Glass Flower & Glue Question

15 years ago

I glued all my flowers together using Lexel and they are fine, but when I went to attach the PVC pipe fitting to the back, the glue will not hold up. The specs say that Lexel will hold up to 30 lbs. of weight so I thought it would work, and it hasn't.

For those who have been gluing their glass flowers, rather than drilling them, how are you attaching them to the pipes? Does it make a difference if the bottom piece of glass does not have a smooth back....most of mine have a pattern to them since I am using cut glass for the most part. TIA

- Dottie

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Comments (5)

desertrat1
15 years ago
Dottie,
I always use GE Silicone II for all those projects. As for attaching them to the pvc without drilling I've always used a metal flange witha 90 Degree elbow to the pipe. And that's only because I haven't found a better fitting that is more petite and less expensive. I've always glued the flange to the back of the flower. Hope this helps you.
Love, Jules
Marlene Kindred
15 years ago
I actually formed a hook for the back of my glued flower out of a coat hanger and just glued it onto the back of the plate with Silicone.

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concretenprimroses
15 years ago
Marlenes method with the coat hanger hook is very practical and simple. I may try it myself.
I glued a flat washer the same size as the end of my pipe elbow in the middle of the back plate using plumbers goop. Then I glued the metal elbow to that with plumbers goop. (or you could do the washer to pipe first as shown in pic) That wasn't strong enough still so I put a big glob of ge s ii (which I had in a caulking gun as opposed to the little tubes which I used when glueing the glass plates together) down inside so that it helps adhere the insides of the pipe fitting to the washer. I kept little a bowl of very soapy water next to me and pushed to glob down witha soapy finger so that it was really in there. Since the washer had a hole in it, this glob is actually attached to the plate as well. This has now held for weeks through freezing weather and rain.

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Someone here has used pvc pipe. Maybe they will chime in or you could do a search.
By the way I used electrical conduit for a post. (Its all pipe to me, lol. I mention it cuz I couldn't find it until I accidentally wandered into the electrics section of hd.)
I really want to figure out how to post our various ways of making plate flowers in one place somewhere since this keeps coming up, but I've been sick plus my mom has needed me so I've just not done much : (. I will though! Maybe this weekend.
kathy
Dottie B.
Original Author
15 years ago
Thank you for the suggestions. Maybe my problem is that I filled the pvc fittings with concrete patch so that I would have more of a surface area to glue to...that may be preventing the glue from sticking like it should. I will experiment some more. I definitely like the hanger idea, but wonder if it will be solid for heavier flowers. Some of mine are probably over 5 lbs. or more once I got done with them.

Another thought was to hang them on the side of a fence or wall using plate hangers and paint a vine to make it look like they are blooming from the vine.

Once I get the technique mastered, I plan on adding it to my website. I searched here for an hour and never found any posts answering this question, although I know it has been brought up before.

Here is a link that might be useful: My Website
amigirl
15 years ago
Dottie

I use GE II for all my glueing. For the plate flowers I glue the male end of a large grommet set, with a large washer over it to the plate. Then I glue a copper street elbow over it with the small end toward the plate, it fits perfect over the grommet. Then the large end of the elbow fits over my piece of copper pipe in the ground.

Sue