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Description:
A rock garden with an ivy/flower [artificial] covered arbor, two birdbaths, three figurines, three small flowerpots with artificial flowers, three glass votives with green candles, and three hummingbirds. The components can be moved around and used in several different ways. The overall size is 15" wide x 20" long x 16" high. Real flowers and/or vines can be used if desired. The composition can be used as a centerpiece either indoors or outdoors.

Concept:
When I received the hummingbirds my mind went blank. I live in rural Pennsylvania and have many real hummingbirds as annual visitors and have a great love for their beauty. The lead castings didn't evoke a feeling of life or beauty when I looked at them. How could I change this?

I began my search for ideas by looking on the internet for wings that might fit the little critters. Eventually I found some that looked like they could be adapted for my trio. I set to work on the computer using Paint Shop Pro 6.2 to create a pattern that would fit my birds. I tried out different color combinations on my light box until I settled on the final ones [iridized blue, dark blue and red]. This process took me a few days because I wanted the wings to be in the right proportions with lively colors.

Cutting and foiling the glass went quickly, but then I was faced with three sets of wings that somehow just didn't seem right. I decided to try intermixing the parts from the different wing sets and finally hit on the color combinations you'll see in the pictures. These seemed right to me with just enough variation to make them more interesting.

I've never worked with a lead casting and after reading about their low melting temperatures, I began to worry about attaching the wings. Well, using a pair of needle nosed pliers [tips wrapped in masking tape] to hold the wings in place without marring the glass, I began dropping little beads of solder from the iron to the juncture points of the glass and body. Before I knew it, the wings were on and the bodies were still recognizable. Heck, the things almost looked like birds! Attaching the jump rings to their backs was the final step in the soldering process.

I planned to use black patina to finish them and grabbed a patina bottle labeled "Black Patina" from the storage shelf and began applying it. After a few seconds it was very clear that the bottle contained copper patina. I decided to finish the birds with the copper and was very pleased with the warm glow their wings seemed to have because of it. My birds were coming to life, but the little gray bodies needed some help.

I took a trip to a local craft store to buy some metal paint. Luckily the store carried a brand that needed no primer and came in several colors. I picked green and gold because those were the colors that stuck in my mind from seeing the real ones during the summer. After painting and sealing the birds' bodies they all looked more lifelike to me. Now I had some little birds with no home.

Over the next few days I had several ideas about a home for the birds. I bought small terra cotta pots in various sizes because I had a feeling I might need them. I made a small glass birdhouse as a prototype for a larger model, but rejected it for this project because it didn't feel right. I created the freestanding birdbath and knew that it could be used somewhere in the project, but where? Then one night I had a dream about a beautiful rock garden with a flower filled arbor with the birds circling all around it. When I woke up I knew that somehow I had to create something similar for my birds.

I went to several local stores in an attempt to find suitable components to create the arbor and found two letter holders that could be converted to sides and even have benches. The three candle votive holder was already being used as a decorative item on a dresser in my bedroom. Somehow I knew it would be a great top for the arbor. Getting the pieces together wasn't so simple. I got a cold joint when attempting to solder the pieces together, so I wrapped copper foil around the junction points. This made soldering them together simple.

Now I had birds, an arbor, and a birdbath but, still no garden. I began looking around for a container to hold the arbor and form the base of the garden when the concrete was poured. I settled on a medium size dish washing container. I placed the arbor into the container along with a few large white rocks, mixed up the E-Zee Stone and poured it in. After a while I added decorative black stones to the mix and placed a small saucer under the arbor with the intention of using it to hold the birdbath in place. Also, marbles were placed around the saucer to give it some added interest. An hour later the garden was removed from the mold successfully and placed on a baking rack to cure.

While it cured I began thinking how plain the saucer inset looked so I grabbed my glass cutter and began cutting little pieces to go inside. As a result, the saucer became a smiley face mosaic birdbath inset under the arbor. I don't recommend gluing and grouting a piece after it's buried in concrete, but sometimes these things just happen.

While waiting for the stone to cure, I decided to apply mosaic pieces/glass beads to the tiny pots to see if they'd fit inside the votive holder. They did! Now I could interchange the pots with the candles if I wanted to. Also, I made two little benches out of glass rectangles to lay across the letter tray on each side of the arbor. I wove an artificial ivy vine about the arbor and wrapped artificial flowers individually around it, too.

Once all the pots had cured, I painted the insides/exposed sections because some of the grout had left discolorations where it had touched the terracotta. I even found a few porcelain figurines to sit in the arbor and watch the birds.

However, the large movable birdbath no longer seemed movable. It fit under the arbor in its intended spot, but covered the inset completely. This bothered me. I went on search to find a larger container and paid a visit to WC to get some more charcoal E-Zee Stone.

With the container in place and the E-Zee Stone mixed I began pouring into the larger container and then placed the smaller arbor/stone into the container only to find that I needed to make more of the mixture. I made up another batch and poured it in and found I still needed more. With only two cups of charcoal left, I threw in some white in the hopes it would blend in...... it did. I poured this final mixture into the container and knew I had to do something quick to make it meet and slightly cover the original base.

Large white beach rocks and a large red shale rock were added to the mixture as fast as I could wash them off [they had been residing in a planter]. Finally, the mixture covered the original base. A few minutes later I added more black rocks to the surface and the large flat iridescent marbles to complete the surface. I even remembered to leave a clear spot for the large birdbath to sit. I was afraid to take the piece out of the mold because I began to have very persistent thoughts about it falling apart. Thankfully, it came out in one piece and turned out great. [For those of you who might wonder.... yes, I left all the artificial flowers on the arbor.] I can't praise E-Zee Stone enough. I've only done a few little projects with small tiles before this and can't believe how simple it is to get great results with this product.

The whole thing has been curing on a table in the dining room. I've been trying out different configurations of the pots, votives, birdbath, and even the birds. There are so many different ideas in my head about how to dress it up or change it that I would like to try......... light it up with small white string lights, place moss around the edges and use it as a centerpiece for a garden table, make a glass terrarium top and grow real plants in the pots and have real ivy growing along the arbor......

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My idea was to create a section of lattice fencing which had a broken section (as most weathered lattices do), to have a variety of vines climbing u the fence with colorful flowers to attract birds.

I attempted to use a variety of textures in the glass to simulate grain and different colors of green for the variety of vines. The leaves of the vines are sectioned to create the veins that are typically in leaves. The vines are created using copper electrical wire which I twisted together using a vise and electric drill (some vines are created using 5 strands of wire, others are 3 strands). The wire is then woven throughout the "lattice" to create the effect of growing up the fence.

Creating the weaving look in the lattice was somewhat difficult because each piece of glass had to be held in place for positioning and soldering, also weaving the vines into the lattice was difficult because until the "vine" was soldered onto the lattice, it was somewhat fragile - the flowers were created using the Taurus ring saw to cut petals. I never realized how hard it is to create realistic looking flower buds using a flat one dimensional material (flat glass). The hummingbirds are attached, also using twisted electrical copper wire for rigidity. Photography was a unique problem because of the open look of the lattice. I had to back light an opaque material as well as use frontal lighting.