Build Plans: How to make sugar glass.
POSTED BY , 18 June 2007
How to make sugar glass
by Erik Beck
Hey everyone and welcome to the technical blog for Episode#6 (Sugar Glass). I've always wondered about sugar glass, and was surprise at how easy it was. You can buy everything you need at the grocery store and make it in your kitchen. Remember to send us your sugar glass episodes. All you have to do is upload, and you could be featured in our monthly user submitted podcast.
Warning! This build can be dangerous. You are dealing with molten sugar lava and sugar glass that can still be sharp.
Shopping List
- A big bottle of white corn syrup.
(I bought the one quart size.)
- A can if non-stick cooking spray.
- A big bag of white sugar.
(You can always use more sugar, buy a pound!)
- A candy thermometer.
(Chances are you can borrow one of these.)
- Cream of Tartar.
(Turns out this is actually a powder, you can find it in the spice section.)
- A big pot.
(I read somewhere that the pot would be ruined after you make this, but mine was fine with a wash.)
- Measuring cup.
(Again you should be able borrow this if you don't already have one.)
- A Mold.
(For a sheet of sugar glass all you'll need is big cookie sheet, but you can make more complicated molds.)
- Water.
The Mix
It doesn't get any easier then this. The proportions I used for a 17"x11" sheet of glass is as follows.
- 2 cups water
- 1 cup corn syrup
- 3 1/2 cups sugar
- 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
Now mix these ingredients into your pot and SLOWLY bring them to a boil. If you heat it too rapidly the mix sugar will caramelize (become yellow and burnt). Depending on the altitude your sugar glass mix should start to boil around 160-200*F. Your mix will start cloudy and white, but as it starts to boil it becomes clear.
If you're heating it at the right pace, it should take at least an hour to reach our target tempature, which is 300*F. My first batch started turning slightly yellow at about 290* and resulted in yellow glass. The second batch I removed at 260*, and while being more clear, it was very soft. My remedy, put it in the refridgerator until you need to break it.
The Mold and the Pour
The simplest mold to use is just a big cookie sheet. I used a standard 17"x11" size. First thing you want to do is spray the crap out of your sheet with cooking spray. This will allow the glass to come out of the mold when dry. Now once your sugar glass mix comes off the stove it will start to dry fast. So don't wait long to pour. Go slow making sure to spread the mix evenly across the mold. I even picked up the mold and rocked it back and forth to get the mix level and in all the corners.
There might be some small bubbles on the surface. Most of these should go away, but feel free to (carefully) pop them with something pointy. Now just wait 1 hour!
The Removal
Now we had some funny footage of this that didn't make it on the show. This can be a difficult process. What finally worked for me was to take a knife and heat it up under hot water, then carefully cut along the very edge where the glass meets the edge of the pan. After that I was able to carefully pry it up. Then flip it over and slowly lift the pan away from the sugar glass that is resting on you hand.
The Execution
Sugar glass does not last long...at all. As I said before, keep it in the fridge until you need it. After only 10-15 minutes at room tempature the glass will start to sweat and get sticky. The longer you leave it out the more it will just bend instead of break.
There are tons of creative ways to use this stuff. You could try and make a big window out of smaller sheets, break a fire exstinguisher case, or just break it and stick it to your actors face to make them look like they just went threw a window. Just keep in mind that you can still cut yourself with this stuff.
Check out this build in action, from Episode 6 of Backyard FX
Heh, nice. My friends (Mostly highschoolers) and I (Im in Sixth grade) are gonna throw random stuff at eachothers heads by a museum and were gonna use your glass stuuf too! Then its gonna be on youtube.
i love indy mogul p.s. i'm only 10
I need a pane of sugar glass for a movie I am making. The scene where the glass is broken takes place at the school where my mom works. As far as I know, there is no stove at the school. The school is about a 15-20 minute drive from our house.
I was thinking of transporting several panes of glass wrapped up in bubble wrap or something, and put into a cooler for transport. Should I do this?
Is it possible to put more then one sugar glas sheet together so u could jump through it in a chase seen?
why!?
Wezley for three-Dimensional Objects you would want to use a set of frames (two nearly identical frames, but with one smaller than the other) you would have to set the smaller frame inside the bigger and fill the gap between them with the sugar glass, when your sugar glass hardens you would need to remove the frames, and you would have breakable glass objects, as for color try adding food coloring to the liquid form of your sugar glass. i tested my explanation using a Hollow Rubber Ball and a smaller bouncy ball. You cut a small section [make sure this section is big enough to have it's own indention] of the rubber ball off (giving it a flat hole big enough to insert the bouncy ball, and allow it to sit on a table without rolling) I place my small bouncy ball into the hole and poured my sugar glass into it. I set it in the fridge (using tape and an egg carton to keep it from rolling and ultimately pouring my sugar water out.) and then filled the removed section (the chunk of my rubber ball used to make the hole) with sugar water, set it in the fridge the same way, let it harden, then used an X-acto knife to remove the rubber ball, and to carefully cut along the flat side of my s.glass ball, and removed the bouncy ball. Then I set the s.glass ball aside and removed my other s.glass from rubber, and using Spirit Gum I attached the S.glass ball to the S.Glass Section which gave me an easily breakable ball (the Section may be thicker than the rest of the ball)
Umm I was wondering first of all how to make 3D objects out of sugar glass and secondly how one could make different colors from it. Ur videos rock!!!!
Sanch, for the cup, you might want to make a mold. You can buy some mold making kits at Michaels Craft Stores, they're strong clay, so they wont get damaged by the sugar. Pour the mix in there, and then put it in the fridge, make sure to use some spray oil. Don't take it out of the fridge until the last minute, it'll break easier :)
Hey does anyone have a good idea of how to make a cup like one you might find at a bar out of this sugar glass??
on the last picture, is the glass yellow because the mixture got carmalized? or is that what it looks like.
umm i was also wondering on one of your episodes it said something about getting cheap green screens how do you get the effect of the green screen ?
its great i got all of the ingrediants P.S. i love all ur videos
they rock
Awesome! Thanks for the plans.
Hey is their any chance you can turn this into a PDF?
thats realy cool!!!
I have actually built this for a movie before but the bottles broke before we got a good take but it does work out really well.