Craft Project: Handpainted Garden Art

I came across this post for painting glass plates and turning them into garden art. I decided these would make some fun and creative Mother's Day gifts. So the girls and I set out to make some pretty garden art for grandmas and great-grandmas.

What you'll need:
--glass plates/bowls from Dollar Tree
--Gloss Enamel acrylic paint and Crystal Gloss Enamel Paint
--Triple-thick Glaze spray
--3/8" coupling
--threaded rod
--UV6800 industrial strength glue (You might also want to try Gorilla Glue--We had a couple of our gift plates separate from the coupling during some really strong storms that have come through in the last several weeks. The plates survived, but the coupling had to be reglued.)

The nice thing about this project is that you can buy the plates and paint, and just go for it. You don't have to add glazing medium (unless you want to and we did add a bit on a few of the plates). We chose to paint the BACK of the plate because you can use the pattern detail in the plate as a guide. It also creates a smooth look on the front.

We did some pour paint on a few of the plates.

  Our art room turned into a glass painting studio.

 We used both big plates, small plates, and a bowl.

The four plates on the left half of the image were Mother's Day gifts this weekend. The three plates on the right are for our landscape bed and they are not quite done yet. I'll add a photo of them when they are.

As I did with our pour paint wine glasses, I baked the plates to cure the paint into an enamel surface. 350 degrees in the oven for 30 minutes. Starting with a cool oven and letting the glassware heat up with the oven. Remove items once cool.

I had no issues with the paint baked on wine glasses. I did have some issues with the paint on a few of the plates bubbling up once baked. I think this may have happened because we applied the paint thicker on the plates than we did on the wine glasses.

It ended up working out that we painted on the back of the plates. Even though the paint bubbled up, it still looked smooth and great from the front of the plate.

Once the plates were baked, I further sealed the painted side by spraying Rustoleum Triple Thick Glaze spray on them. When that was dry, I used UV6800 industrial strength adhesive to glue the two painted pieces together. I let that sit for a day and then flipped it over and glued the coupling on the back. I let the whole thing sit for two more days. It seems like it has an incredibly strong bond so I'm crossing my fingers that it stays attached for a long time. (EDITED TO ADD 6/28/13--You might also want to try Gorilla Glue--We had a couple of our gift plates separate from the coupling during some really strong storms that have come through in the last several weeks. The plates survived, but the coupling had to be reglued.)

And finally here they are with the threaded rod attached and in the ground. Unfortunately, our landscape bed doesn't quite look like spring yet (even though it's May 12th) because our winter hung on for soooo long this year. We gave this one to my mom for Mother's Day.

And here is one in my Grandma's flower bed on Mother's Day!

I'm excited to finish our last three plates that will go in our yard! Maybe spring will finally arrive in Minnesota so we can enjoy them with our beautiful flowers in our landscape bed.