How to Make a Glass Cupcake Ring

Steps 1-4

Steps:

1. Dip the steel mandrel into the clay sludge. Place the opposite end (handle) into a jar of vermiculite so the clay can dry. Let dry.

2. Turn on the oxygen and propane tanks and the exhaust fan. Turn on the wok filled with vermiculite.

3. Light the torch by turning on the propane and sparking it with an igniter. Then gently turn on the oxygen until the flame is just right.

4. Wear didymium safety glasses. To make glass stringers for sprinkles, gently heat the tip of a glass rod until it is glowing and molten. Pull the molten blob into a long string of glass with tweezers. Let cool and set aside for topping the cupcake. Repeat this step several times using different colors.

Steps 5-7

5. Heat the tip of the clay-coated steel mandrel in the flame.

6. Simultaneously heat up the tip of a white rod of glass. It is important to introduce the glass into the flame slowly, waving it back and forth to avoid cracking the glass.

7. Once the white glass has a molten blob at the end, slowly wrap the molten glass around the heated mandrel tip. Repeat this several times until there is a mass the size of a pinky fingertip.

Step 8

8. Shape the white glass into a "cup" shape and flatten the top with the graphite paddle.

9. Heat small sections of the cup and use the tungsten rod to make small indentations to create a ripple effect on the cupcake base.

Steps 10-12

10. Slowly heat the tip of a brown rod of glass while continually rotating and heating the cupcake base.

11. Once the brown glass has a molten blob at the end, attach it to the top of the cupcake base and pull away. This is the cupcake top.

12. Shape the brown glass into the cupcake top with the graphite paddle.

Steps 13-14

13. Slowly heat the tip of a pink rod of glass, while still heating and rotating the cupcake.

14. Attach a large blob of pink glass to the top of the cupcake and pull away to create the frosting.