Glass in the garden

Sept 6, 2019
This has been a busy summer. I split my time between the garden and the studio, which was a nice mix. It was also great overlap for inspiration. Here are a some of the projects I worked on over the last few months.

Glass bird baths

I had fun experimenting and making a couple hanging bird baths out of scrap glass. They are a little wonky, but it was a good learning experience of doing a melt-down and then reforming the solid piece of glass to make something colorful and useful for the garden.

Bonus: the birds actually use them!

Coasters

I have only dabbled in this idea so far. I love the mini canvas of a coaster. At 4″x4″ it is perfect for a doodle. These coasters are little experiments with glass powders and pencil to create unique designs.

Click on the little arrow at the right to view additional photos of coasters.

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I’m trying something new. ? I made these 4-inch tiles with this delicious green glass. Then I sandblasted them and drew leaves on them. ?Then I added some clear glass powder and back into the kiln they went to gloss them back up. ? And now….coasters? Or will they melt into something else? ? . . . #fusedglass #glassart #glass #leaves #drawing #sketches #glasstiles #kilnformedglass #bullseyeglass

A post shared by Janet Crosby (@janetcrosbyart) on Jul 20, 2019 at 7:28pm PDT

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Glass tile/coaster experiment part 2. (Part 1 = previous post) ? For these tiles, I made the base the same — one piece of clear glass, one piece of green glass, both 4”x4” and fused together. For these, I made ‘leaf impressions’ with some Lilac leaves and grey glass powder and re-fused. The effect was pretty subtle. Black powder may have been better. ? After the second firing, I sandblasted these (second photo) and then drew on them to accentuate the leaves. Then I re-fired the (4th photo). Overall, these are a softer ‘sketched’ look than the first two. I go back and forth over which look I prefer. What do you think? Comments welcome! ? The last photo shows all 4 tiles together. I have more tiles in the kiln to continue with experiments! ? . . . #glassfusing #glasstiles #glasscoasters #fusedglass #plants #leaves #leaf #pencilsketches #gardenart #gardens #glass #leafy #green

A post shared by Janet Crosby (@janetcrosbyart) on Jul 26, 2019 at 12:35pm PDT

Garden / plant stakes

These aren’t new — I love making them for plants all year round. I use them for house plants and in my garden. They are a nice pop of color and fun to ‘rediscover’ as I am pruning.

Check out: Garden stakes in my shop

Pocket Vases

Apologies in advance for my latest glass obsession. I can’t stop making them! I love them because they are compact, a nice spot of color in a window or a wall, and… you can put plants in them!

So far, I have used these little vases for flowers, dried lavender, cuttings waiting to take root. I have some new vases in the wings that I am planning to use as photo frames (stay tuned). They are also great diffusers for essential oils and reeds or to display artificial greenery or flowers year round.

Check out: Pocket Vases in my shop

Looking forward

I am busy getting ready for fall and the holidays. I have been stocking up my gallery spaces and am getting geared up for some fall and holiday art shows.

But first… leaves! I am bringing the garden inside as the days grow shorter.

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Studio day! I am making more leaves because I never want to run out of leaves. ? I use a propane oxygen torch to form each leaf. Then I use the leaves in fused glass projects.?? Some fall leaves are sneaking in the scene.? . . . #lampwork #torchwork #glass #lampworkglass #leaves #green #fall #leafy #fusedglass #bullseyeglass #glassfusing

A post shared by Janet Crosby (@janetcrosbyart) on Sep 6, 2019 at 2:14pm PDT

More gardens and glass

Please check out my Instagram feed for more nature-leaves-glass-art inspiration!