How To Make Garden Art Flowers from Dishes

How To Make Garden Art Flowers from Dishes

How to make garden art dish flowers using both drill and no-drill methods. Grab old plates, dishes, cutlery, and candy dishes and turn them into blooms for your garden.

I may receive a commission if you purchase something mentioned in a link on this post for sites including Amazon.com. Other links may go to websites where I have been paid to write a blog or article. See the entire disclosure here.

Options for Making Garden Art Flowers

How to make garden art dish flowers using both drill and no-drill methods

While you can assemble them with a good, waterproof adhesive (more on this below), I find it’s best to also drill through the plates and secure them with wire. This way the dish flowers can stay in the garden throughout the seasons without the risk of falling apart. Don’t worry about drilling holes in glass: I promise you it’s way easier than it sounds.

But, if you don’t want to drill the glass, that’s fine! You simply use more adhesive instead of wiring the pieces together.

You’ll probably want to start watching at yard sales or thrift stores for suitable dishes so you can make several flowers all at once. I have also provided instructions for other glass garden art projects here, so if something doesn’t work for one creation, it will probably find use in another.

Love garden art and creative gardening ideas?

Drill or Not – Your Choice

These instructions will show you how to create glass garden flowers from start to finish, including a video showing how to drill through glass. With the right drill bit, it’s really a simple process and once you try it, you’ll definitely feel confident enough to make a whole bunch more.

You can mount the flowers on wooden posts as I’ve done here, use rebar or pipes, or simply hang them on a wall or fence. This post shows an update of how I displayed them on my patio wall.

Plus, as soon as you are confident that you can indeed drill holes in all sorts of used kitchen items, the entire key to the garden art kingdom is yours.

Dish Flower Tools & Materials

Some of these links go to my affiliate account at Amazon.com

• Used kitchen glassware and metal plates, bowls, serving dishes, votive candle holders…. I choose pieces around 1/8″ thick.
• Tiered serving dishes work great because they already have holes drilled in them.
• Old forks and spoons (to use as leaves on the wooden flower stem)
• Plastic or metal dish pan
• Old towel (you might drill a hole in it)

• 5/16″ diamond drill bit ($15-20 US) – cuts glass, marble, porcelain, granite, and slate
• 1/8″ masonry drill bit (optional-if you want to make a pilot hole in the glass to keep the diamond bit from slipping
• 1/2″ titanium drill bit (for drilling holes in the forks and spoons)
• Cordless drill
• Safety glasses and protective gloves
• Masking tape (optional)
• Sharpie marker

• 16-gauge wire (10 inches for each flower)
• Washer and bolt (1 each per flower) or strong metal buttons with two holes (1 button per flower)
• 1″x1″x48″ wood posts (1 for each flower)
• 1/2″ wood screws (for attaching forks and spoons to the wooden stem)
• copper pipe end cap (optional) for attaching flower to a pipe stem

If you are new to using silicone sealant as an adhesive,

read these tips first.

Design

• Pick various sizes of dishes that look good together and fit well together.
• For the flowers you see here, I used clear and blue glass plates plus some small metal serving dishes.
• If you want to make several flowers to group together, you might want to pick a colour theme (blues, reds, greens, or simply all bold colours or pastels).

Set-Up

• Place folded towel in bottom of dish pan.
• Add enough cold water to cover towel plus a little more.
• Have dishes, drill (and bits), and safety glasses and gloves ready.
• Mark the plates where you want to drill each hole with the Sharpie.

Optional – Pre-Drill

• Place a small piece of masking tape over the intended drill hole area and pre-drill a starter hole using a 1/8″ masonry drill bit. The masking tape keeps the drill from slipping. The starter hole helps the diamond drill bit stay in place.

This video is fairly old but it does show me drilling a hole in a dish with one hand! The other hand is hold the camera, so you can see it’s not difficult.

Drill The Glass

This will take from 1-4 minutes per dish, depending on the glass.

• Place the glassware in the dish pan. Allow some water onto the surface of the glass.
• Put on your fancy safety glasses and gloves.
• Start drilling on medium speed, holding the drill at a 45 degree angle to the plate.
• Hold the drill steady but do not press too firmly against the glass. The diamond drill bit will do the work. You want consistent speed, not force.
• After about ten seconds, slowly move the drill (while you’re drilling) to a 90-degree angle, directly over the hole.
• As you drill it will look like little clouds of smoke are moving in the water around the hole. That’s the tiny bits of glass being drilled away.
• Usually after a minute or two , the drill bit will suddenly plunge through the plate when the hole is done (be prepared).

Drilling Metal Plates & Cutlery

• Thin metal serving dishes drill quite easily using a metal (titanium) drill bit.
• Metal cutlery (forks, spoons) can really vary for ease of drilling. You just have to try and see if it works. I have luck with about half of what I try. The rest are mightier than me and my drill and will survive a nuclear attack.

Assembly & Adhesive

Assemble the Flower

• Place some silicone sealant wherever the plates will be touching each other to keep the pieces from rubbing too tightly together. Work from back to front and line up the drilled holes as you go.
• Allow the sealant to dry (usually takes 3 hours).
• Thread a nut onto a 10″ piece of wire and fold the wire in half. Pinch the wire together to hold the nut in place and thread the wire through a washer. Thread everything through the front of the dishes. The nut and washer keep the wire from slipping through the flower. Alternately you could use a two-hole metal button at the center of your flower to hold the wire in place.

Prepare the Wooden Stem

• Drill a pilot hole and then a 5/16″ hole through the wooden stem. (Drilling the pilot hole first keeps the wood from splitting.)
• Use forks and spoons as leaves, attaching them with small wood screws.
• Hammer post into ground.

Mount the Flower on the Stem

• Attach flower by threading wire through hole in wooden stem and secure at back.

Alternate Way to Mount the Flower

• You can also attach a copper pipe end cap to the back of the flower (using the same silicone sealant as adhesive). Allow to dry and insert matching copper pipe as a stem.

How to make garden art dish flowers using both drill and no-drill methods

Original article and pictures take empressofdirt.net site

How to Make Earth-Wise Owls

How to Make Earth-Wise Owls

Earth-wise owls - a recycled craft project

I may receive a commission if you purchase something mentioned in a link on this post for sites including Amazon.com. Other links may go to websites where I have been paid to write a blog or article. See the entire disclosure here.

DIY Owls Made From Cardboard Boxes

I first found this project in a magazine article when I was around 7 years old (a long time ago!) when owls were all the rage in crafts and decor. And now they’re popular again, probably spurred on by the popularity of Harry Potter books.

I’ve noticed lots of owls on Etsy and Pinterest recently and decided to create a really easy version that both kids and adults can make. Just make sure an adult handles the hot glue gun (if you use one). There are more fun recycled Earth Day craft projects here.

The materials are all household items, making it entirely recycled with the exception of the glue.

Once you’ve mastered the basic owl, you can go on to embellish it to look like any type of owl you like. But for starters, we’ll do the sweet and simple owls.

Here’s free instructions to make the grape vine bird nest the owls are sitting on

Overview of Steps

1. Cut out the cardboard strips (see sizes listed in Materials list below) and wings.

2. Peel off one paper side of the box to expose the corrugated section inside.

3. Roll up each piece of cardboard to get a nice rounded roll before applying glue.

4. Apply a line of glue down the inside middle length of each cardboard piece, roll up snugly, hold closed with elastic bands while glue is drying.

5. Make beak.

6. Glue pieces together.

Earth-wise owls - a recycled craft project by www.empressofdirt.net

Materials For Making Earth-Wise Owls

• 2-3 Corrugated cardboard boxes (12″x18″x18″) – “corrugated” is the wavy layer in between the outer and inner paper walls of the box.
  For this project you will peel off one layer of paper, leaving one other layer plus the corrugated middle.

From the cardboard boxes cut out the cardboard pieces listed below for Mama and Baby:

Mama Owl (8″ tall) Materials

• Body: (1) 4″ x 140″ strip of cardboard (you can use several shorter pieces—at least 16″ long—and join them if needed)
• Head: (2) 4″ x 45″ strips of cardboard – these form the cylinders for each of the eyes
• Beak wrapper: (1) 4″ x 6″ piece of cardboard
• Wings: (2) 4″ x 7″ piece of cardboard – cut to form wing shapes (see below)
• Eyes: (2) Black buttons (1 1/2″ in diameter)
• Beak: (1) Silver cereal spoon with 4″ handle or a bit shorter

Baby Owl (4″ tall) Materials – This is for ONE baby owl

• Body: (1) 2″ x 45″ strip of cardboard (you can use several shorter pieces—at least 6″ long—and join them if needed)
• Head: (2) 2″ x 20″ strip sof cardboard
• Beak wrapper: (1) 2″ x 3 1/2″ piece of cardboard
• Wings (2) 2″ x 3 1/2″ piece of cardboard – cut to form wing shapes (see below)
• (2) Black buttons (1 1/2″ in diameter)
• (1) Tiny spoon with 2″ handle or a bit shorter (I broke mine off with pliers to get the right length)

Tools and Glue

• Adhesive / glue that works on cardboard. I used a hot glue gun and it worked really well. [See it at Amazon]
• Ruler, pencil, scissors, elastics.

Related: DIY Repurposed Owl Wreath Tutorial

Steps For Making The Owls

Please read all of the steps first – there’s some tips you’ll want to know ahead of time.

1. Cut open one corner of each carboard box so the cardboard lays flat. Cut out the cardboard strips (see sizes listed in Materials list above).

And cut out the wings: first cut the rectanglular sizes listed, then place the two pieces wrong sides together (corrugated cardboad facing out), and cut out wing shapes like the one in my wonderful illustration (right).

2. Peel off the PRINTED side of the cardboard. If there is no printed side, just peel whichever side you want.

DIY leaf lantern

If the sides don’t peel off completely, just score the ridges of the corrugated cardboard with the tip of your scissors. The uneven texture will look good. Trust me.

I demonstrated this with big pieces of cardboard, but yours will already be cut to size: this makes it easier to peel them.

3. Before you start gluing and assembling your owl, take the time to roll up each piece of cardboard and form nice rounded cylinders with the cardboard. This will make it easier for the next step.

Related: 12 Owl Art & Craft Projects

You’ve just pre-rolled the cardboard strips, now you want to open them flat, one at a time, and apply the glue.

Tip: Make sure the cardboard that will end up visible on the outer roll of each cylinder looks good. Take note of which end of each strip of cardboard will be the inside middle – that’s where you’ll start gluing and rolling. The same way you roll up a sleeping bag.

Rolling corrugated cardboard strip - owl craft project - www.empressofdirt.net

4. Apply a line of glue down the middle center length of each cardboard piece, working in manageable sections. Roll up the cardboad snugly, hold closed with elastic bands while glue is drying. I’m using a tube of silicone in the photo but I found a hot glue gun works faster.

Here’s another nature project idea: DIY Thrift Shop Bug House

Rolls of cardboard drying - owl craft project - www.empressofdirt.net

TIP: If you’d like your owl to have a rounded belly, push the centre of the cylinder out slightly before the glue dries (as shown below).

5. Make the beak.

• Bend the spoon where the handle meets the spoon head. You’ll want almost a 90 degree angle (see image below).
• Be sure your spoon handle is no longer than the depth of the beak cardboard piece. You don’t want it sticking out the back of the owl’s head!
• Pre-roll your beak cardboard so it will form a nice shape when you glue it.
• Apply glue to the length of the spoon handle and fasten to one inside end of the cardboard piece. Roll it up snugly.

Hold in place with elastic band while the glue is drying.

• This shows how the beak looks from the side:

Cardboard around spoon - owl craft project -www.empressofdirt.net

6. Next glue the rolled beak piece onto the body. I added mine where the cardboard roll ended on the body (to hide it).

Glue eye rolls to body and beak.

• Glue on button eyes in centre of head cylinders.
• Glue on wings, tucking top end just under sides of eye cylinders and have corrugated cardboard facing out. Secure to body with glue midway down inside of wing.
• Allow to dry.

Who’s your Mama?

You’re done!

More Ideas For Decorating Your Owl

This is the simple version of the owl. If you want to embellish yours further, look up images of various types of owls and see what you like.

• You could add head feathers or ears, wire feet, or decorate it for Halloween with a little witch hat!
• Dress them up in hats and mitts and place them on a winter wreath.
• Hang several from a mobile.
• Make giant, open wings to make your owl in flight.

Here they are wearing red mittens in the snow:

Snowy owls DIY craft and seasonal home decor project

More Ideas For Earth-Wise Owls

• Hang them on a door wreath.
• Give them seasonal accessories like hats, mitts, sweaters.
• Make them in more sizes – from giant to tiny.
• Or hang a little toy mouse from its beak: the horrors!

These babies are out of the nest for the first time.

~Melissa the Empress of Dirt ♛

Earth-wise owls - owl craft project

Original article and pictures take empressofdirt.net site

How to Make Concrete Planters

How to Make Concrete Planters

These DIY concrete garden planters are simple to make in just a weekend and with materials you may already have around the house. They look modern with unique shapes that come straight from the recycling bin!

I made these planters many years ago, and have since made many more for gifts and to decorate my home garden.

At the time I didn’t write out the whole tutorial with steps and materials, so here it is:

Materials

• Plastic containers to use as molds—choose all sorts of shapes for the molds, but make sure that the plastic is strong enough to hold the shape of heavy concrete. If the sides of the container are too flimsy, they will warp and you will get some weirdly-shaped planters (although they may also turn out kind of fabulous!).
• Cooking oil
• Foam brush
• Fine concrete (topping or repair concrete)—standard concrete has gravel in it and these larger stones will affect the overall look of your planters. Look for a smooth concrete made of sand and no large rocks, typically used to repair concrete or as a top coat for rough surfaces. As long as the planter isn’t huge, this will be the best concrete to choose.
• Trowel
• Rocks
• Instructions

Make it!

Thoroughly grease the containers with cooking oil so that the concrete doesn’t stick. I’ll write it again for emphasis: thoroughly. It can be tough to get the concrete out of the molds, so take some time and grease them up well. You will thank me later.

Mix the concrete by following the instructions on the package. Scoop concrete into a large mold and set a second, smaller mold into the first one. Make sure that you grease both the outside and the inside of the smaller mold. You can fill the smaller one with more concrete and insert an even smaller mold in that one. Keep going until the planters get too small and fill the final one with some pebbles to weigh it down.

Top up all of the planters with more concrete and tap them to remove bubbles. Smooth the surface so they even.

Let the planters dry for 24 hours. Unmold them by shaking the concrete loose, or cutting it away where it is too difficult to remove. It may take a bit of work, but if they were well oiled this is where you will thank me.

I have used the same containers many times over now, so it is possible to get them out with some upside-down shaking.

Now, let the containers cure for another week or so to ensure that they are fully ready for drilling. Use a concrete drill bit to drill a hole into the bottom of the planter for drainage.

Plant them up with sedum or annuals and keep them well watered. Set them around the garden and enjoy!

I like to use concrete for building outdoor projects and I have used it quite a lot. To me, it is like making garden sculptures!

I made a version of these planters with concrete dye layers for my book, Garden Made. I added PVC pipe for drainage in that project.

The PVC pipe requires measuring it and cutting it to the right height to go from the inside planter to the outside one. Oil it well and pour the concrete around it. You can certainly use this method or the drilling method that was described above for making drainage holes. Each has its merits and both require some finicky work. With the PVC pipe, you will inevitably be chipping at it (or drilling it!) to get the excess concrete out of the hole, so choose your method based on what you have on hand.

You can also make some stepping stones while you are at it. Like these:

Leaf Print Stepping Stones

Large Leaf Cast Stepping Stones

Adorable Hopscotch Stepping Stones

Or you can visit here for my other concrete garden projects.

Original article and pictures take gardentherapy.ca site

How to Make Citronella Candles

How to Make Citronella Candles

If your favorite thing in the summer is warm nights outside, then likely one of your least favorite things is getting eaten alive by mosquitoes. Making citronella candles in cans is a great recycling project that is inexpensive and effective, much like the Soy Beeswax Jar Candles I made a few months back.

I make plenty of candles to create a bug-free barrier around the patio so I can enjoy my warm breezes and summer cocktails in peace. They aren’t bad for adding atmosphere either!

I’m not overly crazy for the smell of citronella, so I added a few additional scents to the latest batch: pine and mandarin orange. While the most effective candles will still be primarily citronella, feel free to add a few other fragrances the bugs won’t like such as eucalyptus, rosemary, peppermint, and oregano. I have an all-natural bug spray recipe with these scents too – they work really well.

Materials

• Cans
• A double boiler (or here is a handy candle making kit)
• Wax (soy wax, paraffin wax, old candles)
• Pre-waxed wicks with tabs (150mm / 6”)
• Citronella oil for candle making (use 1 oz per lb of wax)
• Hot glue gun

  

Make it!

1. Using the hot glue gun, affix the wicks to the bottom of the cans and press it firmly into the center. If you are using a larger can, add two or three wicks spaced apart around the center.

2. Assemble your double boiler and add wax or old candles in small pieces. Don’t worry so much about bits of wick or other specks in the wax as you won’t see them in the candles when they are done. Heat over medium heat until the wax is completely melted.

3. When the wax is melted it’s time to add the fragrance. Add 1 oz of citronella oil per pound of wax and augment the scent with 0.5 oz of other scents per pound.

4. Let the wax cool slightly and carefully pour into containers. I can usually gently maneuver my wicks to stay in the center as the wax cools, but if you are having trouble, secure the wicks with a chopstick or clothespin to keep them in line. Be careful not to disturb them too much and set them in a warm place to cool. Cooling slowly and completely will create the best looking candles.

5. If you get a depressed area around the wick when cooled, warm up some more wax and pour it into the void.

6. Allow your candle to cure for 48 hours undisturbed before burning. Then, when you fire it up, let the candle burn so that there is a full, wide pool of wax before you blow it out. It is said that candles have a memory, so it’s best to let the first burn set the tone for all the rest.

7. Decorate your candles by wrapping them in burlap, twine and/or yarn. Store them near the garden, deck, or patio so you can quickly light up when the pests start buzzing around.

Need relief from annoying bugs on the go? Try this all-natural insect bite roll-on remedy.

Pin it!

Original article and pictures take gardentherapy.ca site

How to Make an Upcycled Suitcase Planter with Gas Pipe Legs + Giveaway!

How to Make an Upcycled Suitcase Planter with Gas Pipe Legs + Giveaway!

Imagine that great vintage suitcase you’ve been meaning to do something with spilling over with blooms all summer long. This upcycled suitcase planter is a nifty raised bed, a way to give new life to old objects you might have lying around, and a unique piece of garden art all rolled into one. With a few materials and a little know-how, you can make this creative raised bed in an afternoon.

Isn’t it lovely? This project is from Tara Nolan’s wonderful book Raised Bed Revolution. It contains everything you need to know about how to install a garden pretty much anywhere by creating your own raised beds using various inexpensive or upcycled materials. The book also fills you in on how to get the most space out of your raised bed, gardening on a budget, rooftop and vertical gardens, and practical tips on growing medium, planting, and watering.

Tara is here today to give us step-by-step instructions on how to turn a suitcase and some gas pipe into a revolutionary raised bed. And be sure to check out the end of this post to see how you can enter to win your very own copy of Raised Bed Revolution!

How to Make an Upcycled Suitcase Planter with Gas Pipe Legs

By Tara Nolan

Step 1: Prep the Box

Prepare the box that will rest on top of the gas pipe legs. Here, the top of the suitcase was removed simply by unscrewing part of the hinge. The hinges were left on the actual box as decoration.

Step 2: Drill Drainage Holes

Add holes to the bottom of your box using an electric drill. Lay it aside for now.

Step 3: Assemble All Pipe Pieces

Have a rag close at hand as you put the gas pipe parts together; they can be quite greasy.

Screw one flange into one end of each 24-inch pipe. On the other end, add a tee fitting.

To continue the leg, add one 6-inch pipe to the opposite end of the tee. To the end of that, screw on the end cap. To the perpendicular end of the tee, add a 3 1⁄2-inch threaded pipe. Repeat for the three other legs.

Use a tee to connect each set of end legs. Your project should now be in two pieces. Attach the two sets of end legs by screwing the 6-inch pieces of pipe to the middle tees of the two leg sets so they’ll be parallel to the ground. Attach them with one union. It will take a bit of maneuvering to twist everything so it’s just so and the feet rest on the ground evenly.

Step 4: Determine the Perfect Leg Placement on the Box

Set the whole leg construction with the flanges touching the box, and measure where they will go so you can screw them in place.

Step 5: Assemble the Top and Bottom

Attach the flanges to the box with screws. When you turn it back over, the box can be leveled by twisting various sections of pipe as needed to make it longer or shorter.

Line the box with landscape fabric; fill with soil to prepare it for planting.

Finishing the Legs

When left outdoors, the gas pipe legs will develop a natural rust-colored patina. Be careful where you place the new raised bed, however, because you don’t want the rust to leach onto the surface. To protect the gas pipe legs from rusting, apply a couple of coats of tung oil (a food-grade oil) with a brush or a rag, wiping it off between coats. You could also use a rustproof spray paint—either a clear coat or a vibrant color.

Plant it!

This suitcase container is planted with a mix of edibles and ornamentals. Edibles have been used for their foliage, but they also can be snipped (herbs benefit from a regular trim) and added to summer recipes. The ornamentals add that wow factor—as both a thriller and a spiller—that you would find in a typical container arrangement. The prolific flowers you see along the front are Supertunia® Pink Star Charm petunias (no deadheading* required!), and the herbs include lemongrass, chives, rosemary, and sage, with a colorful chard added to the mix.

*Deadheading is the term used to describe the act of removing spent blooms from plants. This usually encourages more blooms to grow so the plant remains showy for longer. Some plants, however, like these Supertunias® and calibrachoas, another similar-looking annual, deadhead themselves, so no maintenance is generally required (unless they become leggy in the hot, dry conditions of summer; at that point you can cut them back a bit to thicken them out as they grow back in).

Reprinted with permission from Raised Bed Revolution by Tara Nolan © 2016. Published by Cool Springs Press. Photography courtesy of Cool Springs Press.

About the Author

Tara Nolan is a freelance writer, editor and author with a diverse publishing background. She is a co-founder of the popular gardening website Savvy Gardening. Her first book, Raised Bed Revolution, was published in May, 2016, the same year that she also appeared as an edibles expert on a show called Garden Wisdom for WNED Buffalo, a PBS station. For over six years, Tara was the web editor of CanadianGardening.com, where she won a Canadian Online Publishing Award for the Seed to Supper newsletter.

GIVEAWAY Time!

I’m happy to be giving away a copy of Raised Bed Revolution for more amazing tips from Tara. Simply leave a comment on this post about gardening in raised beds by July 16, 2017 to enter. This contest is open to residents of Canada (excluding Quebec) and the continental United States. The winner will be selected randomly from eligible entries, notified by email, and have seven days to claim their prize. Void where prohibited by law.

Original article and pictures take gardentherapy.ca site