Praise for the Garden

At one of our Goodwill presentations, I discovered the wonders of discarded trophies. I had gathered a few together to make a vignette for our talk, admiring the outstretched arms of Lady Victory. As I was returning them to the shelf, one of the customers was unscrewing the top from the base of a trophy – it was at that moment that I had an epiphany! If the base of the trophy was a threaded screw, there could be no limit to what could be attached as a base. And thus, the idea for Garden Goddesses was born. Using the trophy topper, any number of interesting metal doodads, discs and domes can be combined as the body and the base of a finished piece of garden art.

This past Saturday, I held a workshop at the studio on making your own Garden Goddess. Two lovely sisters, Jennifer and Carolyn joined me as we puzzled our way to find the most pleasing and satisfying arrangement of parts for a final masterpiece. Here they are pictured with their final creations. Jennifer engineered an old fan blade to rotate on her goddess and embellished the blades with salvage bling attached with old earring clips. Carolyn suspended a large brass spring in the center of her goddess and spelled out the beginning of her favorite garden poem, “Inch by Inch” on the enamelware colander which was her base.

Want to try your hand at making these goddesses? Instructions for these Garden Goddesses (and 34 other salvage studio projects) are included in our book- The Salvage Studio – Sustainable Home Comforts to Organize, Entertain, and Inspire. Due out in October 2008, you can preorder your copy now at Amazon.com (see link at right) -- Amy