Thursday, April 29, 2010

Ecolovies ~ How to make a glass garden flower

Catalina, a blog follower posted these amazingly beautiful glass plate flowers as inspiration for my blank slate garden last week and I was just in awe! (Here is a link to her beautiful creation.) I have to admit to being a bit out of my league with the 'plumbing and electrical stuff turned art supplies', but I finally found them. (After two days of looking and really helpful people trying to help me find the abstract things I was looking for, while trying not to laugh. In the end I pulled up this picture on my iPhone and just took it out whenever they would start looking at me as though I had three heads.)

You need:

"rain ready" silicone glue
3/4" EMT metal conduit poles (cut to 3.33ft and 4ft lengths)
plumbing bell hangers (3/4" size for most plates)
thrifted glass plates
colored glass florist pebbles
screw driver
rubber mallet

1. Now, if you are anything like me, your first question is "What the heck is a 'bell hanger'???"

This is a bell hanger:

This $1.57 piece cost me lots of time. I actually went to 5 (yes 5!) different plumbing supply stores. In the end, I found them at Lowes. I actually found EVERYTHING I needed at Lowes. They were not, however, at Home Depot or any of the local places I went to. So, if you have a Lowes around you, and want to do this project, go there. And if you can, bring a picture of what you need. It's helpful.

2. After you have all your stuff gathered, it's the fun part. You just simply glue the glass pebbles to the plates in neat patterns, and then wait for at least 3 hours for it to dry. Do this in a VERY well ventilated area as the fumes are strong (we were in the homeschool room with the slider open) and make sure not to get any on your skin (we did this while Logan was napping).

3. Just before you go to bed that night, remove the screws from the bell hanger, and glue the 'bell' part to the back center of your plate.

4. The next morning, with the rubber mallet, pound the EMT pole into your soil, (you don't want glass tipping over) and use the screwdriver to secure the bell hanger onto it.

That's it! Once you find the stuff, this project goes together in a snap. And they are so beautiful!


signature

13 comments:

Cheryl said...

They certainly add interest to your garden. Our seedlings are at the same stage as yours. I think we may give this a go. When I first saw it I thought you were going to use heat to meld the glass together, which put me off! I think I could cope with silicone glue.

ColorSlut said...

Thank you so much for posting how to do this. I'm totally going to have to make some!!!

Ivy/Anna said...

They are beautiful!

pink and green mama said...

Oh Val!

I just LOVE them and now I know what mystery part you were hunting for at the hardware store this weekend -- LOL!! Great job, I'm dying to make some yard gazing balls with thrifted/freecycled bowling balls and glass jems glued to them.

xoxo MaryLea

Val in the Rose Garden said...

@ MaryLea: YES! That was the part. Stinking thing took me FOREVER to find. And what was funniest to me was how many plumbing specialists didn't know what it was! Ugh!

Yard gazing balls... My husband used to make those. The glass floats too. Sometimes, well rarely, I really miss his glass blowing days.

@ Everyone: I can't wait to see all the beautiful creations you guys make!

Shirley said...

Very cool!

Catalina said...

Yay! Your flowers look GREAT!!!
I just made 35 glass flowers this week, so I'm a little flowered out, but it was great to see someone else making them. I've made tons of them, but I still get excited when I'm putting together a new one.
My hands are really gluey though, 'gotta start wearing gloves.
P.S. To prevent the flower from tipping over when it rains, I put a piece of rebar in the ground first and then slide my stem over the top.

mandi said...

These are awesome mother's day (grandmother's) gift ideas!

Rachel@oneprettything.com said...

Wow, these are so pretty! Thanks so much for the great idea. I'll be linking.

EJ said...

Very pretty! I love this idea, they're like sun catchers! Take a look at these garden spinner, I think this could be your inspiration for your next project.

Elizabeth said...

what happens with the screw coming out of the bell part? i'm not quite picturing how you glue the bell part to the plate. i'm thinking that the screw would get in the way of the plate??? just can't picture it in my head....

Elizabeth said...

re: bell screw question--sorry. i just re-read the instructions again, and saw where it said to remove the screw from the bell part. but then how do you get the bell part attached to the "hanger" part?

Val in the Rose Garden said...

@Elizabeth - you remove the screw. :) There is no screw on any of mine. Then you are free to glue the bell portion of the hanger to the plate with no issue.

Hope this helps!

Blessings,

Val