Smash and Grab Bowl_Cast Concrete + Glass.

This is a bowl cast from concrete, utilising glass fragments from one of the infamous ‘smash and grabs’. I am not sure if this is an international term, of if it is mostly understood in my hometown Johannesburg and the rest of South Africa. I have featured this on my website, but I know that Instructables reaches a lot more people/ inventors/ magicians.

If you’ve grown up in Jozi (Johannesburg), you have more than likely seen the extra large glitter sprinkled messily beside your car. If not you, then someone you know. This sadly is not glitter. Rather, it is the cookie crumb trail left by the izinyoka (the snake) to whom you have just donated your car radio/speakers/ anything forgotten on your car seat. This happened one evening to a car parked outside my house. Lurking in the darkness with a dustpan and plastic packet, I collected all the glass fragments as I knew there may be a possible use for them in the future. These remained in a tub on my shelf for many months until I decided to use them as aggregate in a cast concrete bowl. It was a couple months after I made the badass concrete rocket, in which rubber fragments were used as aggregate.

The contrast of the matt, porous concrete and the sharp smooth greenish glass fragments create an interesting visual appeal. This however does not translate into an easily usable product for storing household items... The concrete grit will scratch your phone, or get transported on an apple and end up chipping your teeth.

Even though there are many sharp corners, they get enveloped by the concrete and create a relatively soft form.

What I would like to do next, is use a much higher percentage of glass, which may allow some light to pass through solid concrete. I have seen this online, but it is much easier said than done as concrete is a very difficult medium to 'tame'.