The Art of the 'Innit' Glass: How We Make the Impossible, Possible
If I had a pound for every time someone picked up one of our glasses, squinted at it, and asked, "How on earth did you get that in there?", well, I’d probably be retired on a beach in the Maldives by now.
Instead, I’m here in rural Lincolnshire, covered in a light dusting of glass dust, working alongside my daughter to create what we like to call the 'Innit' glass. You know the ones: a golf ball whiskey glass that looks like a drive went slightly off-course and ended up mid-pour, or a bullet pint glass that looks like it’s survived a trip to a very rowdy Wild West saloon.
The mystery is part of the fun. We’ve heard everything from "Did you glue it?" (absolutely not) to "Is it magic?" (we wish, it would save on the electricity bill). The truth is a little more grounded in physics, a lot of patience, and the kind of precision that only comes from being a tiny, slightly obsessive family team.
So, grab a drink, hopefully in a glass that doesn’t have a projectile stuck in it yet, and let’s pull back the curtain on how we make the impossible, possible.
It’s Not Magic (But It Feels Like It)
When you see a real, solid bullet whiskey glass with a genuine .357 Magnum casing embedded in the side, your brain tells you the glass should be shattered. After all, glass is brittle, right?
The secret isn’t in the "what," it’s in the "when." If you tried to hammer a golf ball into a finished glass, you’d end up with a very messy floor and a trip to A&E. Our process happens when the glass is in a state somewhere between a solid and a liquid, a sweet spot where it's soft enough to move but firm enough to hold its shape.
The Big Heat: Softening the Soul of the Glass
Everything starts with our high-temperature kilns. These aren't your average kitchen ovens; these are industrial beasts that we crank up to roughly 650°C (about 1200°F). At this temperature, the glass reaches its "softening point."
It doesn't turn into a puddle, but it becomes "plastic", not the material, but the physical state. It gets just pliable enough that we can manipulate it. This is where the father-daughter teamwork really kicks in. While one of us monitors the temperature with the intensity of a hawk watching a field mouse, the other is prepping the object to be embedded.
Whether it’s a Titleist golf ball or a gleaming copper bullet, the object has to be perfectly clean and ready for its forever home.
The "Innit" Moment: Precision and Speed
This is the bit that makes our hearts race every single time. Once the glass is at the perfect temperature, we have a very narrow window of time to act.
We take the object, say, a real golf ball, and we embed it. This requires a steady hand and a terrifying amount of speed. If we’re too slow, the glass cools down and cracks. If we’re too forceful, we ruin the shape of the glass.
It’s a dance of heat and pressure. We push the object into the softened side of the glass, letting the glass flow around it and "grip" it. No glue. No resins. Just pure, unadulterated physics. The glass literally hugs the object, creating a permanent bond as it starts to cool.
The 7-Hour Chill: The Art of Annealing
If you think the hard part is over once the ball is in the glass, think again. This is actually where most "DIY" attempts at home (please don't try this) go horribly wrong.
When you heat glass and then stick a cold (or even warm) object into it, you create massive internal stress. If you just left that glass on the counter to cool down, it would literally explode into a thousand pieces within minutes. This is because the glass near the object cools at a different rate than the rest of the glass.
Enter the Annealing Process.
Every single Innit Store glass goes through a rigorous, 7-hour controlled cooling cycle. We place the glasses back into a specialized kiln that slowly, degree by degree, lowers the temperature. This allows the atoms in the glass to rearrange themselves and relieve all that internal stress. It’s like a deep-tissue massage for glassware.
Without this 7-hour soak, the glass is a ticking time bomb. With it? It’s a solid, durable piece of art that’s ready for a lifetime of toasts.
Why Handmade Matters (The Lincolnshire Spirit)
Because we aren’t a giant factory in a far-flung corner of the world, every glass we make has its own personality. Being a father-daughter team in rural Lincolnshire means we see every single piece that leaves our workshop.
When you buy a novelty glassware gift from us, you aren’t getting something popped out of a mold by the millions. You’re getting a piece where someone (usually me or my daughter) has personally managed the heat, the embedding, and the long wait by the kiln.
Sometimes the glass might have a tiny bit more "slump" around the bullet, or the golf ball might sit at a slightly different angle. That’s not a flaw, it’s the thumbprint of a handmade item. It’s what makes it a proper gift.
The Perfect Conversation Starter
At the end of the day, we don't just sell glasses. We sell that moment when a friend walks into your home, sees a bullet whiskey glass sitting on the bar, and says, "Innit... wait, how did they do that?"
It’s about the look of confusion that turns into admiration once they realise it’s real. It’s about the golf lover who finally has a glass that matches their obsession.
Whether it's for a birthday, a retirement, or just because you want to win the "best gift giver" award this Christmas, our embedded glassware is designed to start conversations and last a lifetime.
Ready to find your own impossible glass? From darts and cricket balls to military-grade casings, we’ve probably tried embedding it.
Explore our full collection here and find the perfect gift for the person who thinks they’ve seen everything. Because at Innit Store, we’re making the impossible, one glass at a time.