Glass makes up a rather large percentage of annual household waste. With the exuberant amount of items that come in glass containers or just the general amount of household items made of glass, the amount of the substances in landfills is growing. It is extremely wasteful to allow glass to pile up in landfills and at recycling centers, so what is one to do with their glass? While it is very feasible to drop it off at a local recycling center, it might not be the best reuse of the glass, since often it could be left for days without being touched. A better alternative is to donate the glass to artists. Recycled glass garden art is a growing trend in the United States. Since glass comes in every color imaginable, beautiful pieces of art can be fashioned from full objects, shards, or smashed pieces.
How it is made
Glass art can be made in a variety of ways especially for the garden. Sometimes the pieces of glass are formed into rocks or tiles in order to make a mosaic decoration. Other times the glass is melted down and turned into something entirely new via glass blowing techniques. There are not limitations on how glass can be recycled into garden art. For example, a grouping of glass bottles can be easily turned into a wind chime with a little creativity. A glass door or shower knob can be left intact and used as fence decorations. The how it is made is up to the artist or the person who is paying to have recycled glass garden art made. Another way that glass can be recycled into art is simply using whole pieces such as bowls and simple using a clear weather resistant epoxy to attach them to one another. Such items can be found online at Gazing Glass.
How much it costs and where to buy
This leads into a question that many people have. They want a piece of recycled glass art for their garden but do not know where to buy them. Locally you can find recycled glass garden art at places where they sell garden statues. Some stores like this sell recycled items in mass quantities and some you might be lucky to find glass gazing balls. Many brick and mortar stores are getting into selling recycled glass items because they are becoming very popular. You can also try local artists in your area. If there is a local art school or even a college in the area, you can probably see if they can put you in touch with a local glass artist. Your last place locally to obtain recycled glass garden art would be yard sales. You never know what people are selling that maybe they made in the 1970s while in college and now dislike. Of course if you cannot find something that satisfies you in your area, you can always turn to online sources like Etsy, in order to purchase recycled glass garden art. The local routes generally will be more cost effective. Since you will not have to pay for shipping, you will save a great deal of money. The cost of having an artist personally make your items might be a bit more expensive than if you find one at a garden store or a yard sale. This still might be cheaper than what you will pay in shipping. Generally for glass art for your garden you can expect to pay based on size, design, and if it was made as a unique piece or whether it was an “assembly line” sort of deal. Based off online prices you can pay upwards of $500 for some pieces, even though there is a guarantee that some will be much more expensive. Offline pricing really depends on where you are going to get your art done.
Sources
http://www.etsy.com/
http://www.shabbyjoe.com/
http://www.gazingglass.com/
