Glass Flower Making

When I posted recently about Irene and I making glass flowers, there were questions about how they are made, and how I use them in the garden.  I have posted about this before, but it has been several years, so I have produced a new tutorial.

For those of you who don't care about how, just skim through the "how" until you get to the "where". 

We buy household glass at thrift stores. Here are the elements of a glass flower. 

Start with a plate.

 Rubbing alcohol works to remove sticky price tags, or just wash everything in dish detergent and use a scrub brush.  

 Second, add a smaller diameter bowl or plate. 

 Then a third bowl or plate.

 Finally add a candle holder or small glass and perhaps a center embellishment. 

Then glue the pieces together using one of these sealants. 

Let them rest overnight to set up. Then glue a bud vase to the bottom of the flower and let that set for 24 hours.

Cur re-bar to the desired length and bend one end of it to fit the length of the bud vase. 

 Tom uses plastic tubing over the bent portion to protect the glass. 

The bent portion slips into a bud vase to hold the flower at an angle

We went a little crazy then, using up all of our new supply of glass and most of the old stuff. 

Most of these are still on the work bench, but we did add two new ones to the garden. This is the spot where we removed a dead dogwood. It called for a glass installation, which is what I call placing several glass flowers together, along with several "bottle buds". 

We already have singles and installations throughout the garden. 

 That piece with the three suspended lenses Tom just made using copper wire and conduit and recycled glass from Bedrock Industries in Seattle. 

 We also have a few towers.

 Forgive me, but I went a little crazy with my camera at this point because  Wednesday morning the garden was so beautiful. 

 The yellow flower in the center here is the only one I purchased. It is hand blown and on sale cost $80. I wanted glass in the garden but couldn't afford those prices. We saw some homemade glass flowers in a garden, which gave us the idea of creating our own. From there we went bigger and bolder. And maybe even a bit over the top. 

The new ones still on the work bench will find homes. We'll swap out a few old ones we don't like as much now, add a few more, give a few away, and perhaps offer some for sale at our open garden in July. Then we'll go out of business for a while.