Thursday, September 30, 2010

Garden Mushrooms


Garden Mushrooms

This summer I got it stuck in my head that I wanted some decorative mushrooms in my garden. Don't ask me.......I don't know what it is about mushrooms, but I just love them.
It took me a long time to figure out how I was going to make these things. There wasn't much to google about them because not too many people have made these things.

I knew what I wanted them to look like, but wasn't sure how to actually go about making them. After much thought, I figured it out. Like everything else it was trial and error. The first one wasn't made the same as the second one, because I made changes along the way.

They have to go outside, last through rain and wind too, so cement seemed the best way to go. I researched that and decided on mortar. I was going to paint them, but decided on glass mosaic squares. My reasoning-color. I wanted color! They are going into a shade garden and that's where I need the color.

Here they are finished and I'll explain below how I made them.
I started with a very large, plastic bowl. Not the easiest thing to find, mind you. I landed up using an old halloween candy bowl. I sprayed the bowl with cooking oil, poured in the mixed mortar (morter + water according to the directions) and waited 2 days for it to set. Mortar dries smooth and this helps when you are glueing on the glass. The cooking oil allows easy release of the mortar. Mushroom caps-done.

The next step was to cut up the squares and circles out of glass. My years of stained glass experience helped a lot. You can buy these squares all ready cut out in the craft stores. You also can start breaking up old plates and use them. I glued all the squares and circles onto the mushroom cap and then mortared around the squares. I used white mortar as you can see.

I used an empty soda bottle for the smallest mushroom stem. This worked out, but I wanted taller shrooms too. I used 4 inch PVC pipe (home depot), cut it and glued the shroom to the top. This worked great. In the future I would stick to the PVC pipe and skip the soda bottle. It's easier and you can leave it white.

These mushrooms look just great in the yard and everyone loves them. So far they have lasted through all kinds of weather. I plan on planting some Mondo grass around them.

FYI-the red shroom is poisonous......

Christy
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15 comments:

  1. I absolutely LOVE these. Methinks, there'll be some sprouting in my own yard before too very long! (Thanks for the tutorial!)

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  2. Hey! Just wanted to get the word out about my new blog where I talk about all my great thrift store finds!
    http://selectedtreasures.blogspot.com/

    Please check it out and follow! :)

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  3. I just stumbled on your blog. And I LOVE these! I can't wait to dig further into you blog! :)

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  4. Thanks so much folks! I'm glad you enjoyed these.

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  5. Cool, I stumbled your blog looking for tips on budget decorating.

    Nice ideas you have.

    I am new to this idea, what kind of mortor or where did you buy it at? Thanks

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  6. I bought mortar at Home Depot in 5 lb bags (so I could actually carry them out). The bag just said "mortar" on it.

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  7. Hi Christy... LOVE your blog!! This is right up my alley... thanks for sharing all this stuff. I appreciate your creativity and what a great blog!

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  8. Hi Christy, loving your blog please could you give me an email address on which I can contact you on regarding a competition that may be of interest to you and your readers. Many thanks

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  9. Ok, I'm suppose to be getting stuff ready to go on a long trip....I found your blog and well...nothing has gotten done yet!! LOL
    I LOVE THE SHOOMES!! Hubby is going "Oh no, another project!" hehe
    Thanks so much for the budget-friendly ideas.

    Barbie

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  10. Well, lets try this again. I'm suppose to be getting ready for a long trip, I found your blog and well...nothing has gotten done yet!! LOL
    I LOVE THE SHROOMS, hubby is going "oh no, not another project!" hehe
    Thanks so much for all your budget-friendly ideas, I'm loving them.
    Barbie

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  11. ha ha. You better get your hubby working on some shrooms. Mine loves them, but he was NO help at all. Thanks for writing.

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  12. Cute little mushrooms.I love having these colorful mushrooms in my garden .

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