Busy Labor Day Weekend

I now have four items for sale at my Etsy store, Mosaicing! I had to take pictures and it was not easy with the wind blowing the trees limbs around and creating shadows on my pictures-ugh! This is the main one for the blue dragonfly mosaic. It was interesting to see which mosaics got the most interest. The fantasy garden mosaic is so far the favorite; I love it too. I have only showed a few of my mosaics to family or a few friends. To think that 59 people have looked at one of my mosaics and marked it a favorite is unbelievable!

Together at last

Here they are together. I took this picture just before I mailed the purple dragonfly to its new home. I miss it, but I did not make it for me; it was meant for Connie. As you can see there are similarities in both of the mosaics, but they are very different. I hope Connie loves her mosaic.

Grouting the Blue Dragonfly

As you can see, below the mosaic is being grouted in blue. The grout almost always looks darker when you are applying it because it is wet.

Below I was applying the grout glitter in silver, blue and green while the grout was still wet. It adds a fantasy feel to mosaics. Don't you agree?

And now you have the finished piece. It still needs to be cleaned up a little, but it's done.


I'll be putting it up for sale in my store soon. It will be gracing my gallery wall until it finds a new home. I love looking at it; it's such a colorful, happy piece.

You asked for it!

I took this photo outside without a flash but no flowers reflecting in the mirror, but the next best thing: me taking the picture :) Unfortunately, I don't think the dichroic glass of the dragonfly's body showed up very well in this pic. And each piece of glass seems to stand out which isn't the case when you view it hanging on the wall. It all appears so flat which is a shame because it glitters and shimmers in reality, but here is the photo you asked for.

A work in progress

I am working on a new mosaic, and it was inspired by the purple mosaic I created for Connie. I had so much fun working on that piece that I wanted to create another piece with insects and flowers. I thought it would look pretty in blue. Above is a photo I took of my work space at the beginning of this mosaic. Sometimes the drawings are very detailed with every piece planned out but not this one as you can see by the pencil drawings on the mirrored board. This one changed as I was inspired to create flowers that I have never seen or have never tried to make before. Below is a picture of one of the containers I use to help me to organize my glass and pieces I am considering for use in the mosaic. I will be posting the new completed mosaic sometime this coming week.

Latest Finished Mosaic - Dragonfly in Purple

I find that I do my best work when I am inspired to make something for someone I know and care about. My son, David, lives in Southern California and I live in Northern California. When he comes to visit, he looks at the collection of my created work and mentions that Connie, his friend in Arizona, would really like a certain piece because it is purple. Connie loves purple, and she loves dragonflies. While I was making this piece, I was inspired to put in the bumble bee and the butterfly by the delight they would bring to Connie. The piece has a mirror in the center, but I took this photo before I removed the protective masking tape from the glass.

Every year my son, David, and my daughter, Christi, and I spend a week in a house on the beach near Morro Bay. We spend many hours on the beach and I am always collecting shells, stones and sea glass. David and Christi will join in occassionally, and we find tons of great stuff. In 2007, after returning from our vacation, I decided to create a mosaic for David to have as a momento of our vacation. Once again, I felt I was successful with this piece because I wanted to create this mosaic using the shells David had found while helping me with my collecting mania. This was inspired by a picture Christi had taken while standing in an outdoor shower by the side of the house, which looked out into the garden and the beach, just beyond.

I am working on another dragonfly mosaic in blue because I fell in love with the whimsy in the puple mosaic and wanted to continue that expeprience. I am also creating a Key holder and a long slim board in squares and rectangles to practice mixing things up. Then I will begin a piece that has been haunting me for months and has to be faced and attempted to the best of my ability at this time. Like the Indian purse piece below, I know that this new one will be exacting in its execution.