2013 - September MINDY'S GARDEN DAY

This post was written for The Divas of the Dirt blog by AnnieinAustin, writing as Diva Glinda


Diva Mindy thought up a different kind of project day for the Divas of the Dirt in September - she'd seen an Empress of Dirt blog post on making decorative garden glass flowers from dishes and servingware and thought it would be fun for all of us to try it. Mindy had quite a few old dishes that she'd acquired over the years. She asked up to bring whatever we could find for the project. The default assembly technique would be bolts, nuts and washers, but fancier door pulls and knobs could also be used as flower centers.

Two tables were set up in the garage - here's part of what we started with.

Some of the dishes brought to the project were garage sale/resale store finds or odds and ends left over from some old set. Other dishes had meaning for the Diva who brought them - full of memories of happy times with family and friends. We took a long time to try out combinations, stacking and restacking the pieces until we each had a couple ready to go. Tape covered the area to be drilled with the center point marked.



Mindy had ordered a special diamond cylindrical bit for her drill and she set to work drilling the holes. We were surprised at how much time and effort it took to drill each piece. No wonder dishes can be used day in, day out for decades - those materials are hard! A few of the pieces started smoking as the drill went through - good thing we were outside

Other Divas also tried their hand at drilling, and progress was slowly made. Mindy's husband Warren did a great deal of the drilling - he also fabricated copper pipe holders that could act as 'stems' for the flowers when used in a border. This was not a speedy project - it took long, hot hours.

 But the results were delightful -  Mattie looks pleased with  these two beauties.


Dish flowers covered the dining room table.


DivaAnnie liked the flower-on-a-stem idea

This is how Dish Flowers with stems will look when used in the ground outside



A few asymmetrical plates resulted in exceptionally artistic flowers.




In order to get my two dish flowers to hang straight on a board fence, I used washers & coated wire to make hangers.

This technique worked on the board and rail type of fence.



But Karla had another idea: her fence is lattice, so springs-and-wire plate holders worked just fine.



Thanks for making this Divas of the Dirt project happen, Mindy!

This post was written for The Divas of the Dirt blog by AnnieinAustin, writing as Diva Glinda