Glass Bottles Jars Vessels

I think colored glass bottles and jars that line a shelf are always so pretty. Even when I see them at a flea market there is something so beautiful about it. All the different shapes, the curves, the history of them, what were they used for. Martha Stewart Living magazine has a great article on colored glass bottles in the August Issue. Greens, yellows, blues, amethysts, goldenrod, amber, aquas, deep teal.  There is even a category called Cathedral Pickle, a plain bottle sometimes with Gothic designs.  Each shape is made specifically for a certain purpose, its contents, to protect medicine, keep spirits fresh or warn the user that the bottle may contain poison. Cobalt or green glass bottles were used for arsenic to kill vermin in the Victorian Era.  Next time you see a colored bottle you may wonder what was it's purpose.

   

The color here is called bottle glass green, this glass is the most unadulterated.

     

Natural glass has an aqua tint as seen above in the bottle glass green jars.  Until 1900 there was a chemical used to change the color. The chemical that was used would turn the glass lavender when it was exposed to the sun.

  The largest one in this picture, the demijohn, was used for wine or ale dates back to the 1700's.

 My own piece of amber glass. This bottle I picked up in Sydney. It is used for ginger beer by Bundaberg Brewed Drinks

Spice up your old baskets

I just received my August issue of Martha Stewart living. One thing about summer that I love are baskets. Yes baskets are used year round but the lightness of the wicker seems natural to warm weather.
In the August issue Martha shows how to dip dye your baskets. All you really need is latex paint. For detailed instructions pick up the August issue, it's on page 114.

FEELING RED WHITE AND BLUE?

This Sunday our beloved country will be 234 years old. Today, July 2nd in 1776, Congress voted to declare independence from Great Britain (wa hoo take that!) one year after the American Revolutionary War started. Our country's birthday is  celebrated on the 4th because that is when the wording of the Declaration was approved. Big holla out to Thomas J. So we celebrate with fireworks and hotdogs and corn on the cob but last year at this time I was in Nantucket.  In the great Commonwealth of Massachusetts, on the little island called Nantucket, we went to see a reading of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.  This has become my most favorite thing to do. Like most holidays in the USA we forget what the original cause for celebration is. Hearing the reading sends shivers thru my body. Our country  truly fought for our freedom. Towards the end each of the 13 colonies is called out, usually by someone in the audience who is from that State.  So when you are celebrating this weekend try not to forget....

       We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their  Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. 
















AND if you are looking to put some money into our sad economy what better way then to buy something patriotic. 

http://www.etsy.com/listing/50689599/sale-glass-tile-pendant-or-charm-rugged?ref=sr_list_1&ga_search_query=patriotic&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=&order=&includes[]=tags&includes[]=title




http://www.etsy.com/listing/50088290/stockholm-navy-and-white-pleated-french?ref=sr_list_8&ga_search_query=patriotic&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_page=2&order=&includes[0]=tags&includes[1]=title&show_panel=true

Have a wonderful holiday! The summer has begun.