A Yabba Dabba Do Time! Visiting Bedrock Industries

If you've attended the Northwest Flower and Garden Show, you've probably seen the Bedrock Industires booth but visiting their store is one of my favorite things to do in Seattle.  If you're too far away for a visit, you can order quite a bit of their merchandise from their website.  For me Bedrock is a great place to get materials and ideas.

Mixed tumbled glass

 or single colored glass makes a far out mulch in potted plants.  It's also pretty cool in pathways!

 

 

Slightly damaged statuary.

Some of these great blue glass slabs came home with me.  Don't know what I'll use them for yet but they sure are swell!

 

 

These  glass light fixtures make great tables especially when filled with glass!

You may have guessed that Bedrock is all about creative recycling.  Here's a little bit about them that I lifted from their website:

Bedrock believes in living on earth responsibly and acknowledging that the planet’s resources are limited. That’s why we make all of our tiles by hand in our own plant from 100% recycled glass. When we say “100% recycled,” we mean just that — all of our tile is made from recycled glass only. We do not use pigment in our glass.
We are proud to say that we have recycled literally hundreds of tons of material that would otherwise have gone into landfills.
We use 100% recyclable materials for product packaging and shipping. We have established and continue to operate several community-based programs including a bottle drive, student tours of our plant and a special bottle drive for the parents and students of a local elementary school. Earnings from the school drive have helped to pay for student field trips and other educational activities.
Bedrock is a for-profit business, which is the most exceptional thing of all. We are not a foundation or an agency. Bedrock works very hard to be a shining example of a for-profit organization with a total commitment to sustainability, good employment practices, and responsible community service practices. This is not the easiest way to operate, but it’s important to us to demonstrate that creative recycling can stand on its own right here in the United States.

Recycled fused glass is a specialty at bedrock.  So many possibilities ...

Bedrock makes and carries a full line of fused glass tiles.  Imagine a shower done in some of these...

 

There are always new bargains to discover like these vitreous glass tiles for only four bucks a sheet.

 

 

Always love the lollipops!

 

Glass traffic light lenses - Fun!

Broken column anyone?

 Bedrock has all kinds of rock from fabulous hunks of marble countertop to pebbles in a variety of colors and sizes.

Drilled rock ready for a water feature.

 Cloches made by cutting the bottom off of gallon wine bottles. 

 Everywhere you turn in this place, there is creative re use of materials.

Warning!  give yourself a lot of time to explore this place.  It's not horribly huge but there are so many things tucked in that you might miss a lot on a single walk through. 

 Are these people cute or what?

 And speaking of a whole wall done in those glass tiles...voila.  I'm in love.

 In addition to the great outdoor merchandise, Bedrock carries a huge line of fused glass dishes and other indoor treasures.

 This stuff just screams to be used in mosaic applications like this faboo lamp.

You can even take classes at the Bedrock Academy of Mosaic.  These are all samples of work created in classes.  Pretty impressive!

 

This collection of glass blobs reminds me of hard candy!

 Wouldn't a few of these look stunning atop a gravel mulched potted something or other?

The Garage Sale Room is full of fun finds.

 

 

I hope you enjoyed our little visit to Bedrock enough to make a trip there yourself.  I never leave without finding something amazing here. 

Bedrock, Where Recycling is an Art!

Seeing these fun glass blobs and other fused glass treasures in the Bedrock space at the Northwest Flower and Garden Show, and reading Linda's post here, reminded me that it was about time for a visit to one of my favorite places, Bedrock Industries in Seattle.

All of the glass used at bedrock is recycled from bottles, cullet from a large local glass producer, and a glass blowing company.  Other materials roll in all of the time as buildings are demolished, glass light fixtures and traffic light lenses are replaced by plastic, etc. 

There are some items that one will nearly always find at Bedrock, like their line of exquisite glass tiles which you can see on their website,

and others that come and go.  The concrete statuary seconds have great prices and the glass domes, which would be cool cloches, were once bulb covers, maybe on a ship?  The day we visited was cold and rainy.  After having visited a couple Seattle area nurseries and getting a little wet (Umbrellas are for non northwesterners.)  the fire in was a warm and welcome sight. 

 

 

I always check out this area!  Who doesn't love a bargain?

These Glass Eye Studios seconds/discards would be very expensive if they were perfect.  However, these are so inexpensive that they can be used in plants or as centers for glass flowers. 

Heaven!

Who couldn't use some jellyfish?  These would look fun in an aquarium or as creatures in a sea of succulents. 

A couple of these glass flowers came home with me.

These heart wind chimes are sweet individually but aren't they fun all  together looking a little like a chandelier.

 

 Bottle neck rain chain anyone? 

 



So much great material for creative endeavors!  This is heaven for mosaic crafters!

Bedrock lollypops have become very popular garden art!

These timpani shaped glass former light fixtures can be put to all kinds of uses in the garden!

 

This sheet of mirrored, textured one inch square tiles needed to be added to my basement studio full of glass.  If you are ever in Seattle and enjoy glass or if you're looking for gorgeous fused glass tiles for a bathroom or kitchen remodel, be certain not to miss the unique, magical, creative, and simultaneously upscale and funky place known as Bedrock! 

 

Happy weekend all!