Friday, July 30, 2010

Iron Crafter Challenge: Mini Cloche with Knobs





Mini Cloches
Iron Crafter's secret ingredient is knobs! Here is my project to toss in the ring! The mini cloche!
 Mini Cloche
This is my second mini cloche. It is made from a glass votive holder whose stand is long since gone, a knob and a saucer. I used Gorilla Glue to secure the knob to the top (or bottom, actually) of the glass dome.
Mini Cloche Supplies

This knob came from an old dresser drawer. I used some painters tape to hold everything in place while the glue dried.
Drying Time
A word about the glue. Gorilla Glue is amazing, and will certainly support the occasional lifting of the cloche top. However, when I washed my first cloche the knob did come off. Water got under the seal.  The knob is small and the glass is smooth so this isn't the ideal bonding situation. Just be careful

The scale of these cloches is somewhat limiting. They are indeed "mini." It's hard to decide what to put in them. These are my grandmother's pearls and my father's wings. I think they look quite elegant displayed like this.
Mini Cloche

Below is my first mini cloche made from a knob, a coaster and a juice glass.


Juice Glass Cloche
I can't remember where I saw the first homemade cloche, but it went to the top of my "to do" list. I scoured thrift stores for a cheese plate I could use. Nothing. I looked at every bowl and vase for the right proportions. I wanted a rounded shape with a little bottom-to-be-top. Finally, about a year later, at the 99 Cents Only store,  I spotted an adorable rounded juice glass with a tiny bottom. A mini cloche it would be.

Here is the juice glass as intended to give you an idea of shape.

To give you an idea of the scale, the base is an old coaster. The knob is a wooden knob spray painted to match the coaster.

Napkin Ring NestThis cloche contains a grape vine wreath napkin ring made into a nest with some moss, clay eggs, and paper scraps.

The tag uses this terrific image from the Graphics Fairy. I couldn't believe how nice this image printed out even at a fraction of the original size.

I think a collection of mini cloches displayed together would be very sweet. The knobs make them so different. I'd love to find a pretty glass knob to use one day.

Be sure to check out the other Iron Crafters.  Happy Friday!

14 comments:

Melissa said...

Oh - these are great!! I hope you win!!

Fawnda@Fireflies and Jellybeans said...

Very cute idea! I love the use of the knob! :)

Thanks for linking up to the Iron Crafter! : )

Elder Esplin said...

CUTE, CUTE! I dig both of those knobs! It totally makes the whole thing fabulous. Great JOB!

Jennie @ Cinnaberry Suite

sara said...

How cute!!!!

Unknown said...

I love how a few simple items came together to make such a lovely decorator piece! So pretty!

Amanda @ Healthy House on the Block said...

What an adorable idea, Jane! That is just fantastic! It turned out SO cute! I would have never thought of doing that! :) Great job!!!

fawndear said...

Fabulous Idea. I'm off to scour the local $1 stores and Thrift shops. Thank you so much for sharing your idea.

Unknown said...

What a cute idea! Good luck in the challenge!

NEEDLE BENDER said...

Great idea! So many things I can think of to display in that--yours is wonderful. Thanks for sharing.

Tiffany said...

I love these~what a cute idea!

Unknown said...

What a fabulous idea. I have some similar glass cups and now I know what to do with them.
Thank you for sharing this great project.
Traci

Rebecca said...

I love it! I want one! And I totally voted for you. You are the most innovative crafter I know. :)

Christy said...

I'm so glad you stopped by and commented on my apples. It brought me back here, and I just LOVE your site! I love this idea, I'm going to hunt down little glass tops now at the thrift store. You may have created a monster. ;o) Or continued to feed one! As for the apples, I only had two sticks breaks when I was trying to push them down (and so many come in a bag, it wasn't too big of a deal). I thought I'd have more problems than that, but they were surprisingly sturdy! I was planning on prepoking a hole with a sharp knife if I had a problem, but it wasn't needed. Just a word of warning, don't add too much water to your caramel or the caramel will drip down within a few hours (I learned this the hard way the first go 'round). I'm so interested to hear out the throw down goes. :O) Following along on your adventures now.

An Oasis in the Desert said...

These are absolutely adorable. Came here from Christy's and knew immediately I had to be a new follower. I know your blog is going to be fun.
CAS