Hey guys. I posted this sometime last year and thought I had the problem fixed, but here I am again.
I am making these little necklaces from mini bottles filled with glitter glue. Long story short, the glue keeps evaporating at a slow but steady rate. In the last thread, someone pointed out that the cork was probably cheap and letting some air seep through it. I remedied it by coating the entire bottom of the corks with epoxy glue before gluing them shut. About a year later, I notice that the stuff inside is still in fact shrinking, but it's just doing it at a much slower pace. (Note: pic is from the old batch, before I started coating the corks. The orange one was a freshly filled one, and the purple one was about five months old.) Where the hell is the air seeping in from? The glass? Is that possible? I don't know what else to do, should I coat the glass with something? I don't think there's any way to do that without making it look ugly though...
I just thought of this, it might be significant: Sometimes these guys go through some changes in temperature. For example, I wore one of them out on Thursday and it was fucking BUTT-BLISTERINGLY cold out. When I got back home, I noticed there was a tiny bit of condensation on the inside of the bottle, near the top.
Dammit, I think I just answered my own question.
Ok, I guess it has something to do with the air trapped in the bottle changing state over and over again that's fucking it up. When I get a chance, I'll try making one with the glue filled all the way to the top with no empty space left at the top. I wonder if that'll do it?
Anyway, maybe I'm wrong, any other insight? Any sciencefags out there?
tl;dr The glitter glue inside these (sealed) bottles is evaporating. Halp.
dont use glue? use an oil
>>946007
Putting epoxy on the cork is likely keeping it from also forming a complete seal.
Why not dip the top in a high temperature sealing wax and see how that works?
>>946018
This. Mix a ton of glitter into an oil that won't go rancid like baby or mineral oil. Seal shut with cork tightly.
>>946020
Sorry, you know what, I lied. It was glue gun glue--that's what I used to coat the bottom of the cork, not epoxy. It's been a while, guess I'd forgotten...
>>946007
I remember the original thread.
The cork isn't cheap (though those corks do look like composite cork). The is the prime function of the cork. To allow permeation to moisture. This is why corks are used for wine bottles. It allows a set rate of oxygen into the bottle while the wine wets the corks so that it swells and keeps the cork in places. That's why you use synthetic corks for extremely long duration wine bottles, natural corks for mid range wines, and composite corks for short term wines.
You just need to seal the bottoms of the cork. Try a two part epoxy. Just cement the cork into the bottle in a manner so that the entire bottom of the cork is covered as well as the sides. It will be permanent of course.
Hot glue separates from things it is applied to very easily. Only ever use it as a temporary solution when you are doing prototypes. Never use it in any of your finally products. It smacks of a very shitty quality product.
>>946007
I totally agree with >>946020 .
I suggest the following:
- Fill your tiny bottles.
- Put the Cork on.
- Let them sit indoors for a day or two.
- Dip your corked bottles in a hot sealing wax.
- Let them sit indoors for a day or two, again.
- Clean off, any wax that got on the glassbottles.
- Expertise: Had the same problem with bottles, filled with dried fruit and drinking alcohol, a few years back. Solved it the same way, but used hot bees wax.
Good luck, post results
>>946144
Or he could just mineral oil and glitter and not do any of that difficult shit
>>946148
Mineral oil would allow the glitter to settle. Notice how it's not settled in any of the pictures?
Sealing wax also has the advantage of being a part of the design like with maker's mark bottles.
>>946148
Mineral Oil might work, never tried it myself.
But I have to say that, if: "waiting a day or two, warming up wax, and cleaning a bottle:" is considered >>difficult shit<<, my understanding of the word easy must be wrong.
>>946131
>I remember the original thread.
Nice! Thanks for helping out.
>You just need to seal the bottoms of the cork. Try a two part epoxy. Just cement the cork into the bottle in a manner so that the entire bottom of the cork is covered as well as the sides.
That is what I did, though. Only with hot glue.
Sorry, lemme clarify, I'm confusing you guys: I covered the entire bottom of the cork with hot glue, waited for it to cool, and then covered the entire lower half of the cork--minus the bottom--with epoxy glue and firmly stuck it into the opening. But are you saying that the hot glue has separated and some of the cork is exposed again? The reason I used hot glue for the bottom and not epoxy like the rest of it, by the way, is because I thought the heat from the epoxy curing would trap heat inside the bottle and do exactly what I'm trying to prevent.
>>946173
Epoxy everything. Always use 1 type of adhesive. They normally don't play well with each other when more than 1 is used where they can touch. Be it a chemical reaction or they simply don't stick well over time. Heat from the epoxy won't be a concern.
Also, hot glue doesn't like....heat. Even after you've applied it, a couple hours in a car on a sunny day and it can deform pretty badly.
>>946173
cut your fingernails you disgusting degenerate.
>>946173
The fuck is wrong with your nails
>>946400
>Is it too little to make a difference?
This.
>>946173
Dirt under nails
You're my kind of gal.
Corks are pretty worthless I believe. For lab work we just buy sheets of paraffin wax, cut off a square and stretch it over the container openings. It's hard to fuck up and works very well.
>>946028
>like baby or mineral oil
Those are the same thing, FYI.
OP: Bite the bullet, use rubber corks.
>>946020
>Why not dip the top in a high temperature sealing wax and see how that works?
How clear is clear sealing wax, btw? I probably won't use it for this project because I don't want any (visible) gunk around the top of the cork, but I might use it for something else later. Google shows only containers, not the actual stuff.
>>946540
Nah, that'll look ugly lol... Thanks for the suggestion though.
>>946007
Have you ever thought about using synthetic corks? Also you might want to look into U-40 cork sealer. People use it to seal cork handles on fishing rods.
