Collecting Archives - Ashley Hackshaw / Lil Blue Boo

Found Object Glass Window Collage – DIY Glass Mosaic

April 26, 2020 by Ashley Hackshaw

Since we started excavating at our One Twenty Main property I’ve been collecting the most amazing glassware and glass fragments. I’ve found perfume bottles, milk glass cold cream bottles, old whisky bottles….many intact but also just endless amounts of broken glass. Every time it rains something else is uncovered and I have so far collected every piece to see if I can piece anything back together. I did the same thing for the Sixty One Park Farmhouse. The variety of glass is really amazing and the colors are beautiful:

Many of the pieces have beautiful embossed history on them, like this piece of a soda bottle that reads “Hickory, NC”:

Basic materials list:

Glass fragments or old glass bottles
Borax
Bon Ami
Concentrated Windex Cleaner
Pumice Stone
Toothbrush
An Old (or new) Glass Window
E6000 Adhesive

Collecting and Cleaning Old Glass:

Most of the glass I collected had been underground for so long that it was covered in dirt and mineral deposits. To clean the pieces I soaked them in a bucket of water overnight to remove any caked mud. Once the outer layer of mud was removed I made a mixture of Borax, Windex concentrate and water and let the pieces soak for a few days. After soaking most were bright and clear after a good rinse:

Any really stubborn stains I removed with a paste of Bon Ami and a sturdy toothbrush. The next resort was to carefully scrub with a pumice stone. There were only one or two pieces that I could not get clean! As I started to lay out the glass I thought these pieces would make a beautiful stained glass window so I decided to try to piece together a simple version of my own.

I took some old windows and cleaned up the glass and applied a fresh coat of paint:

Next I laid out enough glass to cover one of the windows in an interesting collage layout:

There were a few pieces of glass that were too large or had pieces on them that stuck out too far. I just put a towel down on the ground and carefully used a hammer to chip pieces away. You can also put entire bottles underneath a towel and break them apart. Just make sure to wear safety glasses!

Adhering Glass to the Window:

One option was to pour a resin onto the window to adhere all of the glass but I didn’t want to lose the clarity of the glass or any of the embossed labels so I decided to glue each piece individually using e6000 industrial glue:

I only used about 1/2 a tube for the entire window. I just placed a small bead of glue on each contact point of each piece of glass.

I am really pleased at the outcome! I can’t wait to find a place for it at the Sixty One Park Farmhouse. I might use a chain to hang it in front of a window:

I think it does need a small plaque or something saying “glass excavated at the 61 Park Farmhouse” just so our guests will know that it all came from the property. Each piece tells a story!

Tonight I’m starting another one for some of the glass found at the One Twenty Main house.

The Knothole Box – A Mysterious Package

June 22, 2017 by Ashley Hackshaw

I collect so many things. Mostly vintage, and mostly tiny. For a while now I’ve been trying to come up with something creative to do with them. Open a museum of tiny things? That would probably be too expensive and then I’d have to sit there all day….which wouldn’t be bad at first but eventually it would get old.

Make interesting collages out of them? Well I’ve already done that for some of them:

As I started sorting things one day I thought how a fun gift for someone would be a smaller curated collection of finds. I could put them into an old box or tin…just like the opening credits to To Kill a Mockingbird…as if the finds had been collected from a knothole of a tree, all left by Boo Radley. So I started. Each collection was completely unique and I decided to call them Knothole Boxes. I even hand-carved a stamp so that each box would have a unique tag:

Fitting all the items into each tin is almost a puzzle. I wrap some and place others in little nooks and crannies. Some of the smaller items I put in little specimen containers so they aren’t thrown away:

Here’s one ready to go…Box No. 1.79Xq:

This was my third box….Box No. Pi:

Each box comes with an inventory that I’ve typed up on one of my trusty old typewriters:

I also enclose a note that explains what a Knothole Box is…just in case it’s for a gift:

What is a Knothole Box?

Sometimes I find things in my path that I often think Boo Radley (To Kill a Mockingbird) could have put there himself. I pick up little trinkets and treasures wherever I go. Feathers, shells, prickly things I can’t identify.

And I collect things. Things that I think must have a wonderful story to them. Things that people don’t use any more. Things that someone probably lost, someone just like me but in a different time. Things that need their story continued.

Each Knothole Box is filled with items I’ve carefully selected. Every box is completely unique and has been curated over time with a lot of thought. In each box is a hand-typed detailed inventory. I apologize in advance for all the x’d out mistakes. My grandmother Marge failed the typing test in secretarial school so I must have inherited her typewriter skills. There’s no backspace and my typewriter eraser went into a knothole at some point along the way.

What is this box for? Anything you want it to be. Unwrap the treasures one at a time. Investigate things you don’t recognize. Use them as writing prompts. Leave items for other people to find. This box is yours now.

Boxes 9 and 10 were listed on Etsy today and I’m now working on boxes 11 and 12 but they won’t be finished for a while, I still need to find the perfect elongated tin for number 12 because of some of the shapes of the objects. Every collection unique and varies in size and price. It’s become a new hunt for me to find things that will round out one of the mysterious collections.

Sorry I’ve been a little absent but sometimes I just get off in my creative world and forget to write about what I’me doing. I have a bunch to catch on! I did finally finish up some artwork. I varnished and apple hardware to all of these yesterday and finally listed them in the shop:

Cabinet of Curiosities: Shadow Box Ideas for Collecting

March 3, 2017 by Ashley Hackshaw

I’m always asked what I do with all my found objects and collections….I display them. I use shadow boxes, glass boxes, mason jars and almost any type of display I come across. I shared the sea glass box in yesterday’s post:

I like to photograph found objects in collage form first….that’s one way to “keep” things without actually keeping them. But I’m a found object hoarder:

The good news is that I have a thing for shadow boxes and they tend to keep my collections pretty organized…especially since I probably start a new collection every single week:

A few vintage Smoky Mountain pennants I found (three starts a collection right?) needed a good display:

I just pinned them to a back-loading shadow box I found a Michaels. If I find any more I’ll probably just get a larger shadow box and create a circle shape:

This one I hung on the wall:

A collection of arrowheads I put together for a friend’s new rental cabin. I attached (permanently) to the linen backing of the shadow box using liquid nails. If you don’t want to attach things permanently you can add a layer of cushion and fabric so that they sink and sit right against the glass.

The attached arrowheads:

These three shadow boxes are top load which I love because they can be changed out easily. I keep them on a large table in our living room as “specimen” boxes:

Visitors love to open the boxes and go through the trinkets and found objects. I add to them almost daily:

And what about these other random objects:

And things like seashells?

I use these rustic divided shadow boxes for some of them and other I put into inexpensive quart mason jars:

The boxes are supposed to hang on the wall but I stack them horizontally on a shelf with the jars on top and around them:

I always laugh when overhear Sienna when new friends come over to the house:

Friend: What’s with the doll heads in a jar?

Sienna: Oh that’s just my mom’s creepy stuff.

I must be winning at parenthood. You’d tell me if I wasn’t right? And one day I will open that oddity museum I always dream about: Ashley’s Cabinet of Odd and Creepy Curiosities. Maybe that will be Sienna’s first summer job…tearing ticket stubs.

Don’t feel too sorry for her…she has boxes of her own. I couldn’t get photos of them because they are stacked high on a shelf in her closet but I did get a photo of this shadow box that hangs on her wall. It’s also front opening and every time we visit a historical landmark, national park or museum we purchase a pin. They are all in order so it’s fun to look back to see where we’ve been:

All of my boxes are from Michaels. They have a great selection and in many different sections if you look around.