Customizable, liquid filled sealed glass jewelry and method for making same

Abstract

A method for making customizable liquid-filled glass jewelry wherein a hollow glass vessel is blown or otherwise manufactured and then partially filled with small diamonds, gems, stones, pieces of metal, etc. Thereafter, the hollow glass vessel is completely filled with a semi-viscous liquid having a specific index of refraction. Once filled with liquid, a sealing cap is attached to the glass vessel, the cap typically being decorative. With a properly selected index of refraction, the vessel appears to be solid glass with the small diamonds, etc. being suspended therein. Colorized diamonds produced by irradiation produce particularly attractive results. A process for creating custom molds for blowing custom glass vessels is described. Molds are created using instructions derived from images generated by 3-D solid rendering software to direct a numerically controlled milling machine or other such machine tool.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method for fabricating a customizable article of liquid filled glass jewelry, the steps comprising:
 a) providing a hollow glass body having an external decorative shape, a hollow interior cavity, a closed bottom, and an upper opening disposed away from said closed bottom and communicative with said hollow interior cavity;   b) placing at least one piece of solid material into said hollow interior cavity through said upper opening, thereby partially filling said hollow interior cavity;   c) after said placing step (b), filling all remaining space in said hollow interior cavity with a semi-viscous liquid;   d) after said filling step (c) sealing said upper opening with a cap permanently affixed to said hollow glass body.   
     
     
         2 . The method for fabricating a customizable article of liquid filled glass jewelry as recited in  claim 1 , wherein said providing step (a) comprises the sub-step:
 i) blowing partially melted glass in a mold thereby forming said hollow glass body.   
     
     
         3 . The method for fabricating a customizable article of liquid filled glass jewelry as recited in  claim 2 , wherein said providing step (a) further comprises the sub-steps:
 ii) prior to said blowing sub-step (i), creating a mold having a cavity having a shape representative of said external decorative shape.   
     
     
         4 . The method for fabricating a customizable article of liquid filled glass jewelry as recited in  claim 3 , wherein said creating sub-step (ii) comprises the sub-steps:
 iii} using solid modeling software to create a solid model of said hollow glass body having said external decorative shape;   iv) creating instructions for directing a numerically controlled machine tool for machining a mold cavity from said solid model; and   v) machining said mold cavity using said numerically controlled machine tool controlled by said instructions.   
     
     
         5 . The method for fabricating a customizable article of liquid filled glass jewelry as recited in  claim 2 , the sub-step further comprising:
 ii) after said blowing sub-step (i), while said blown hollow glass body is malleable, mechanically altering an appearance of said blown hollow glass body.   
     
     
         6 . The method for fabricating a customizable article of liquid filled glass jewelry as recited in  claim 1 , wherein said filling step (c) comprises filling all remaining space in said hollow interior cavity with a semi-viscous liquid having an index of refraction having a desired relationship to an index of refraction of said glass body. 
     
     
         7 . The method for fabricating a customizable article of liquid filled glass jewelry as recited in  claim 6 , wherein said filling step (c) comprises filling all remaining space in said hollow interior cavity with a semi-viscous liquid having an index of refraction substantially equal to an index of refraction of said glass body. 
     
     
         8 . The method for fabricating a customizable article of liquid filled glass jewelry as recited in  claim 1 , wherein said sealing said opening step (d) comprises sealing a cap to said hollow glass body using at least one of the processes selected from the group: cementing, swaging, and welding. 
     
     
         9 . The method for fabricating a customizable article of liquid filled glass jewelry as recited in  claim 1 , wherein said sealing said opening step (d) comprises attaching a cap made of metal or other suitable material to the outside surface of said hollow glass body adjacent said upper opening such that said cap completely seals said upper opening. 
     
     
         10 . The method for fabricating a customizable article of liquid filled glass jewelry as recited in  claim 1 , wherein said placing step (b) comprises placing at least one piece of solid material selected from the group comprising: diamonds, diamond chips, colorized diamonds, colorized diamond chips, semi-precious stones, pieces of semi-precious stones, gems, gem fragments, metal and small pieces of other materials. 
     
     
         11 . A liquid-filled glass article of jewelry or the like, comprising:
 a) a hollow glass body having a closed bottom and an open top, said hollow glass body having a predetermined exterior ornamental shape;   b) a plurality of small pieces of solid matter placed into an interior space of said hollow glass body;   c) a liquid completely filling any remaining space within said interior space; and   d) an ornamental cap fixedly applied to said hollow glass body adjacent said open top thereby completely sealing said liquid and said plurality of small pieces of solid matter within said interior space.   
     
     
         12 . The liquid-filled glass article of jewelry or the like as recited in  claim 11 , wherein said hollow glass body is a blown glass hollow glass body. 
     
     
         13 . The liquid-filled glass article of jewelry or the like as recited in  claim 12 , wherein said blown hollow glass body is blown in a two-part customized mold. 
     
     
         14 . The method for fabricating a customizable article of liquid filled glass jewelry as recited in  claim 5 , wherein said mechanically altering sub-step (ii) is performed at at least one of the times selected from the group: when said glass is malleable at the time of blowing, and when glass is reheated to a malleable state. 
     
     
         15 . The method for fabricating a customizable article of liquid filled glass jewelry as recited in  claim 1 , wherein said providing step (a) comprising a hollow glass body formed from glass having a color chosen from the group: clear glass, and colored glass.