Glass Garden Totems
Don't want to make your own?
I've started selling totems in our Etsy shop.
One of my more recent obsession has been putting together glass totems. I found them on some Garden Junk forums and just had to try and make some of my own.
When I first saw them, I thought they were kind of tacky. But then I came across some totems that were put together really well, and my thoughts changed. There really is an art to stacking the pieces.
My totems were even featured in the April 2009 Woman's Day Special Publication called Gardening & Deck Design.
Here is how you can make your own:
- Look for pieces that will stack well, have flat bottoms or edges, with a fairly large gluing surface.
- Try and glue a plate in between each bowl and vase. I think this gives the totems more stability and the pieces have a firm surface for gluing.
- Clean all glass well with warm soapy water and make sure they are thoroughly dry and lint free before gluing. I used a micro fiber cloth to "polish" the glass before gluing.
- Use denture cleaning tabs for hard to clean vases (1-4 tabs per vase usually works).
- Use a clear silicone glue or Lexel adhesive for best results. Make sure the adhesive you use is weather resistant.
- Glue up pieces in sections, letting each section cure before putting them all together as one piece. Try gluing the pieces during low humidity or indoors to reduce condensation.
- Display your totems in shade or partial shade to help reduce the chance of condensation.
- Use cut glass or glass with patterns so that you don't notice if condensation forms inside the totem.
- Avoid colored glass that has been painted. Over time the paint will begin to peel and this usually happens on the inside where you can't do anything about it.
In addition to totems, you can put the pieces together and make plant stands and birdbaths.
I've also created some glass mushrooms with some bowls with vases or toothpick holders as the stems.
These totems look like hose guides to me. I suppose if you have a lot of the right pieces that are the same, you could do just that. This piece is made up of two glass saucers, one ice cream dish and a bud vase.