More yard art - glass totems, cont'd

Back in August I posted some photos of the glass yard art I was making. Here are a few more photos:

(Reminder - click on the picture to see it better.)

Below is a photo of most of them, catching the autumn rays in my front room when I first brought them in for the winter. It is important to remember to bring these glass things indoors, along with china tea cups, clay flower pots, and the like - to keep the frost from cracking them. I have put the blue glass owl totem on the coffee table now, but will probably have to store it in a safer place for the winter.

glass totems

I've been gluing scavenged glass from yard sales, gifts, and the resale shops into yard art! Check 'em out:

ordinary perception needs some polishing now and then

This quote is for an acquaintance of the ignorant sort who commented that I must be a Buddhist (after a conversation about a disturbing forwarded email concerning Mr. Obama and reforming the health insurance system that I debunked with Snopes), because I talk about loving the earth, and being (OMG! shockingly!) green. Like when I taught that class on green cleaning. (Sheeeeesh) I didn't know whether to be insulted or flattered. I sometimes am completely flummoxed by the way Right Wing Christians treat other mortals. I can't imagine a Buddhist presuming in such a manner.

"In the Buddhist tradition, mandalas are objects of meditation with a specific purpose: to transform our ordinary perception of the world into a pure perception of the buddha nature which permeates all phenomena."
- from Mandala: The Architecture of Enlightenment

I was once "attached" to the cement Buddha in that photo above. I'd found him on a rare outing to some nursery in the middle of nowhere - he was sitting in an old yard full of abandoned cement yard ornaments, half hidden in long grass and weeds and the place just happened to be open as we were driving past. Something made me ask to stop, and Herb actually did, for once. It was karma, or kismet, whatever they call that, when you find something you should have.
My middle son, who never wants anything, and is the very hardest person to find a gift for, actually pointed it out on a visit home, and I gave it to him when he graduated. I don't even know if he bothered to take it to Massachusetts with him. And he sent me a cute "Cat Buddha" one Christmas, but that is an indoor prop.
I now have a cement Foo Dog that guards my door, but the attachment is missing. Was that the point?

A Day to Bless the Sun

Somehow along the path this morning I ran across this reference (link) to a tradition called The Blessing of the Sun and somehow it fit with my mood today. Although we got five inches of snow on Sunday night, it just feels like Spring is coming... Is it because there is the sound of birds calling now instead of the quiet of winter, or other obvious signs of of the season, or just the noticeable change in the length of day and the noticeable warmth coming from my old friend, the Sun.
So for a while before I kept my movie date at the Flint Institute of Arts, I amused myself a bit by reading up on The Blessing of the Sun.
(Don't you love Google (link)?)
So, God created the Sun on a Wednesday, and this is a special one.

After the movie, my friend and I sit around a while and talk about the film, and our worlds, and sometimes, like today, about our creative lives. What a joy to have someone to talk to. Friends are like blessed sunshine.


Along that train of thought, about creativity, here's my latest stepping stone. (I threw it on the melting snow outside the back door to get a photo of it in the blessed sunshine. Isn't that poor croaked crocus, the one of the bunch that had the strength to stick up out of the snow, pathetic?)
Can you guess what the flower on my stone is? Herb had a hard time. I guess I need to learn more about cutting glass to achieve more botanically correct leaves. It's been so long since he saw a dandelion, I'm sure that's it.

Here is a line from Wikipedia about The Blessing of the Sun:
"Birkat Hachama (ברכת החמה, "Blessing of the Sun") refers to a Jewish blessing that is recited in appreciation of the Sun once every 28 years, when the vernal equinox, as calculated by tradition, falls on a Tuesday at sundown. Jewish tradition says that when the Sun completes this cycle, it has returned to its position when the world was created."

Another Stepping Stone

Blue flowered and patterned teacups this time (along with color coordinated, scavenged stained glass and store-bought glass tiles).
Just needs three coats of sealer, but I wanted to post the photo today to brighten up the scene.
Doing these small projects does give some focus during the long winter.

I don't know how well these broken china steppers will hold up to foot traffic out in the yard; I'd like to learn more about other people's experience. For one thing, I'm guessing they will need to be coated with a sealer every year as insurance. The other china decorated stone that I put outdoors seem to be holding up for now but it hasn't been walked on. Maybe I'll put them in a spot where traffic is light and thoughtful, like in my herb garden.

I thought about taking them to place around the demo herb garden at the Extension for a point of interest during the garden tour. That could still happen, but I just found out the "Gardens in Thyme" weekend at Crossroads Village, where I promised to teach some classes about making homegrown herbal seasonings, was scheduled for the same weekend as the Master Gardener garden tour, where I usually hang out at the demo garden to answer questions, so I'm torn in two directions.
Why do they do that?

Wear A Leek for Saint Dave Today

Or a daffodil! Here's a photo of the first garden stepping stone I ever made - it's seen the passing of many winters and I keep it in a spot where the snow melts earlier. Signs of spring are beginning to occur - the snowdrops and some early winter aconites are forming flowers, though they haven't opened yet, and the primroses and seed packets have arrived at Meijers, to bring home with the groceries.



March 1, Wear a Daffodil or Leek for St. David of Wales
From Wikipedia.com:
"Saint David's Day . . . is the feast day of Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, and falls on March 1 each year. The date . . . was chosen in remembrance of the death of Saint David on that day in 589, and has been celebrated . . . since then. The date was declared a national day of celebration . . . in the 18th century.
"On this day many Welsh people wear one or both of the national emblems of Wales on their lapel to celebrate: the daffodil (a generic Welsh symbol . . .) or the leek (Saint David's personal symbol). The association between leeks and daffodils is strengthened by the fact that they have similar names in Welsh, cenin (leek) and cenin Bedr (daffodil, literally "Peter's leek").
"In south Wales males usually wear leeks while young girls wear daffodils; in the north the daffodil predominates."

Another stepping stone

This one was so easy - it took no time at all to make it. The country quilt-ish looking tile in the center was the inspiration for the colors I chose (along with the limitations set by my small stash of tiles. In fact, the brown tiles on the edges were a last minute decision due to the lack of enough red, blue or green to finish it off. But I like the brown tiles there, go figure.)
I mixed a country blue acrylic paint into the dry grout instead of investing in grout colorant, hoping for a blue grout - but it turned out kinda bluish gray. Which is okay.

I picked the center tile up for pennies at a garage sale years ago, thinking it would be a cute refrigerator magnet, but I never got around to gluing a magnet on the back of it. A good use for some of those kitschy decorative tiles that turn up at the thrift store ... I just found three tiles there with a 1960's Pennsylvania Dutch theme that must have hung in some homemaker's kitchen for decades. They're almost too cute to use for a stepping stone, so I'll hang onto them for a while before I decide how to use them. I love kitsch, but they'd sure make a cool series of stepping stones.

Another step toward spring

A little pun that, I really mean "another stepping stone made by the cabin fevered gardener". Here is my latest attempt at yard art. Fitting together the crazy quilt of broken bits - stain glass scavenged with a friend from an abandoned stash and chipped china leftover from an estate sale - drove me nutty initially. But it was fun to see it take shape after I pushed aside my innate tendency to straighten up edges.
I can only imagine how much fun it will be to set this small but growing collection of decorated stepping stones in the flower beds.

Call me Cabin Fever Crafty

Join



Gardeners, Plant and Nature Lovers can join in every Sunday, visit As the Garden Grows for more information.

Been a L-O-N-G time since I've posted on GTS, and hopefully I'll be back more often.

This stepping stone will be put somewhere in the flower borders where it won't get walked on so much. A decorative accent. I can just imagine those glass blobs chipping up with use. But it was fun for a winter day activity and easy to do.
And along with yesterday's theme, cheap! Yes!

I love the easy swirly spiral design. These glass blobs were from the dollar store, but I think trying this same idea in interesting smooth gravel and pea rock type stone will be fun and more walkable than the glass blobs.

Butterfly or moth?

Not any species I recognize, but that's "art" for ya.
Finally got a chance to paint some sealer on my latest mosaic garden stepping stone.
What'dya think? Can't wait to put it outdoors.

making cement leaves with friends

The ladies of the Genesee County Herb Society met in Joyce's garage for our meeting. Joyce and Diane taught us how to make cement leaves! We also took a tour of Joyce's beautiful gardens and home and shared a salad supper. A thoroughly enjoyable evening.
I took photos of the process so I could recall how to make more, but you would have really enjoyed photos of Joyce's home and garden, OMG! But somehow I would have felt strange blogging about someone else's stuff, maybe a little intrusive with the camera. I wouldn't make a good paparazzi.








We took our mud pies home to let them dry for 24 hours before finishing them, and here is what I ended up with:

Another stepping stone

My friend Norma sent me this photo of her stepping stone to share with you. She was pondering what color of grout to use, and had the inspired idea of using white grout for background but making the butterfly 'pop' by painting the grout around the butterfly with black enamel paint.

stepping stones and checkered lilies

I made this one in Norma's community ed class. The next one will be better.

I earned this one a couple of years ago. Whoa, now that I look at the photo I see I should have taken a whisk broom to it before our photo shoot.

Fritillarias - these little checkered lilies, what some call guinea hen flowers, grow for me. And the sow themselves everywhere, sometimes with white flowers. The big impressive stinky Frits that I'd love to grow last one year and die. Why is that?

With a closer look you can see the checkered pattern in the petals:

another yard sign

daisy the pot girl, ready for spring