Bell Mirror & Glass, Inc.
1702 S. Seneca Street, Wichita, KS 67213
316-262-8642
Glass is primarily composed of sand. Not just any ordinary sand off the beach, but a high quality silica sand along with a mixture of other materials which is known as a batch. Some of the other materials in one of these batches are salt cake, limestone, dolomite, feldspar, soda ash and powdered cullet. After the mixture is made, place it into a good heat-resistant holder. Usually the mixture is then melted in a gas-fired furnace until it is in liquid form. Quartz sand without additives becomes glass around 2,300 degrees Celsius, or 4,172 degrees Fahrenheit. Then the mixture is stirred to homogenize and remove bubbles. Then the glass is shaped into its intended use. There are many ways to shape the molten glass, like pouring it into a mold, blowing it through a large tube and even pouring into a bath of molten tin for support and blasting it with pressurized nitrogen. After one of these methods is performed the glass is left to sit and cool. The best glass makers can create any shape they want with this molten glass and can be extremely creative.
