Rainbow of Glass

The last 2 years at Summer's end, I said I wasn't going to worry with flower gardening or do any more garden / yard art. The flowers could just go wild and tend to their selves and as the rest weathered and died, then that was the end.
Well, that's what I say towards Fall when I'm tired of the yard and just want to sit and not do the work any longer. It's a terribly lot of work up here for maybe 2 1/2 months of flowers, if it's a good year. Trying to grow a actual big juicy red tomato is a chore in it's self!
But, with that being explained, now it's SPRING and there's hope and wonders to come in the air, the SUN comes more often and with it is the dreams of lush colorful gardens and soft green lawns. Well, ok, so maybe that's in the garden magazines, but one can dream of all the lushness. My yard and flowers are more willy nilly, I'm not a gardener, I plant and then hope it grows! My flower beds roam along a rustic fence line that curves along the front and side of the house. I don't mind mowing but I much prefer flowers, so the more flowers that go in, the less mowing there is to do! A whole yard of flowers and pathways with no grass would be fine with me. Anyway, I call what I have a Fairy garden, full of fairies, sprites, creatures here and there and always maybe a surprise waiting hidden among the rocks or plants.....maybe hanging from a limb. Butterflies and birdies, toads and lightening bugs abound. One must have wind chimes, not just one but a whole chorus chiming away with the chirping of birds and twittering Fairies!
I used to do a lot of wood cut-outs for displays but pretty much gave up on that mostly for lack of space to do that sort of work. Now I do smaller things that I can do inside the house or at least on the deck. I said I was going to stop all that stuff, too! Of course, I love bird houses, too!
Then, I went shopping with a friend on Saturday to my favorite little store that has tons of pretty glass! First, we stopped in a small Goodwill store, where I was just going to look through the books right quick. I did find a great little trilogy set of paperback books good for art and maybe even to read, first. Then I made the mistake of wandering to the next aisle and there was a perfect piece of glass beckoning to me. When I grabbed it, it had friends there, nearby, calling my name, too. I left there with 1 set of books and 2 bags of glass! So, on to the store we meant to go to.....a hour later I pushed a cart full of a rainbow of glass items to the check out. It took the gal checking me out to get through half of the glass before she finally had another checker looking over her shoulder and she asked "what in the world am I going to do with all this glass?" So I was explaining what I do with it and she was amazed as I did a small demo with a few pieces. There were oooh's and aaaah's all over! Then we came to the last item in the cart buried under the glass, 2 packages of napkins! They have colorful birthday candles on them, so she says, Oh, someone is having a birthday! I say, nope, at least not at the moment but these napkins are to be used for mixed media / collage art or mail art when there is a birthday. Now she just gives me the "ya, right" look. Soooo, I explain a bit about separating the napkin layers and using bits of napkin in a art piece. There were gasps of delight from the small crowd that gathered to see the crazy lady with boxes of glass and 2 little packages of napkins and stories to tell on what to do with these items.
So what do I do with the glass? Totems! Totems for the garden, made of mostly stacked glass. I said I wasn't, but it's Spring and rows of colored glass get me excited! If you catch on to doing totems, it's like all the other altered arts or mixed media; anything and everything is looked at as a possible art piece and nothing in your house is safe. Hide the antiques because Grandma's crystal sure would sparkle out there in the sunlight amid the flowers!! But I have other art projects and lessons waiting and I have Sharon's faces calling to me....and now there's glass and SUNSHINE and warmer temps!!
Here's what awaits me on the table. It all has to be washed and labels removed before using, of course. I hate that part! Good thing we never eat at the table!! I just finally had it all cleared for 1 whole day because I needed to use it for something else. Ha! Here's my table now:

Isn't it all just luscious? And don't for one second think that this is all I have. Ha! I have 4 plastic totes that will now be hauled out of storage to mix and match with this new load. Because, you just never ever have just the right piece or color that you have to have to make a perfect totem! Like art supplies or books, you need more and more! I'll do a 2nd post to show what this rainbow of colors becomes.