In The Studio

It's been a rather slow week In The Studio compared to recent months. I think I'm slowly getting back to normal now that the custom order is finished.

The supplies are coming in for new things to mosaic and the muse and I are studying a lot of things, getting ideas from my favorite books and fellow artists for inspiration.

Still waiting for glue to dry ... but I'll be grouting the last custom ordered piece, the small vase, this weekend (as I've said for the past 2 weekends and didn't) and getting the entire order out to the customer by this time next week (I hope).

Can you see the one white spot in the back of this photo? That is the patch of glue I'm waiting for. Instead of waiting any longer because I know some pieces will go white again under them when grouted, I'm grouting this pretty vase this weekend.

Not wanting to get too wrapped up in anything complicated, I've been working on little things while waiting for the glue to dry. I made a few more pendants.

My favorite is the center one at the top in the iridescent orange glass. Hopefully these will all pass my strict approval and get placed in Storenvy and Meylah eventually. That center one will probably get listed on Etsy.

Every 4-5 pendants I make, I usually only like 2-3. Those will be the ones I list. The ones I don't feel make the cut will be gifted to customers as a thank you. Others I might abandon here and there with a "I'm Free - Take Me - I'm Yours!" tag on it. :)

I also worked on the GOG Challenge through the Facebook group I belong to. This isn't due until November but I thought it might need some time to dry before grouting so I did it now. It is a Birthstone challenge. My birthday is in September and my birthstone is blue sapphire. I took an old candy dish from my stash and covered it in pretty blue stained glass.

I recently ordered some Wedi board which is one of my favorite substrates to work on and cut out 40 shapes for mosaic fun later throughout the winter months when I am bored or don't have much going on. These are instant gratification, as jewelry is, for a mosaicist. Small enough to do one in a day. I'd like to do some simple designs on some using dish shards and more complicated designs on others using glass.

What do you think? Should this keep me busy for a while??!

Today I am going to work on a few things I haven't taken photos of yet. More switch plate covers (1 or 2), a ceramic bowl, a peace sign. Yes, I plan to work on them all today. So I guess I'd better get to it, don't you think?

Happy Labor Day!! Enjoy the last holiday of summer. Stay safe!

And a big Happy 7th Birthday to my grandson, Malachi. Little Dude's birthday arrives on the first day of first grade! This guy is always moving, so it's hard to get a good photo of him. I loved spending time with him all summer while Mom and Dad worked. I'm going to miss him when he goes to school this year!

Support Independent Artisans, Designers and Crafters for your gift-giving needs all throughout the year. Thank you!

Stay peaceful,

Cindy

In The Studio

I've switched gears in the studio this week and have started working on small items to list online.

Celestial cover about ready for grout

3 Piece Set

New pendants

The custom order is still with me ... that darn vase is still not ready for grout. I painted a water/glue mixture along the sides of the glass pieces on it to make sure when I do grout, bleeding will be minimal. It had a lot of areas where that could have happened, so this step was not only necessary, it turns out it was the right thing to do.

White spots indicate glue is not yet dry.

The peace sign is grouted and painted. I just need to add a felt pad to the bottom on the back and sign/date it.

Love the sparkle of the blue mirror!

I have added a lot of items in my "sister" shop on Etsy. I'm probably not going to add more this month, although I have quite a few mugs ready to go. I was having computer problems and decided instead of offering 1-3 items a week for the entire month, I'd list most of them now while the computer was up and functioning. Since then, I've found and fixed the computer problem (go me!) which means I don't have much to list for the rest of the month and stay within my budget. I'm adding tons of items to the draft folder and hope to get a few more things listed but it may have to wait. The budget is a little better right now, but I want to make sure I have what I need to renew items in both shops next month.

Here are my favorites added this month.

Misty Morning Fog - Pillow Cover

Supernova - 15 oz Mug

Renewal - Tote Bag (shown here in 16 inches)

I had an order recently for the "Elephant Dust" print in a tote bag. I have the items sent to me from the lab for inspection and in that way I assure the print isn't smeared or the material snagged, etc. I found it to be really awesome looking in person. It should arrive to the customer this week. Yay!

Elephant Dust Tote Bag (shown here in 13 inches)

In my mosaics shop on Etsy, I recently renewed a few mosaics. These are well-loved and the decision to renew them was based on that alone. I've been tempted to renew everything; it's hard to let things go. I am letting the vintage earrings go and will be placing them on storenvy.com soon. A few pieces of wall art are also getting moved and not relisted on Etsy. I have some new things I want to list and so, the things that don't sell or aren't loved as much on Etsy are headed to the other shops.

Exciting news: Some of these renewed items below will be heading to a new gallery for perusal next month (which is also the month of my 60th birthday)! I hope they decide to take everything I bring for them to look at. More on that when it happens.

Sun Shrine In A Box

Beach Cottage Mosaic

Mosaic Bowl - 4 x 7 inches

Mosaic Bowl - 7 x 2-1/2 inches

Flower Power Tray - 13 inches

Support Independent Artisans, Designers and Crafters for your gift-giving needs all throughout the year. Thank you!

Stay peaceful,

Cindy

In The Studio

Happy Friday!

Grouting is just about finished on the custom order. I'm still waiting for one small vase to clear itself of white glue spots but it's very close.

Two vases have been grouted and look really great. I love the 8 inch vase a lot. I'm very pleased with the design and overall appearance. There are a few flaws that I see, perfectionist qualities are hard to let go some days; I'm hoping the customer will see the overall beauty, which I also see more than the flaws and love it as much as I do.

When I grouted this small vase, the glue under the glass became milky once more. Here's what that looks like.

I know from experience that this will dry within a few days, as the grout dries. It's now all dry and looks good.

I will probably repeat these designs in the future on other things; definitely more vases. Nothing is ever exactly the same but when I find something I like, I do use it more than once. Like the Flower Power design. :)

More items have been listed on our sister shop on Etsy. I think I am in love with this particular print. Gotta love photo editing!

Lemon Graffiti

The weekend should be fun in the studio. I have switch plate covers and a ton of jewelry bases to play with. I'm looking forward to it! If all goes according to plan, these items will be listed over the next few months on Etsy and Storenvy.

I've also been working on the doll this week. She's looking pretty good!

It's time to head back towards the crafts table once more and continue work on the doll. Woo-hoo!

Support Independent Artisans, Designers and Crafters for your gift-giving needs all throughout the year. Thank you!

Stay peaceful,

Cindy

In The Studio

There's lots to share today, so let's get to it!

The custom order is coming to an end and I've experienced a few mixed emotions along the way. I love being productive and if you've followed this blog for a while you usually see a lot of different things I do to stay happy and creative. When work comes to an end, I often get a bit depressed or sad that it's over. But I'm also ready to take a break and begin on something new!

The last 3 pieces in the custom order are now in the "to be grouted" pile waiting for glue to dry. This might take a while. I used Weldbond, a white glue that dries clear, on my glass-on-glass pieces and the milky white glue stays milky for a while. It can also look clear but go back to milky white when grouted. It often takes a very long time (months) for the glue to completely turn back to clear. I know it will change eventually, luckily it always has, but I want to wait another week before grouting the 2 vases that show obvious signs of wet glue. Each day a little more on each of the white spots becomes clear. Another week will do it!

When it came time to work on the last 2 vases, I was a little unclear as to what I wanted to do with them. Sometimes grabbing a lot of glass scraps and letting it sit in front of me for a while, allows my muse to figure out a specific design to use.

Blue-green and frosted iridescent glass were the muse's choices.

Confetti glass, a favorite of mine, was placed on this vase in large nipped chunks. If you look closely, you can see the milky white of the glue in this photo which was taken a few days ago. There is less of this visible this morning but it's not completely dry yet.

Next came the peace sign. The last item in the custom order.

The only request the customer made was to use blue mirror glass in some way on it.

Many of the items still in need of grouting are sitting all together here along with a grouted vase.

The swirls around the peace sign were done in the blue mirror. I've filled in around that with complimentary blues in a few various shades.

While waiting for glue to dry, I can seal the light switch plate covers and grout the yellow vase this weekend.

I took some new photos of a group of bottles I've decided to sell as a set of 3. My daughter recently surprised me with "just because" flowers (the upside to her job in the floral department) in pinks, white and blue using food coloring to get the bold colors she wanted. The flowers (seen in the above photo with the peace sign) made a great back drop for my new photos.

Coming Soon! Set of 3 mosaic bottles - all in blue.

I've got some new items to share from the 2nd Etsy shop. My favorite for this week: "Groovy Pear". I really love this print. I hope you all do too!

Support Independent Artisans, Designers and Crafters for your gift-giving needs all throughout the year. Thank you!

Stay peaceful,

Cindy

In The Studio

I can't believe it's the first day of August already! The summer is just zipping by!!

First let me thank all of you who took the survey about what you'd like to see next in my EarthMotherMosaics Etsy shop. Your feedback is important. I want to make items that people like and want. This helps me streamline my shop to place only items seasoned customers and potential ones would like.

I follow my muse with my work and make a lot of things I think everyone will love as much as I do. She has full artist reign and there will always be many different things to try, create and experience. It is actually good to see there are things not as well liked as others because it keeps me working towards a better online presence in the long run. The muse and I will always make art, but not all of it has to be listed on Etsy! Thank you!!

I offered 4 choices and these are the results in order: light switch plate covers, stained glass vases, peace signs and stained glass plates (last 2 were a tie). What this means to us all is that I will be making some switch plate covers and vases over the next few months to list in Etsy and letting other items expire. Each item will also be available for custom orders. For instance, you can get the right switch plate covers for your home in the colors and toggle switch options of your choice by requesting a custom order.

As for the glass vases, in addition to the 8 inch and 4 inch vases (those will also be offered as custom orders), here are some of the shapes I'll be considering covering in glass. Check them out! Do you have a favorite shape? Won't these look awesome as a stained glass mosaic?!

Don't worry if you still want to see and/or purchase the old and some new wall art, gazing balls and other items I always like to make. I'll still be making them because the muse is happiest when I make many different things. The expired items on Etsy and any new items I feel would work better there will be moved over to Storenvy, and I'll be sure to share the links here when I move them.

Personally, I am always striving to find the right places to share things. I didn't think the switch plate covers would go over well but through the survey I learned they are a favorite. This is good news for me because I think working smart is always best.

And you can be sure that I will be adding the 4 switch plate covers I have made and listed on the other 2 sites to Etsy this weekend! Hooray!

A sad announcement: my Zibbet shops are now closed. They did a new build on the site recently and it looks very similar to Storenvy in design and style. It's very nice. However because I don't have a Pro Account, my options on Zibbet were more minimal than they used to be. In my attempt to try to keep my budget under control, I had to make the decision to let them go. After having a Zibbet shop for 2 years and no sales have yielded from it, it felt like the right decision. I think I will miss the community more than the site itself. However, I had to do what I felt was best for me and my business.

The custom order I've been working on is coming along swimmingly! I'm very pleased with the way things are progressing. I grouted all the switch plate covers. Here are the 3 I grouted since last time and a nice big photo of all 11 shiny and pretty.

I also grouted the 8 inch scrap glass vase. Ohhhh I love these mosaics so much!! I used some dichroic glass in this which gives a reflective quality. The sun shines through and can be seen like a prism. Gorgeous!!

That left me with the 8 inch yellow vase to finish up and I did that on Wednesday! It's now in the waiting for grout pile. Isn't it pretty?!

Up next for the custom order are two 3.5 inch vases! I'm excited that I am more than half way completed with the custom order. I have been sharing these as I've completed them on my Facebook page and the customer has been getting excited right along with me. That's a great feeling; to know that she is happy makes me very happy!

My 2nd shop on Etsy has gotten a sale recently which thrills me beyond words. I was able to add more pillow covers and tote bags. I have added so many art prints that I love in pillows and totes, I am having a hard time containing my joy about this. It's funny how one sale can make us business folks excited, isn't it!?

Here's a few of the pillow covers added recently. Aren't they cool?! Those prints that don't have tote bags yet, will have them soon. I've also added a few more shower curtains. In the future, I hope this shop will have more home decor items. I'm working on those and hope to have them listed before the winter holidays.

Support Independent Artisans, Designers and Crafters for your gift-giving needs all throughout the year. Thank you!

Stay peaceful,

Cindy