working with glass for long? She should head out to Victoria for the annual flameworking exhibition at Kirra gallery in Melbourne. They love this sort of stuff. :cool:

[bob10]

Well, I contacted the University glass blowing services, and when I told them the likely age of the bottle, they said it was most likely a soda based glass, and consequently would be very reluctant to touch it, as heating it may make it explode :eek: and cutting it could cause it to crack. I am going to make enquiries as to whether there is some kind of grinding wheel on the market, that might do the job. Bob

[D110V8D]

True, soda glass can be a bit hard to handle, especially if it is very old, but not impossible.

The beer bottle mugs I made are made from soda glass beer bottles (although they are perhaps 100 years younger than your bottle) but the soda glass is basically the same.

I can understand why they would be reluctant to touch it, being a one off/rare bottle and also the fact that soda glass is pretty much not used in scientific applications these days, most scientific glassblowers are unfamiliar with it. I was unfamiliar with it too, before I started playing around. :D

Here's what I did with exploding soda glass bottles....


https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/05/120.jpg

[bob10]

True, soda glass can be a bit hard to handle, especially if it is very old, but not impossible.

The beer bottle mugs I made are made from soda glass beer bottles (although they are perhaps 100 years younger than your bottle) but the soda glass is basically the same.

I can understand why they would be reluctant to touch it, being a one off/rare bottle and also the fact that soda glass is pretty much not used in scientific applications these days, most scientific glassblowers are unfamiliar with it. I was unfamiliar with it too, before I started playing around. :D

Here's what I did with exploding soda glass bottles....


https://www.aulro.com/afvb/images/imported/2013/05/120.jpg
That is very good, not sure about the phallic symbol, though :Dwould get a bit of a laugh with old boilers , Bob

[sheerluck]

........not sure about the phallic symbol......

That's not phallic, Bob, that's unfortunate. :D

A great way to recycle an interesting old bottle though.

[RichardK]

Hey nice beads RichardK. Has your wife been working with glass for long? She should head out to Victoria for the annual flameworking exhibition at Kirra gallery in Melbourne. They love this sort of stuff. :cool:

She's been making them for around 10 years together with the gold and silver fixings. We haven't developed much of a selling pattern as yet, I want to create a website at some stage. We have sold some at Sovereign Hill in Ballarat through our daughter in law but we will probably wait until I retire and push them then.
She has a large stock of various colours and styles and keeps making them because she likes the creativity

[Don 130]

Dad used to cut the tops off various bottles to produce jam jars. He'd tie a piece of jute string around where he wanted it parted, then wet the string with meths. Once nicely soaked the string would be set alight. On cooling, after the flames had gone out, the top could be tapped off leaving a clean polished break. Rub the square edges off with a stone.
Don.

[jonesy63]

That is very good, not sure about the phallic symbol, though :Dwould get a bit of a laugh with old boilers , Bob

Brewers droop? :wasntme: