Collecting glittering recycled glass for garden projects

Collecting recycled glass for garden projects….

What’s is more fun…collecting the pieces, or actually making garden totems? I don’t know! You may collect certain colors like blue or green especially, since they go in any garden well, or you may accumulate enough to make a rainbow creation like some below. Look for pieces that will stack well together and have a flat gluing surface on the bottoms. Don’t forget the base for your totem, microwave dishes, you know, from the turntable!

Here you’ll see some of our gardeners collections along with tips for where to find glass, how to store your collection and materials needed for craft projects.

Kirk Willis’s totem using recycled glass he collects for garden projects

Jane Sharp’s dazzling collection of recycled glass for garden projects

Jane Sharp says, “I got obsessed about making garden totems! Here’s the result, above. My plan is to install them in a rainbow swath across my front garden bed, a sort of “do-it-yourself Dale Chihully….”

Lynn Lang’s recycled glass collection for the garden

Lynn Lang reveals her collection. “My first garden totems! The glass orbs on two of them are solar lights that change color. Bought lights at Menards for $4.00. Copper stakes will support most of these.”

Where to find glass for garden totems

Thrift stores, of course, for inexpensive glass vases, light fixtures, candle holders, old swag lamps and votives
Yards sales, where real bargains can be found!
Antique stores,…sometimes,…you can find treasures and unusual pieces, but they may be pricey.
eBay for certain colors shapes,..specific items you can only pinpoint there,..You’re stuck with postage and the risk of breakage, but it may be worth it!

Don’t glue Grandma’s glass!

Ann Elias’s glass totems

Ann Elias exposes her secret stash. She tells us, “I have been busy…playing in my new craft studio!”

Jan Brown’s collection started,..she likes blues and greens

Storing your recycled garden glass

Inside in cupboards or closet shelves
Outside on shed or garage shelving in the winter months

In many climates you can keep your glass outdoors all year round. In colder areas, the glass becomes permanently brittle in freezing weather.

Other materials needed for projects

Glue- GE II Silicone for Exterior Windows
Masking tape
Flat marbles or ‘jewels’
Microwave glass ‘dishes’

GE II Silicone for exterior windows, in clear. Click to buy from Amazon.

Tip:

From Kirk Willis: Glue a glass microwave dish to the bottom ofyour totems or birdbaths and then cover the dish with soil or bark to disguise it. It will add stability.

Sherma Jones arranges her collection in a rainbow

Sherma Jones and her husband, from Nebraska, accomplished a huge iundertaking when making this glass sculpture in their garden. Se fears it makes become a ‘target’ for pistol happy shooters??? She says, simply, “Here’s my bottle wall in a Nebraska winter wonderland. It’s beautiful year-round. ” For complete how-tos, see Art or Shooting Practice? on Sherma’s blog.