Index of Articles

Not just for fisherman, glass floats bring bold color to the garden

The Portland Tribune A new wave is turning the tide in garden art: Handblown glass floats are drifting into Northwest fountains and garden beds. And for artist Andrew Holmberg, it means his ship might finally be coming in.

Holmberg makes hundreds of the floats each year, one by one, at the glass studio-gallery called Firehouse No. 12 in downtown Vancouver, Wash. His jewel-colored floats bob and weave in water fountains throughout area gardens or nestle under shrubs waiting to be discovered.

Erin Ray, a gardener in the Laurelhurst neighborhood, has six, three inside and three out.
“They’re just really pretty and look so unique,” she says of the floats in her pond. And she really likes the way other gardeners use them, too.

Ray says a friend of hers doesn’t have a lawn, so he buries the floats halfway in the ground to outline his garden beds.The floats, which sell for $16 and more, are so popular they blow out of a little boutique called Hollyhocks Garden Essentials on Southeast Belmont Street. Owner Holly Hood thinks glass is one of the hottest things going.

“Glass is a big trend in the garden now,” Hood says. “It’s good color all year because you don’t have to bring it in.”

The spheres look delicate, but they don’t crack or break when left outside in winter. The glass is thick enough to withstand freezing temperatures. They’re great in garden beds that need some sparkle. (And don’t they all this time of year?)

In a way, the floats take what little sunlight there is and magnify it. Just a glint of sunshine reflects off the glass, catches your eye and settles your gaze right where the hellebore flowers might go unnoticed. In summer, the floats look perfect in a shade garden.

Orange, yellow and cobalt blue are the most coveted floats. We’re talking about strong and true colors that are hard to find in gardens — exactly what the artist intended.

Holmberg started making the spheres about five years ago after rescuing scads of poorly made floats during his summer job at a garden nursery.

“My job was to dig them out of the bottom of the pond,” he says. “They sank to the bottom and were awful.”

That’s when Holmberg started tinkering with the “bellybutton,” or seal, of the float, which he fused tight to make them leak-proof. He then turned around and sold them to the nursery. From then on the demand never ebbed. He can’t make them fast enough.

There’s always been something mesmerizing about glass floats. What beachcomber hasn’t dreamed of stumbling onto one in the sand? It just doesn’t happen as often as it used to.

The Japanese stole the float idea from the Norwegians and starting making glass balls for fishing nets around 1910. The floats are in use in just a few places today, but many old ones are still bobbing our way across the ocean on the Japanese Kuroshio current.

If you always wanted to find one but never did, take heart. That same feeling of “finders, keepers” translates from the sand to our soil with this new garden art inspired by the sea.