Tuesday, June 5, 2012
IT'S GLASSTASIC!!! RECYCLED GLASS GARDEN FLOWERS, BABY!
Two posts in one day that's a huge feat for me!! Any how this post is to brag and show you how I make my recycled, upcycled and repurposed glass garden flowers. This is an easyish, is that a word? it is on my blog, project but it requires a huge amount of patience. The first is to be selective when choosing your glass. Trust me on this one I have a drawer of glass that I picked up only to later realize that it would be darn near impossible to get a good adhesion with. You have to clean your glass, first with soapy water and dry then right before using with rubbing alcohol. I would also recommend wearing latex gloves to wipe down with alcohol and to continue wearing while handling you glass pieces. It's just a theory but I do think that the oils and lotions on our grubby little fingers can affect adhesion. And finally it take supreme patience to wait for the glue to dry, it can take anywhere from hours to days. I even waited a week before it was finally secure. So just relax and make sure you have a place to keep your work where it won't be in your way. Ok, that's my pre-advice now one to how its done. Sorry I don't really have a step by step since I wasn't blogging at the time I made these flowers. So now use this advice and pick yourself up so glass. Think about how you want to layer the pieces together making your flower, look for small glasses or cups for centers, and look for colors that compliment each other while catching the sun. I know I'm a bit fussy.
you. You do have to kinda a play with it a little some glass pieces adhere better with a thin coat other like a thick coat. Go with your gut. I know that seems incredibly vague and if I was reading a tutorial that said that I'd be like really! But honestly, it's art not science. So don't sweat it. Really relax.
Well now you have your hockey puck drilled 5/8th, your glass is all cleaned, your wearing your gloves and Lexel is standing by at the ready. First step is to rough up your puck by giving it a quick sanding, this helps you get very good bond. Then using the sand paper again rough up the area of the glass that you are gluing to the hockey puck. Re-clean both areas with the rubbing alcohol to make them dust free. Apply the Lexel to your puck, I used a bead around the perimeter and then zig-zag through the middle. Press you glass down on to your puck. I did it this way so that I could watch the glue spread out and do little twist to try to remove air bubbles. Now don't go all OCD trying to remove all bubbles just do the best you can do when the Lexel is wet. Make sure your puck is centered on the glass. I then used something like a heavyish (again new word) book to apply pressure while glue dries. Remember my advice of patience...now be patient don't add any more pieces until you have a successful bond.
I know it's hard to wait when all you want to do is create. That's why I start a bunch of first step flowers at once. A bit of assembly line kinda thinking. Remember be patient. Check your bond every day and do NOT proceed it you don't have a good bond.
I know it's hard to wait when all you want to do is create. That's why I start a bunch of first step flowers at once. A bit of assembly line kinda thinking. Remember be patient. Check your bond every day and do NOT proceed it you don't have a good bond.
After you have achieved good adhesion you can now prep your next glass piece. Make sure you rough up edges of the glass you are now going to glue down. Does that make sense? I think so. Apply a bead of caulk on the edge, if you have a flat surface apply the zig-zags. Press to adhere and if possible weigh down, if not don't sweat it. Repeat this down the line for the rest of your hockey puck prepped pieces. And again wait. Patience is the key to success. It might take a couple of days before bonding is complete. Just a little patience...
On a personal note a good rule of thumb is a maximum of 3 items per glass flower. I find it starts to get quite heavy and really pulls down on the bond between the puck and the first piece of glass.But by all means if you have a good bond and you think it'll work Go For It! I have 4 items on the blue plate flower because the last little yellow glass ball was extremely light.
Your flower is now complete and looking beautiful and your wondering what do I use to stake these up. In the true spirit of recycling and repurposing I have used old metal bars I had laying around from a crib that had a drop side. We used a sawzall to cut off the curved end and viola garden stake. I have also used 5/8th rebar. Rebar is a common steel bar, and is commonly used as a tensioning device in reinforced concrete and reinforced masonry structures holding the concrete in compression. Getting pretty technical there. You can pick up rebar from any home improvement store and some will even cut it to what ever size you need, don't worry they are sold in smaller lengths. You can paint your rebar green or copper or whatever color tickles your fancy. Pound your rebar or whatever metal stake you choose, make sure it'll properly hold the weight of the flower, into the ground. Again use your good judgement about how deep to go. You are looking for a sturdy foundation. Push your hockey puck flower onto the rebar, it sometimes take some pressure to get it to slide on. And your done.
I leave my flowers out in the rain but they do come in for the winter. I just don't think it's a good idea to leave your glass out in the snowy weather.
On the flower pictured on the left I found the Lexel bond wasn't strong enough to hold up that milk glass vase. After some trial and error I used a Liquid Nails Marble & Granite and Solid Surface Materials Adhesive. It doesn't dry clear but for what I wanted to do it didn't matter. I also used this to adhere the vase to the plate. That vase was unusually heavy.
All the flowers featured here are on their second spring and summer in my Mom's garden. Still going strong!
So after making these flowers I was inspired to make little plate towers, but that is a story for a new post:)
If you have any questions or would like to share your projects please leave a comment I try to check back everyday.
Enjoy,
Tracy
Heads Up Horatio Hornblower An Original Shabby Chic Idea
My original thought was to use spray paint, but lately I'm just not loving it. I sure that has everything to do with the fact that I am in love love love with chalk paint right now. So there the horn sat. The thought of spraying it was like blah! The thought of hand painting, sanding and waxing all those curves was like YIKES no! And it sat. I had ideas of using a paint sprayer for the chalk paint and believe me that thought is still floating around my brain, but that's just not cost effective for me and I haven't really heard good things about the sprayers in my price range. Ahhh but a girl can dream and I do dream of sprays and spraying chalk paint happiness....maybe some day. Finally I told myself quit being a lazy coupled with the fact that my children tried to play the cornet everyday, that sucker needed out of the house and into the studio (aka garage). 
I started out with an 1 inch paint brush for the first coat but really found it to be to big for the tight spots and unable to really hit those curves well. I switched over to a much smaller artist brush and while it took more time it really did improve the coverage. So armed with my little brush I set about getting that pretty turquoise on that horn. After 2 coats of paint I went on the waxing, which I must say was tricking. Did I mention all the twists, turns and curves? How about those tight spots? Did I mention those? Sometimes my dreams just make things seem easier after all it's a dream :) As odd as it was to dream of horn painting and the amount of eyebrows raised in my direction as I tried to explain what I was planning to do, I have to say this HORN is so stinking adorable.
Check out the pic's and let me know what you think? If I find more horns what colors would you like to see? And as always share your ideas. I look forward to reading the comments.Enjoy
Tracy
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Sunday, May 27, 2012
Thank You Moonstone Photography
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| Tre' Chic Apple Crate |
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| Tre' Chic Americana Chair |
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| Tre' Chic Apple Crate |
A very good friend and wonderful photographer, Alecia Burns, owns Moonstone Photography. The photos that she takes are creative and beautiful. I was flattered when she asked to use some of Tre' Chic Designs pieces as props for her recent family shoot. Wow the results are stunning! With permission from Moonstone Photography I decided to share these photos on my blog. Let me know what you think and please visit the Moonstone Photography Page.
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| Tre' Chic Apple Crate |
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| Tre' Chic Americana Chair |
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| Tre' Chic Apple Crate |
Enjoy,
Tracy Saturday, May 26, 2012
Distressed Rocking Chair The Essential Cottage Chic
In my last post I left you with what will be know as The Rocking Chair Cliffhanger...How could you all stand such anticipation? :) As promised here we go. Oh yes and let me apologize in advanced and I am really terrible at remembering to take the pictures every step of the way. I'm more like sand, sand, sand ouch my arm is sore...oh snap I forgot to take an original before...better do it now. That's how it usually happens and how it went a couple times with the rocker...whoops. Anyway, here is the rocker as you can see I had already sanded it but you get the gist. Isn't it cute they way it looks like the a Polaroid picture? I did it over at PicMonkey its fun and as of now FREE! Gotta love that. http://www.picmonkey.com So after sanding I took a hunk of Gulf Wax and rubbed it on the parts of the chair that I was sure I wanted wood to show through..jpg)
I began applying the primer I believe it was the Kilz brand. I rolled where a could but mostly it was all applied by brush. It was at this point I came to realize that painting spindles is hard work. I know right! Who woulda thought! Its very difficult to keep the coats even without noticeable lines. I believe for the most part I persevered. As you can see, again, I forgot to take the pic of the primed chair before starting to put a coat of the pretty blue color for the underlay. This time I think I'll blame it on those darn spindles.
So next up is a nice coat of a slightly off white. Now here I must say I was way too fussy. It could have just been one coat and that would have been fine but I kept going and ended up applying 3 coats of this white to fully cover the blue a choice I would come to regret. As you can tell it was dark by the time I finished that final coat. I was determined to be done painting. The next day I began, excited to be getting started aging and distressing this rocker. I had a vision in my mind I could see so clearly where I wanted the blue to show and where I 
wanted it to distress right down to the wood. So i sanded and I sanded and I sanded...Remember Ray, the live in builder, every time he passed me he chuckled and mumbled you worked so hard to get that paint on just right and now you're just sanding it off.
Oh yes HAHA very funny, sweat dripping down my brow my arms feeling like rubber, yes Ray you're such the comedian. I guess I just wasn't feeling very humorous. And now the regret began to set in, why did I coat so thick! And then there was a light at the end of the tunnel. It started to come together and even though my arms and hands were tired, I was beginning to think maybe it was a good idea those 3 coats. The White was looking so creamy next to distressed areas. I was feeling rather pleased with myself the chair was looking very special.But it needed something, something extra special and it hit me a cool checkerboard painted on the bottom of the seat.With the checkerboard applied and nicely distressed this chair was ready for it's finish to be applied. 
I applied a wipe on poly in satin, Minwax, because wipe on poly is an oil based product this gave my chair a nice aged yellowing look that was perfect. After it dried a very light sanding with very fine grit paper and another coat of poly. And another light sanding and then the final coat of poly.Later that week I went to my local Salvation Army Store and found a light pink and light green plaid sham and a small rectangular pillow. Now I've never made a pillow before but then again I never distressed a piece of furniture and that turned out well. I folded the sham in half around the pillow pinned it and ran it through the sewing machine. And just like magic it worked and I had a cute little pillow for my Mom's new rocking chair! So what do you think? Enjoy ~ Tracy
Friday, May 25, 2012
How This Creative Journey Began
And So It Begins
It all started in the summer of 2011. My sisters and I had to close our hair salon of 13 years in March after some sadness the 3 of us agreed this was the right move for us. Both my sisters have their cosmetology license where as I always handled the book keeping and front lobby management. Looking back I must admit I despised the book keeping but loved redoing the lobby and the salon for the seasons. Rearranging the shelving and rotating the stock to the most eye pleasing ways. You would've thought that after 13 years I might have caught a clue that I needed to do something creative. At first I was able to work for our local school district, and I did find that fulfilling but I also knew it wasn't a guaranteed job and who knows what would happen come that fall. Not to brag but I am very fortunate that years ago my grandparents had the foresight to purchase lake front property in what we in Michigan vaguely refer to as "Up North" and that my parents were able to build their wonderful retirement home on said property. I was able to pack up my children and abandon my hardworking husband and spend my entire summer Up North! Now now don't be a hater I know just how lucky I am to have access to this wonderful place.
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| View of our lake |
Parents decided it was time to screen in the old back porch, put on a metal roof and paint the large front deck. So if you were north you were at work, contributing some sweat equity time to earn your keep. I'm not even going to pretend that I jumped right in with gusto. I had dreamed of all the books is read basking in the sun like a turtle lolling around in the water. Best laid plans oh well time to get dirty.
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| Back porch all screen in. |
With the help of my folks live in builder Ray, yup you read that right lol, Dad and Ray set off making screens. A little explanation of Ray, he an amazing jack of all trades. A neighbor hired him for some work and he too fell in love with the lake. He started seeking out work up there staying where he was working. And frankly, his work speaks for itself. He can do the work on his own but if you help and he can stay at your place he gives a great discount. Hence, Ray our live in builder. After a while I liken Ray to a reality TV camera at first you're on your best behavior but soon enough that's just too taxing to keep up and you end up fighting or farting in front of him and it's all good. It was Mom and my job to prime and paint and repeat. My Mom's paint style is quite slap dash and ruin a brush. I discovered I am quite fussy wanting to sand between coats and crazy OCD about chalking. It lead to some funny hi-jinx before Ray was like um kiddo it's a screen relax. It was during this time Mom set out two rockers on the porch. One was shiny black with golden acorns painted on it honestly YUCK! The other a handsome leather seat rocker. I was like I think I can shabby chic that black one. Go for it was the response! But that of course is for another post ;)
Enjoy!
Tracy
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