Tuesday, June 28, 2011

DIY Wednesday: Garden Ornaments

Hello!

Welcome if you're new to my blog! Thank you for reading. I really appreciate anyone that can use what I blog to make something beautiful!

This week's tutorial is from a guest blog I did for Boone-Ames Macaroni Kid Newsletter. (Please subscribe to their newsletter if you're in the area...they have great family friendly activities!)

This project has great possibilities as garden ornaments, bird feeders, bird baths, cupcake stands, centerpieces...whatever you can think of, you can use this for!

Click here for a printable PDF tutorial.
Link
Glass Plate Garden Ornaments




Supplies:

Various Glass Ornaments & Vases (I got all mine for less than $2.00!)
Epoxy Glue (5.00 for an entire bottle, but you will only use half)
Rubbing Alcohol
Plastic Gloves



Total for Project: Under $5.00


Directions:

Step One: Play Around

If you’re like me, you’ve collected your glass pieces over a period of time. You probably didn’t have a specific design in place when you started to pick things up.

When I was looking for items, I made sure I looked for both flat (serving plates) and tall pieces (vases, ice cream bowls, cups, candlesticks). I also found some glass insulators from old trains and used that in one of my pieces. (So think outside the box!) I have an infinitely for milk glass so I also included that into the mix. Think old china too. Estate sales and garage sales are fantastic places to look.

Once you have all your pieces, start playing around with how you want to stack them. Keep this in mind: you are going to want to, if you’re able, create a place for a stake to go from the ground into the first item you stack. This will make your piece more stable and allow you to go even taller. My stacks didn’t quite work out that way.



Step Two: Prepare Your Surface

You will want to make sure that the surface that you’re applying glue to is clean. In order to do this, you will want to use some rubbing alcohol to clean everything that is going to receive glue. Let the surface dry completely before moving on to gluing.

Step Three: Glue Everything Together

You are going to use an ultra strong epoxy to glue everything together. You will want to look at the instructions on the package to make sure the epoxy is made for this purpose. Seems like common sense, but when I worked retail there were so many people that returned items simply because they didn’t read the label.

This epoxy is super glue on steroids. You will want to be extra careful with the application. Especially if you’re like me and get glue everywhere! Grab some gloves and some plastic to cover your space.

Working from bottom to top, glue two pieces together at a time. Follow the directions on the label; for example, my epoxy was set at 6 minutes. So after the epoxy was set, I would move on to the next item.

Apply epoxy to both items, not just one. This will make the bond stronger. It’s important that you use epoxy. Glues such as hot glue or gorilla glue will melt in the summer sun. The resin from the epoxy should not. You may want something like an old paintbrush or a pencil to spread out the resign. I used the applicator, but it ended up getting gunked up.



Step Four: Dry & Display

Allow your creation to dry for the time indicated by the epoxy instructions. Your ornament is done! Enjoy your work of art.





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1 comment

garden ornaments said...

Those are great! Loved the first one also.

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