These aren't your grandma's gazing balls -- these glass globes bring some bling! And the best part is that they can be made with pretty scrap materials you may already have on hand: beads, aquarium stones, shells, pretty rocks, costume jewelry, colored glass, and coins all work. There's no need to spend an arm and a leg in order to tackle this DIY for the garden!
Vickie G. shared her glass globe technique on Hometalk, and what makes it special is the way she uses grout to fill in the spaces between the beads and rocks. The surrounding grout creates an embedded effect that's really quite stunning, especially when stained.
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Vickie used globe-style lamp shades for her project, and an all-purpose adhesive. She found that the adhesive was too slow-drying for her needs and items kept slipping off of the globe, so she switched to hot glue, which worked.
She filled the space in between her rocks and glass with inexpensive grout, and while it was drying, she moved on to the next step -- creating bases for these globes to rest on.
Vickie found that mason jar tops fit very well over the mouths of the globes; when sealing rings weren't available, she made use of old Tupperware parfait-cup bottoms. She sealed them tight with waterproof sealant, then painted them with dark-colored spray paint that she already had on hand.
The final step, when the grout and base sealant are completely dry, is to waterproof the globe with water sealant. Again, this was an item that Vickie had on hand, and it happened to be cedar-colored. She simply brushed the waterproofing agent onto the globes and let it dry.
The waterproofing agent was easily wiped off with a cloth, and then Vickie had six brand-new globes ready to set in her garden! See her full tutorial in her post in Hometalk.
Enamored with these globes and want to see more? Anything eye-catching and flat enough to be glued to a round surface will work, including mosaic tiles, coins, wine corks, and magazine clippings for a decoupage effect. Globes can be made from sports balls -- bowling balls are the most common but basketballs work, and footballs can be used to create an oval- or egg-shaped product.
If bling isn't your thing, go for a more natural look with concrete or hypertufa globes. What's fun about these is that you get to break the mold once the concrete is dry!
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Give these globes a go in your garden -- they make a statement, whether as a matched set, an eclectic collection or a single stand-out! And make sure to SHARE if you loved this idea!