Stained Glass Indoor Hanging Flower Pot

Few "D" shaped hooks are embedded in the roof of the portico in our house. We made provisions for these hooks to be used for hanging chairs, but it was in my mind to use these hooks for hanging ornamental flower pots. So, I have designed this stained glass indoor hanging flower pot and planted with the fast growing Purslane with beautiful flowers.

I have used 4 mm thick reflective glass and 10 mm wide copper foil tape for the project. A discarded pet chain has been used with strands of copper wire for hanging the flower pot from the ceiling.

Here is the step-by-step instructions on how to build the stained glass hanging flower pot which you can make very easily at home.

• 4 mm thick reflective glass about one sq.ft
• 10 mm wide copper foil
• Liquid flux
• Soldering wire
• Nail Polish remover for cleaning glass

• 19 gauge copper wire about 10 ft
• Pet chain - any discarded or broken chain of suitable length will do

• Measuring scale
• Marking pen
• Craft knife
• Drawing compass
• Scissors
• Pencil
• Any rotary tool like Dremel 4000 with glass grinding bit
• A carborundum stone for grinding rough edges of cut glass
• Soldering Iron of 25 or 30 watts capacity

• Hand Gloves
• Mask
• Safety Glass

For this project we need the glass pieces in following sizes. All the glass pieces are 4 mm thick reflective glass

• Hexagonal pieces with 5 cm on all sides : 2 pieces
• Trapezoidal pieces with 5 cm bottom width, 7 cm top width and 5 cm height : 6 pieces
• Rectangular pieces 10 cm long and 1.5 cm wide : 12 pieces

I am not a professional glass cutter. I can cut 2 mm thick glass easily but 4 mm thick glass was very difficult to cut. So, I approached a professional glass cutter with the glass marked with all the pieces and he helped me with cutting the glass

Even though I got professional help, the edges of most of the cut pieces are not perfect. So, I have used to grind the rough edges with a Dremel rotary tool using Silicon Carbide Grinding stone bit. You can also use a carborundum stone for grinding the edges, but it is very time consuming.

After grinding the edges, clean the glass pieces with a piece of soft cloth soaked in nail polish remover and then with a dry cloth.

I have used 10 mm wide Copper foil tape with adhesive backing for wrapping around the edges.

• Remove a small length of paper backing, wrap around the edge and proceed further.
• Once the copper foil is wrapped all around the pieces of glass, press down the foil with fingers.
• Burnish all edges and sides of copper foil with glass using the plastic handle of craft knife. Make sure to remove any air bubbles trapped inside

The last two pictures shows the completed glass pieces, ready for soldering

The bottom portion will consist of one hexagonal piece at the bottom surrounded by six trapezoidal pieces on all sides. This portion will hold the soil and plant.

• Using the card stock template as a guide, align two of the trapezoidal pieces along edges.
• Apply liquid flux and solder together with drops of solder at different places
• Continue with all other pieces so that they are in alignment with the template.
• Place the hexagonal piece on the 5 cm side and tag with drops of solder
• Solder all the joints together properly on the inside only, not on the outside. You can see the groove on the outside of all joints which will be used to solder the wires used for hanging.

We have 12 vertical pieces of 10 cm x 1.5 cm size wrapped with copper foil tape.

• Align 2 of these pieces along the edge of the second hexagonal piece
• Apply liquid flux and tag the pieces together with drops of solder
• Once the pieces are properly aligned, apply solder on the inside
• Do not apply solder on the outside

You can see completed pieces in the last picture here.

The size of hexagonal piece on top of bottom portion is 7 cm where as the hexagonal piece to be used at top is having 5 cm size only. These two edges will be connected using the vertical pieces we have prepared earlier. Here we lightly solder three of such pieces to the hexagonal piece as shown in the last picture.

we will adjust the alignment with the bottom portion then add the remaining 3 pieces.

Align the top portion over the bottom portion and apply drop of solder on joints.

Once both bottom and top portions are properly aligned, add the remaining three vertical pieces one by one and solder them together on all joints. Again, do not apply solder on the outside.

You can see the completed piece after this step in the last picture.

We have "D" shaped metal hooks embedded in concrete in few places in the portico as well as inside home. We will use one of these hooks in the portico for hanging the stained glass flower pot. Here I have used an old discarded pet chain for this. The total length of the chain is about 6 ft and we do not need all. So, I have measured and cut the portion of the required length of chain by disconnecting a link from the chain. This length of chain will give us about 7 ft of clearance from the ground to the bottom of the stained glass flower pot.

I have also attached a metal ring to the last link of the chain as shown.

There are six grooves on the outside of the flower pot. So, we will make six strands of wire using 19 gauge copper wire from the metal ring attached to the chain

• Take about 40 cm length of copper wire and insert through the ring
• Bend the wire at 10 cm from one end and leaving rest below
• Using pliers twist the wires together on the ring
• Attach all the six pieces of copper wires to the ring by twisting together as shown

The copper wire I have used is insulated and can not be soldered unless we remove the insulation layer from the wires.

• Use pieces of sand paper to rub and remove the insulation layer from the wires
• Trim excess length of wire from the short end as shown

The six strands of copper wire we have attached to the ring will be aligned and soldered along the grooves on the outside of the flower pot.

• Lay each string separately along the groove so that the twisted length of the wire remains above the flower pot
• Apply liquid flux and attach the wire along the groove with drops of solder
• Once you are satisfied that the wires are properly attached, solder the complete length of the wire with the flower pot

Now some length of copper wire is remaining at the bottom of the flower pot

• Bend this remaining wire along the groove at the bottom and trim the excess length
• Solder the wire firmly with the flower pot

Our stained glass hanging flower pot is completed

Now you can hang the flower pot from the "D" hook and make necessary adjustment to the wires along the ring so that the flower pot is aligned properly.

We have a flower pot with Purslane plant. This plant grows vigorously and have beautiful flowers. I have uprooted few of the flowering stems from the pot. The bottom portion of the stained glass flower pot is filled with potting soil and the stems planted in the pot. Purslane grows so fast and within few days the flower pot will be filled with flowers.

The stained glass flower pot is hung from the "D" hook in the portico in front of our house. The flowers bloom around 9:00 in the morning and remains through out the day till sunset.

Happy Gardening...