Portia & Luna get a New Look

This grout color, I feel, is a better fit for the mosaic. It is still a little lighter than what I would like but it is much better than the white-looking grout from before. I can live with this grout color. Life is good. Now on to the next!

If At First You Don't Succeed, Regrout!

Portia, the mermaid mosaic, looked off to me with the light-colored grout. Sometimes a light grout can make a mosaic look broken up, but I wanted a more harmonious look. Re-grouting a piece is a bit tricky. It can cause a piece to break loose, glass can be broken, but sometimes it is the only choice. So, here is Portia and Luna covered in the new grout & grout glitter. I am keeping my fingers crossed that the new grout will take & harmony will be restored.

Portia, the Mermaid and Her Friend, Luna the Fish are Ready for Their Debut

My class has started, so I had a hard time finding an hour to grout this mosaic, but I finally found some time today. When I first found this tiny (approx. 2 1/2" x 3 1/2") picture frame, I thought it would be fun to put a bunch of mosaic fish in his belly, but then Portia, the mermaid, wanted to come along for a swim. I thought I better put a fish that had an appendage that held a light, so that they could see inside the whale, and Luna came swimming along. There is a pink starfish in the lower left hand corner and some beads thrown in for a touch of sparkle. Of course, I added grout glitter to glam it up more (it shows up better in person).

I have the tiny whale mosaic next to a plaque that says, "Always be yourself unless you can be a mermaid then always be a mermaid" That always makes me smile, like I get a choice. I would love to live in a world where I could choose to be a mermaid. Easy...I would always be a mermaid. I have listed this mosaic on my Etsy store, so it is for sale.

I have completed the doorway design and have started drawing another design for the other mosaic (Red mosaic), and will be starting that in a day or so, along with a new mosaic of a seahorse. I'll post pictures of the mosaic templates in a few days.

Okay, so I have finally finished the key and have moved on to the next design. I have found that I really like to do two mosaics at a time. The pressure of this mosaic is lessened by working on a mosaic that has a template and all I have to do is cut glass. After I finish this design, I only have to come up with two more (one at a time) designs and execute them. Then all that is left is the background, right...that's all. And I haven't a clue what I am going to do.

Usually, from the beginning I can see the mosaic and what I want to do, then I start drawing and making changes to the original idea as I create a template to mosaic. This idea of creating as we go along and seeing where we end up is very scary to me. I am afraid I am going to screw up Big Time. After this last design made it onto the board, I saw that it had no cohesion with the other designs, but I wanted badly to place it there and mosaic it. So, whatever I thought this board was supposed to be, it is now some thing else.

After I grout the mermaid mosaic, I will be starting another small mosaic of a Seahorse. I created a template for it, so it will go pretty quickly. I'll post a picture soon.

Tiny New Unfinished Mosaic

Here is my latest, completed mosaic. The frame is covered with tape because I want to protect it while I grout. It's always so interesting to see the mosaic before it is grouted. Grouting unifies and changes the mosaic a great deal. There is a fish in the foreground with a light hanging from an appendage with a mermaid in the background. It is a very tiny mosaic made on the glass of this picture frame. I will have better pictures and explanations after it is grouted.

Bella, the Pink Elephant, makes her Debut

This sparkly, sweet little picture frame attracted my attention, and I knew right away that I wanted to put a mosaic instead of a picture on her. The mosaic is 2 5/8" x 2 5/8" and the picture frame is approximately 6 3/8" x 5 2/8". I used a piece from a former bracelet in the center, blue glass tile, wavy glass tile, different types of millefiori, and grout glitter. When I grouted this piece, I tried to protect the picture frame, but right around the mosaic there was some bleaching of the area. She is able to sit on a tabletop, but does not have hardware attached for hanging on the wall.

Beach Daze, an OAK Mosaic and Original Painting

I love the way this mosaic resonates in my senses; memories of days at the beach, warm sand under my feet while walking with my favorite peeps, looking for sea shells (yes, I have boxes of shells, too), lazy summer days at the beach. I grew up in So. Cal and loved to body surf. I spent a lot of time at the beach and the memories always make me smile.
 Especially when I would do something crazy like accidentally riding a very big surf board backwards when I was about 15 years old, and after I wiped out, telling everyone, "Of course I did it on purpose." It was considered very brave to have done such a dangerous stunt. Yeah, right that's me. Okay so I lied, but it was either be considered brave or stupid. Well, I already knew what it was like to be considered stupid so of course I chose "brave"; definitely a better choice. See I wasn't that stupid.
I have had a love affair with the beach since I was a little kid. It is a place I am drawn to, and I know that many of you feel the same way.

Coloring Fad!

Adult coloring books are very popular and are being sold everywhere. I admit to owning a collection of coloring books of all sorts. I have started coloring in a few of the newer type that are supposed to help with stress, etc. However, they require a lot of time and I get bored and never finish. Then I picked up a book of postcards to color that looked less formidable and started coloring, and then I grabbed my paint and brushes to give it a more completed look, and here is the finished product.

 

 For all of you lovers of coloring, I used Staedtler colored,

fine point pens (0.3 mm). They are great for all the tiny detail work. I used acrylic paint for the sand, water, sky, and border.

I started coloring this different picture of a large butterfly, but the spaces were so big I didn't want to use up my pens, so I found that if I outline the details with ink then paint over them I can see the designs under the paint and can use the pens over the acrylic paint and it looks great. But if I paint over the designs without outlining them in ink, you cannot see the designs at all. Hope that makes sense. 

 

This made me realize that I have missed painting and wanted to paint a seascape. I realized that I would need a frame for it and there was this frame which would make a base for a mosaic. Then I remembered that I had some sea glass and dug around in my closet until I unearthed the box they were in. I found some Smalti glass that reminded me of water and I placed that in a border around the picture. I started gluing pieces in place and had been only working on it a few minutes when the lights went out. The storm had caused a power outage. I gathered some candles that I have and placed them all around my work area and continued to mosaic. I sent Christi a text to let her know what happened:

Me: I am at my work table upstairs doing the beach glass mosaic by candle light

Christi: Just be careful. Don’t burn down the house.

I knew you would say that

And don’t strain your eyes in the poor light.

100 candles! What poor light?

We’re doomed.

I have only a small amount of the frame to mosaic and then I will grout it with sandy colored grout, throw some beads in to make it more cohesive, and of course, a touch of grout glitter and it will be ready for my painting to be placed inside. Oh, I still have to do the painting, but I have done some preliminary sketches already completed.

About the previous mosaic that I was going to finish around Christmas, I have just recently started to create the templates needed to finish the background and the remaining design elements. I admit that the Holidays took precedence over my attention and time. Like so many others, I believed that I could do it all. I forgot the energy and undivided attention that creating a mosaic takes. I cannot just parcel it into five or ten minutes here and there, and expect that I can create anything of value. By value, I mean a true, thoughtful expression to share with you what the glass is inspiring me to say through mosaic.