Several years ago, a glass shower door in our home spontaneously shattered. What a racket! Thankfully we were downstairs, and no one was near the door when it exploded. Sadly, it was a week out of warranty. The glass, was just bunches of broken bits, none of it was sharp because the glass was tempered. Once we swept up all the bits, my question was, “what to do with it all?” It was a pile of shiny, sparkly glass, like diamonds, I needed to find a use for it.
I have seen small bags of tempered glass in craft stores; now I had a five gallon bucket of it. Christmas was the next holiday on the calendar, and I thought of ice, which made me think the glass was a good substitute. My idea was to use the glass as a base for a small vignette: a cardinal bird, a bit of greenery and a nest sitting on the glass “ice”.
Earlier this year, my daughter and I were planting small container gardens using succulents, and I brought along some small stones, both natural and colored, and some of the tempered glass for added interest in the gardens. I liked the contrast of colors and textures of the plants and glass in the copper colander, I used as a container. The succulents can take the heat of the sun reflecting off the glass in the small gardens.
I have a simple glass container to which I added some beach glass from Kauai, and have a few pairs of earrings hanging from the rim; I added some tempered glass pieces for interest. You could add layers of clear and semi-clear stones to a tall, glass cylinder vase; the stones would give your creation an interesting texture. You might add the vase to a vignette.
I added some of the glass bits to a tall vase, with a single gerbera daisy; the combination makes a beautiful, simple statement. A grouping of similar vessels would make a pretty centerpiece for a spring or summer table setting.
A “found” medium can create a fun opportunity to spark ideas for its use.