Crystal Totem...........

........I have been wanting to make one of these ever since I saw the first one!  Recently, while in Goodwill I saw three glass pieces that I thought would work well together and it was a great start for my eight-piece yard totem.

I was amazed at how well everything fit together once I started building yesterday. 

You can see here that I put it near where I already have the three glass mushrooms which sprang up in my yard awhile back. They recently moved from their first location to here. 

This, a dowel stick and the glassware is all that is needed.  This is the glue I used but, if you are sensitive to chemicals you may want to find a different water proof adhesive.  This one has  VERY strong-smelling vapors.  I have used it for years with no adverse affect but if I were needing to use it often or for long periods of time, I would try to find something different.  

 

You can see the dowel that I found among my supplies to anchor the totem and to keep it from falling over.  The bottom piece could be buried in the ground far enough to keep it from falling but, you need to plan that piece with that in mind as all or most of it would not be showing. My bottom piece is a tall jar that I already had on hand. Make sure it is turned upside down when gluing to the second piece. 

This second piece is one of three little bowls that I got at Goodwill. I used two of them. The round vase and the next bowl are the other pieces from goodwill.  I tried the bowl and vase on for size in the store. That is one of the important things to remember as you choose the glass. There needs to be enough contact to be able to secure them with the adhesive. I found it best to glue the pieces into three sections and let them set and then glue the sections together. Just make sure of your whole design before gluing anything.

Above the upside down bowl is a short, fat vase that I already had.  Another thing to try to do is to arrange the pieces in a way so they will not catch water. That usually means they will be upside down or completely sealed by the next piece.

At the top is a bud vase with a little piece from my mise-en-place at the very top. Mise-en-place? Prounced Meez ahn plahs. A set of small bowls used to gather ingredients in before baking/cooking. Back to the subject - the smallest piece from my set fit perfectly on top of the vase bottom and gives the totem a nice rounded finish.

I love the style that I could form with what I had to work with and could barely wait to put it in place outside!  In fact, I should have waited longer. I moved mine, thinking the adhesive was set but it wasn't so after I carefully moved it outside and had it standing, I anchored it overnight with two heavy pots and then put an old towel on top of  them to soften the blow in case this thing decided to lay down during the night.

I was so excited to look out early this morning and see it still standing, and was amused to see a neighbor man standing on the sidewalk looking at it! If you are a more colorful personality than I am, you can, of course, use colored glass pieces or a mixture of both.  I prefer the elegant look of the clear. By the way, this one is 25" tall.  Now, here's hoping a big limb or something else doesn't fall from the sky and smash it! And I sure hope the squirrels or something bigger won't knock it around. If I can ever get a  picture of a bird sitting on top of it you will be the first to see!