In The Studio - Wednesday

How is everyone's week going so far? Mine?? Well ... it's been all about the fam. The g-kids have had Monday and Tuesday off this week, so this old lady has had very little time to actually do mosaic work or any artwork at all yet this week. We also adopted another kitty and although I'd love to share a photo of her, I can't yet get her to pose for me. She's very unsure about her new home but she's met everyone but me a few times before she arrived, so she's doing pretty well. We still have an old lady cat who isn't at all concerned with the new kid, but will give her heck if she doesn't stop growling at her after a few minutes. They will figure out the dynamics and eventually it will get all settled.

But, because I dedicate this post to studio news, I thought I'd share a few photos I've taken of new things I've found or have been given to use for mosaics.

First up are a few really cool old perfume and liquor bottles along with a large vase. One person says it's recycling or even garbage, this person says: how cool would that look with stained glass or other neat-o things glued to it?!

My daughter gave me an old cake pan and I promised myself I'd figure out what to do with it. After some thinking on it, I decided to add rays which resulted from cutting out some shapes recently using Wedi board.

The rays will be challenging to work on. Not so much the flat bits but the sides (in blue) which is harder to cover with glass, tiles, etc. I might cover both sides with glass and paint the exposed sides (once more, in blue) instead of trying to tile/grout them. This is going to be fun to work on!

I finished up the "Ghost House" getting a hanger on it. I have to say every darned time I look at it, I smile. I think it's so cute. Will NOT be listing this, but if somebody wants to purchase it, let me know. It's one of those whimsical pieces I made thinking I would list it but I sort of fell in love with the goofy face I made on it!

The white spots, other than the grout, are actually white glass. It's got purple, orange and black dish shards and shiny orange ceramics from an old flower pot on it too. Fun!!

And last, a personal struggle for me. To try to turn a family foot stool into something fun and awesome. I didn't get a good shot of them, but the bottom part of the "feet" are in pretty bad shape; splintered and pieces of wood are broken off. This was made by a family member in shop class. In pencil on the underside is written "1961" but I'm not sure if that's when it was made or when it was initially repaired. My Dad, who works with antiques and restores furniture, worked on it a little bit. He gave it to me when my kids were little for them to use, keeping it with me from apartment to apartment over the years.

 I really believe I could make it happy once more although the wood looks really awesome on top. Well-weathered and what many work hard to recreate when working with reproductions in wood. However, for me, a nice flat piece of "real" wood with legs means I need to cover it with a design in glass and dishes. Well, not really, I do know some things are better left alone, really I do. But this belongs to me and although I'm fairly sure no one will care, I want to make sure I do a decent job with it, make it awesome/cool/terrific. My grandson said I should make a tree on it but then said putting two glass feet on it would be cool too. I like the way he thinks! So stay turned, because I'm not sure when the muse will decide it's time to work on these many little things here, but I do know once she's ready, I'll share photos as we go!

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