How To Slump Bottles In An Oven (As Easy As You Like)

Have you ever gone to recycle your empty glass bottles but ended up leaving them at the curb because they’re too big to fit in your recycling bin? Or maybe you’ve just been looking for an alternative to smashing your bottles with a hammer? 

In such a condition, you may wonder if it’s possible to slump bottles in a regular oven at home. Don’t worry, this article will show you how to slump bottles in an oven using a safe flattening process.

How To Slump A Bottle In An Oven?

If you want to slump bottles in an oven, there are some basic things to consider first. Don’t use a microwave. Similarly, you cannot use a conventional oven either. This may seem obvious, but we’ve all heard horror stories about people putting their kids’ artwork into the microwave and accidentally burning it, or even worse when cooking it! 

In fact, don’t even try to cook anything with your glassware bottle. After ensuring these things, follow the below steps to slump a bottle in your oven perfectly.

Heat Oven to 300 Degrees Fahrenheit

It’s also important to remember that while most people know they can’t use a conventional oven or microwave for this project, some might think they could just put their glassware in their regular kitchen oven if they turned down the temperature and kept an eye on them throughout the process. That’s not going to work either!

Your glasses need heat at least as hot as what would be used during normal cooking at a temperature of about 300 degrees Fahrenheit and probably even hotter than that, depending on how thick your container wall is. Otherwise, there won’t be enough friction between the wall and your clay body when you wrap them together.

• Place a sheet of aluminum foil or baking sheet on the floor of your oven. This sheet will catch any glass that might break as the bottles slump.
• Place each bottle in its own container, then place all containers in the oven.
• Set the temperature to 300 degrees Fahrenheit and allow them to sit there for 30 minutes or so. After 30 minutes have passed, turn off your oven and let everything cool inside until they’re completely cold.
• Wrap each bottle individually in newspaper, securing the bottom of the bottle with twine. To make sure the bottles retain their shape, you’ll need to wrap each one individually in a newspaper. The easiest way to do this is by wrapping twine around the bottom of the bottle and securing it with a knot in a line of string at least three times longer than your bottle’s height.
• Then, fold each newspaper sheet into an even rectangle and place it over the top of your bottle. This technique helps ensure that no heat gets through to your glass. Because, when you use plain paper, there’s a chance that some will catch fire!
• Place bottles upright on ramekins or empty tin cans in the center of your oven, leaving enough room around each bottle for air to circulate.
• Fill a baking sheet with water and place it on a rack beneath the bottles so that you can use it as an ice bath as needed during this process.
• Preheat your oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit or 150 degrees Celsius and set its timer for more than 1 hour. Here, you’ll want to check on your slumping at 7 minutes, 20 minutes, 45 minutes, 1 hour…and every 15 minutes thereafter.
• Check on them every 15 minutes until they slump enough to meet your needs! Remove any that have reached their desired shape from their molds when ready by pulling them out with tongs or pliers. Just be sure not to touch them directly as they will still be very hot!

Bake for 1 Hour

You should bake for at least one hour. The longer you bake the bottles, the more they will slump. And the more they slump, the more glass will break and need to be cleaned up. When you’re done with your oven, don’t forget to clean up all of that broken glass. Also, check on the bottles every 15 minutes, removing any that have reached your desired shape.

• When a bottle is ready, you’ll notice that it has slumped down and become smaller. You will also see that it has taken on an oval shape from being so close to the heating element of your oven. If any of these changes are present, immediately remove them from the oven.
• Allow remaining bottles to cool in the oven, so they don’t crack when exposed to cooler room temperature air.
• After about an hour, remove the bottles from the oven and allow them to cool down. Do not open the oven door or expose them to cooler room temperature air until they have completely cooled down.
• Finally, your bottle slumping process is done! Don’t worry if you don’t get it right the first time. It is a process that requires practice to perfect, so take your time and don’t worry about the cost of the bottles or the mess they might make in your oven, although we have had no issues so far.

Final Speech

Now, you’ve seen the complete process of slumping bottles in an oven. If you’re not sure whether your bottles will be strong enough to slump, it’s a good idea to try this out on one bottle first. That way, if the bottle cracks, it’s not as big of a deal. After perfecting the slumping process, the bottles can turn into flattened, heavy pieces of glass.