Photos: Tucson business breaks into glass straw production
A local company, iloveglassstraws.com, makes glass straws as alternatives to plastic straws, to save the fish and help the community.
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Glass straws
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Glass straws are manufactured at Tucson-based iloveglassstraws.com. The straws, made from borosilicate glass and printed with borosilicate infused decals, are produced as alternatives to plastic straws.
Glass straws
Updated
Glass straws manufactured at Tucson-based iloveglassstraws.com. The straws, made from borosilicate glass and printed with borosilicate infused decals, are produced as alternatives to plastic straws.
Glass straws
Updated
Ricky Segura, project manager at Tucson-based iloveglassstraws.com, marks borosilicate glass tubes to be scored and cut to size at a small warehouse in Tucson, AZ. on January 9, 2019. The straws, made from borosilicate glass and printed with borosilicate painted decals, are offered to companies as alternatives to plastic straws.
Glass straws
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Xavier Mungia cuts decals printed with borosilicate paint at Tucson-based iloveglassstraws.com, in Tucson, AZ on January 9, 2019.
Glass straws
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Borosilicate printed decals are hand set on each straw and then fired in a custom-made belt-driven kiln at Tucson-based iloveglassstraws.com in Tucson, AZ. The borosilicate printed decals fuse to the borosilicate straw making the printing essentially impervious to scratching or removal.
Glass straws
Updated
Borosilicate paint is mixed in custom colors to exacting standards at Tucson-based iloveglassstraws.com. The borosilicate printed decals fuse to the borosilicate straw making the printing essentially impervious to scratching or removal.
Glass straws
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Senior pressman Cisco Valencia applies a blue borosilicate paint onto a printing plate to be printed onto waterslide decal paper at Tucson-based iloveglassstraws.com in Tucson, AZ on January 9, 2019.
Glass straws
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Sheets of blue waterslide decals printed with borosilicate paint come off the press individually at Tucson-based iloveglassstraws.com in Tucson, AZ on January 9, 2019.
Glass straws
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Ricky Segura, left, and Cisco Valencia, from left, make sheets of blue borosilicate waterslide decals one at a time at iloveglassstraws.com in Tucson, AZ on January 9, 2019. The sheets are air dried and cured on a drying rack.
Glass straws
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Del Hendrixson, Cisco Valencia and Ricky Segura, from left, make sheets of blue borosilicate waterslide decals one at a time at iloveglassstraws.com in Tucson, AZ on January 9, 2019.
Glass straws
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Del Hendrixson explains the printing process he used on a project for boxer Mike Tyson using 24K gold based paint at iloveglassstraws.com in Tucson, AZ.
Glass straws
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Glass straws pass over a set of flames on a polisher designed by Del Hendrixson to smooth the sharp raw ends of the scored glass straws at iloveglassstraws.com in Tucson, AZ on January 9, 2019. A properly tuned propane flame is hot enough to melt the glass to a smooth, rounded end.
Glass straws
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Del Hendrixson with a printed glass straw at iloveglassstraws.com in Tucson, AZ on January 9, 2019. Prior to founding iloveglassstraws.com, Hendrixson used his printing business to print designs for glass products, such as beer mugs and jewelry.
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