Bustin’ Dishes
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I create stepping stones for my garden paths using busted dishes. I recently went to an antique store that mostly has old stuff rather than valued antiques – it’s called The Nut House –
and it’s one of my favorite town haunts. I wanted to find a couple of odd chipped plates, cheap, for my project, and came away with a grocery sack full of plates and saucers, “free to a good home,” she said.
Wednesday while Riley was at the groomer’s, I assembled my supplies: pie pans, Pam, bucket, paddle, Redi-Mix Concrete, hammer, gloves, eye goggles, and commenced bustin’ those dishes out in my new garden shed. The surprising thing is how many whacks it takes with a hammer to break the same plate that would crack down the middle when knocked lightly against the sink.
A 9.9-pound bag of concrete made 7 stepping stones the size of pie pans; the entire project took about 90 minutes. It could take less, but I like to fuss a bit over the placement of the broken bits, as if I were a real mosaic artist, you know, agonizing over shape and color. Gives my hobby a bit of class, or validation; authenticity.
It’s a simple project really, and certainly inexpensive. I like the look on the paths of roses in winter, a splash of color in the mulch, and the glimmer of extravagant gold. I enjoy the surprise of visitors to my garden when they see an unexpected jolt from the past when they recognize a dish from their personal history; grandmother’s Sunday china, visits from the Jewel Tea Company, or wedding present from long ago. And, yes, there’s something curiously satisfying and naughty about deliberately bustin’ dishes. Invigorating on an otherwise drab winter day.