My Garden Art/Junk

Garden art. Garden junk. Trash to treasure. Garden accoutrements. Found treasure. Curbside finds. Garbage art. Garden crafts. Garden architecture....

There's lots of names for it but it's all the same stuff: cool things to put in the garden besides plants.

I got into garden art/junk-making when my garden was new and the plants were young and not so impressive. I wanted an immediate way to add some interest to my garden.

Some of these photos aren't great because I took many of them before I had a digital camera to work with. But I hope you'll get an idea of how things look.

Also:
Garden Art/Junk page two
Garden Art/Junk page three

Tool Art / Tool Creatures Create one-of-a-kind garden creatures using worn out or broken old metal tools. This post shows you a few different characters and the tools they are made from. Save old tools from landfills! There's always a reuse for good materials. [see more here]

Chandelier #1 I buy junk ceiling lamps at the Habitat for Humanity Restore and make them into outdoor chandeliers (no electricity involved: it's just to add some sparkle to the garden). For this one I used various brass-coloured lamp parts and added chandelier crystals and marbles wrapped in copper wire. I love how it looks hanging from the arbor.

Tipsy Pots They're very easy to make and add a wonderful quirky touch to the garden. Free instructions here.

Tool Graveyard Worn out and broken garden tools can make interesting fence art. Read more about it here.

Stone Birdhouse I saw one of these on a garden tour and had to make one for myself (rather than paying $50 for a ready made one). For this one, I used a prefab wooden birdhouse and glued on stones with outdoor adhesive. Free instructions here.

Silver Globe This is my $2 version of a gazing ball. It's a 1970's ceiling light fixture that I spraypainted silver. Some visitors to the garden ask what colour I'm going to paint it. I don't get that. I really like how it looks just as it is.

Mosaic #1 I started experimenting with mosaics after seeing the wonderful creations at weirdgardens.com. For this one I used a small framed mirror and some colourful old dishes from the thrift shop. I glued a red plastic beaded necklace around the inside edge to disguise the fact that the grout job was pretty sloppy. I'd never put colours like this inside my house, but outside it seems to work.

Copper & Glass Sculpture (8' wide x 6' tall) I was intending to make a copper trellis but quickly became distracted and ended up with this. I used leftover copper plumbing pipe and an old, ugly 1970's chandelier. I dismantled the chandelier and wrapped each glass rectangle in copper foil (used in stained-glass making). The glass pieces already had holes drilled in them so I suspended them from the pipes with copper wire. It looks quite beautiful when the afternoon sun shines through.

Old Cup Chandelier This chandelier started with a pretty blue drinking glass hanging from the middle of a strange light fixture that resembled bicycle spokes. I added tacky plastic chandelier parts and some marbles wrapped in copper wire. I had beads along the support wires and didn't like them -- and either did the winter weather because the cold managed to pull them all off. I hung it under the corner of the upper deck where I had previously used to turn the corner and bump my head (about 153 times).

Mosaic #2 For this moasic I lined the inner edge with broken pieces of mirror and like the effect. I realized after making this one that grout photographs much nicer than it looks in real life. I realize I'll have to come to terms with this if I plan to make more. I wrote about using mirrors in the garden here.

Cedar Fence Much of my garden is along the side of the house. To make the brick wall a little more interesting, I started this rustic looking fence using discarded cedar hedge stumps from someone else's garden. I placed it about a foot from the wall to allow lots of room for hollyhocks behind it.

Cedar Arch with Marbles & Beads These arches are cedar branches. I attached marbles and beads on strands of wire using eye hooks. It adds some interest to the arbor while I'm waiting for the grape vine (she says, tapping her fingers) to grow up and over.

Junk Mirror I have mirrors all over the garden. This one was actually a kitchen lazy susan. The day I found it in the thrift shop there was a grapevine wreath right beside it in the perfect size to hang around it. I felt they were destined for each other. I like how the round mirrors look like portholes on the fence. There's a funny story here about a meter-reader's reaction to my garden mirrors.

Chandelier #2 Too many chandeliers in the garden? Are you kidding? More is more. This was some sort of metal desk lamp in its previous life. I used outdoor clear-drying adhesive to attach some flat-bottomed marbles, and hung crystals and marbles wrapped in copper wire from the edges. There's a bigger photo here.

Stone Fountain This is my fountain. I was just going to have a small waterfall running over the rocks, but my daughter wanted the plastic silver angel in there holding the water spout and it suits the kitschy look of our garden perfectly.

Blue Mosaic This was an old, strange-looking mirror from a sideboard. It's very heavy. I used blue and green broken dish pieces for the mosaic and tinted the grout with blue folk-art acyrlic paint. I applied 3 coats of outdoor polyurethane and intend to leave it outdoors year round.

Silver City I often see old wooden ladders in the garbage so I finally took a few home. I painted this one blue and attach cheapo wooden bird houses (spray painted silver) as I find them. I'm not sure why but the birds love to sit on the ladder rungs, hanging out, chatting.

Fiesta Bird Feeder This bird feeder was originally a brass, outdoor light fixture. I spray painted it black, added a wooden base and a plate for holding birdseed. I decorated it with tiny plastic fruit pieces (threaded on wire) that I found at Michaels in the sale bin.

Gardening is Good Medicine Chest This idea has been floating around garden junk discussion boards for a while. I found a discarded medicine chest in someone's garbage. I spiffied it up with flat-bottom marbles around the mirror frame (using Weldbond to adhere them). For a few years the chest resided in a garden bed, reflecting the sky, but now it is mounted on a fence, resting on a cross beam (it's heavy!), and holds extra garden gloves and keeps bottled water cool when the sun is full.

Spontaneous Art I put an old blue chair here while I was deciding what to do with it. The angel lamp bases came later. Two winters took the paint from the chair. I like how it looks.

Sunface Wreath This one is quite simple but effective. I have this grape arbour that I keep adding onto as the vine gets bigger (using scraps of cedar lumber, copper pipe, and lots of wire). It needed something at the top to decorate it. I had an old grape vine wreath and broken sunface garden marker hanging on the fence nearby so I wired the two together and hung them up. It brings new life to old garden junk. You can see the whole arbour here.

Also: Garden Art/Junk page two Garden Art/Junk page three Related Entries: There's another page of garden art/junk/accoutrements/trash-to-treasures here. I list all my home and garden project instructions here. You can see a tour of my garden here. And my garden blog is here. Here's more info on using mirrors to enhance your garden. My favourite garden art/junk resources: gardenweb garden junk forum and msn gardenjunk.