Burnt Glass

What happens when you burn an old door with glass panels in it? Well, the door disappears. The glass explodes in the heat and all that remains are the metal hinges. How do I know this you ask....no, I'm not a fireman.. ;-)

We had some old doors sitting on the side of our house for about 6 months last year. In the fall my husband was cleaning the yard up and started a fire to burn some of this unsightly clutter. It was an interesting day to say the least, as we watched the fire grow and grow. We had two or three doors that we burned that day and one of those was the old front door.

O.K., so fast forward now to all the warm, summer like weather we had in March. I decided to clean out the fire pit to get ready for our recreational fires this year. Low and behold what do you think I found in the ashes....but pieces of melted, twisted glass. It looked really neat. I decided to save it and announced to my seventeen year old daughter that I needed to come up with some crafty thing to do with that glass.

She saw something on Pinterest that ignited her creativity and asked if she could use some of the glass....I said "sure". I was thinking...have at it, let's see what you come up with. (whew!, one less thing my brain has to do this week. :-)

I think it looks pretty neat. We are planning to put a hook in their ceiling to hang it on. It sounds pretty too.

Now, I wouldn't suggest making a fire and burning glass jars or anything, but I think the crafts stores sell pieces of glass for mosaics that you could wire wrap and have the same effect or have your husband drill small holes in them to put heavy string through. (or you if you're handy with a drill ) I also wouldn't suggest hanging this anywhere where it's going to get whipped around hard....it IS glass after all and we don't want little broken pieces all over your floor. OUCH! :-0

She used an embroidery hoop and painted it, wire wrapped around the glass and wrapped around the hoop.  Also she cut out pieces of fun scrapbook paper and attached that with beaded strands.  The scrapbook paper will be a good wind catcher.

This project reminds me of when I was little. I lived in NY state and we use to have family get togethers at Bear Lake. My grandfather had a cottage there. I loved that place....it was musty smelling but had the neatest things in there. Grandpa had round wicker chairs and old wooden trunks, but most of all he had wind chimes that were made from pieces of painted glass. I remember that they were rectangular pieces painted with polka dots and some with stripes. I would often get sleepy after a long day of playing on the beach and eating good food. I would sit in the living room area and watch those wind chimes and listen to them tinkle as the wind got a hold of them. It was so peaceful. What a wonderful memory.