Perhaps it’s the thrill of the hunt that gives me that adrenaline rush when I see a sign that says
Tag Sale, Main Street, 8 - 4
or perhaps I’m hoping to find the next hidden gem to be featured on the
Antique Road Show. Maybe it’s just a chance to get inside an old house
that has stood the test of time for hundreds of years. A fireplace in
the kitchen, a well loved garden that’s been the recipient of years of
raking and planting, a loom built into a two hundred year old attic; I
love these things!
An estate sale often gives us the chance to step back into time just
for a moment. I like to think that I can help preserve history by
purchasing something that, at one time, meant so much to someone. I
don’t however, usually buy paper items. If I stumble upon a book like
the one I found recently, Rachel Carson’s The Sea Around Us, I won’t
pass it by. Letters, maps, books…that’s not really what I’m looking for.
It’s the glass that I love.
Have you ever gone digging for old bottles? I used to dig in old
foundations hoping to find the bottle that was intact; the one that had
escaped the ravages of time. When I found it, I would dump the dirt out
and hold it up to the light looking for some sign of approximate age.
If it was colored glass, that was even better! Blue glass was often
used in old medicine bottles. It’s a gorgeous cobalt blue that makes a
wonderful home to a forsythia sprig. At a former home, I found an old
glass milk bottle when digging for a new garden. That bottle always had a
home on my windowsill as a tribute to the former occupant. I don’t
recommend digging without permission!
You can very often find a box lot of old bottles at a tag sale; make
sure they’re not broken. Look for unusual sizes and shapes as well as
pretty glass colors. The glass bottle that was such an important part of
our everyday life has been replaced by it’s plastic counterpart.
There’s a certain mystical quality about glass. The transparent shine
and sparkle is a window to imagination.
Combined with an old glass flower frog, old bottles make wonderful
sun catchers. They glisten in the sun and tinkle in the wind! It’s the
perfect time of year to make one.
Materials
3 or 4 small glass bottles (
washed)
1 glass stopper (
optional)
1 glass flower frog
Fishing line (heavy enough to hang the bottles from)
Copper wire (thin, comes on a roll at the hardware store)
Beads (all colors, shapes and sizes)
The copper wire will become the hanger. Begin by wrapping three pieces
of wire through the flower frog. Twist them together and make a loop at
the top to hang the sun catcher from. Cut a piece of fishing line
approximately fifteen inches in length and knot it around the neck of
one of the bottles. String the line with beads in a random manner.
Repeat this for all of the bottles you are going to use. If you’re using
a glass stopper, repeat the process but attach it to the center of the
flower frog. Tie the bottles to the frog at evenly spaced intervals
around the edge.
Carefully hang in a safe location where the sun with catch it! You may
put a bit of water in each bottle with a flower bud but this requires
more occasional cleaning! You can hang them in the garden, but a heavy
wind may break the bottles. Makes a beautiful and peaceful gift!