Slump a Mezuzah

 The holiday season is fast approaching. We recently had inquiries on tips for slumping a (fused) glass mezuzah. It seems the writer was slumping the glass over a metal mold and the glass kept on cracking.

There are three different ways to slump a mezuzah.

1. Try fiber paper. Cut the paper to size and then stack layers of fiber paper to the height you want. You can use a drop of white elmers glue or fusers glue to hold the fiber paper together but be sure to let the glue dry completely or the evaporation from the glue will cause problems with your slump.

2. Use a ceramic mezuzah that is not glazed and slump the glass into the backside of the ceramic piece. You can make your own ceramic slump mold (if you have a friend with a ceramic kiln to fire it for you) or you can purchase an unglazed ceramic mezuzah in a studio that sells "made by you" or "paint your own" ceramics (or a ceramic supply wholesaler). Something like this.

3. Purchase a mold designed for slumping, like this.

For other thoughts on making mezuzot see our earlier blog posting or our tutorial on How to Make a Fused Glass Mezuzah. For information on how to affix gold Hebrew lettering on your mezuzah see our tutorial.

Happy fusing and slumping!