Monday, March 10, 2014

Trash Becomes Treasure: Glass Planter


In this project I took an old brass candle holder and a glass bowl vase and turned them into a rather pretty planter for succulents.


The base of the planter started out looking like this -- not horrible, but kind of outdated.


I purchased it at a thrift store for 99 cents as part of an experiment in which I used oil-rubbed bronze spray paint to "de-uglify" a crazy assortment of items selected for that purpose.  Read more about that here.  I was so pleased with the result of that experiment, I decided to find some creative way to use my beautified little holder.

I found a fishbowl-shaped glass vase that fit it perfectly, and I knew just what to do...

First step, I filled the bottom of the bowl with some small, pretty stones.


Next I added some activated carbon, which I have heard is a good thing to include in terrariums and such to avoid funky odor build-up.  I found it in the fish section of a pet supplies store.


On top of that I placed a coffee filter that I folded to a shape slightly smaller than the surface of the material beneath it.  I used this to prevent the potting soil from filtering down through the pebbles.


I added a layer of soil directly over the filter, placed my plants in the soil, and gently added another layer of the pretty stones around them.


Here is my planter, happy in its new home.  (I'm happy, too.)









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