Sometimes I don’t need a complicated plan—I just start making little pieces of glass and see where they take me! For these first three pieces, I started with handmade glass flowers and then used glass paint to add stems and other details. I added leaves, little bits of green glass for the grass and, because every garden needs a visitor, a few tiny murrine ladybugs. 🐞 These little gardens were made into magnets, so they’re not only decorative but functional too. I love how each one has its own personality. Two have simple white backgrounds that really make the flowers stand out, while the center piece has a soft blue sky and green landscape that gives it an entirely different feel. They may be small, but that’s part of the fun. A few handmade flowers, some paint, and tiny pieces of glass can create a whole little garden—and brighten up your refrigerator at the same time! 🌸🐞❤️
Next, I took the same idea and made it wearable! For these three pieces, I used clear glass as the base, which gives the flowers a completely different look. I added handmade flowers, murrine leaves, tiny ladybugs, painted stems, and little bits of green glass along the bottom. Because the background is clear, light can shine right through the finished pieces, making them especially pretty as pendants. I love taking the same basic idea and changing just one thing—in this case, the background glass—and seeing how different the finished pieces can look. A tiny little flower garden you can actually wear! 🌸🐞❤️
For the next pendants, I kept playing with my handmade flowers but started adding a few more details. Instead of just flowers and ladybugs, I added some of my fun murrine pieces, including a colorful little bird and a tiny woodland critter. I also experimented again with the backgrounds. Two have the painted blue sky and green grass, creating a miniature landscape, while the white background keeps the third pendant simple and lets the flower and ladybug take center stage. That’s one of the things I enjoy about making these. Even though I’m using many of the same components—handmade flowers, leaves, paint, frit and murrine—no two little gardens ever turn out exactly the same. And I’m pretty sure these qualify as the smallest gardens I’ve ever planted! 😂🌸🐞
I also turned some of my little glass gardens into wearable pins. I used the same handmade flowers and painted backgrounds, but this time I played with different shapes instead of keeping everything square or rectangular. Once the glass was fired, I attached pin backs so the finished pieces could be worn on a jacket, sweater, scarf, or bag. I love the idea of taking one of these tiny gardens along with you! Again, I added little details like murrine leaves, frit and, of course, a couple of ladybugs. 🐞 Those tiny additions are often my favorite part because they give each piece its own personality. One thing I’m really enjoying about this collection is seeing how the same handmade flowers can become pendants, pins, and little pieces of glass art simply by changing the shape, background, or finishing technique. 🌸❤️
What started with a few handmade glass flowers turned into an entire collection of tiny gardens. By combining the flowers with glass paint, frit, leaves, murrine, and a few little ladybugs and critters, each piece developed its own personality. Some became magnets, pendants, and pins, but no two turned out quite the same. That’s one of the things I love most about fused glass—sometimes the smallest pieces give me the biggest opportunity to play and experiment. And unlike my real garden, I don’t have to remember to water these! 😂🌸❤️
And I still really like “Tiny Gardens in Glass” for the title. It fits all three—magnets, jewelry, and pins—without limiting the blog to one type of piece.
If you would like to see more of my fused glass work, please refer to my website Elegant Fused Glass by Karen. If you get a chance, check out all my site and my Elegant Fused Glass by Karen YouTube. If you would like to stay abreast of what I’m up-to and learn a little more about jewelry, check out our newsletter. It is published the last day of each month.
Keeping my kilns warm,
Karen
