It feels like a Mosaic Monday to me! It's been a productive weekend.
The tray I was going to mosaic for the Norway family has been nixed. The bottom wood split where the nails holding it together are. In 4 sections along the outer edges.
Sorry about the fuzzy shot, but even fuzzy you can see it. Not suitable for my needs.
Luckily I can do something with it; fix the splits with either wood filler or Plaster of Paris (both need to be purchased but also need to be in my supply cabinet) and I can paint it. Maybe put something light in it; paper ephemera for instance.
And so I moved onto the coasters. A set will go to Norway and the rest will go into my shop.
This set was primed with Kilz. Not all of them are going to be done in this way. I like the natural wood showing through.
I made a color mistake - used a light grey over the Kilz and it didn't really look good. The white from the primer came through and I quickly used up this small tube. What I did was mix up white and black and got the perfect color as you can see below.
After adding the felt pads I decided the paint needed to be protected from scratches if possible so I have sprayed the sealant on them. I can replace the pads if I need to since these were added too soon they might not be sticky after the sealant was sprayed on.
I made a few coaster sets using olive oil for the backs. I love the way the wood look using oil. It's enhanced the wood a little bit and isn't oily to the touch, it sinks in.
I made 2 sets of coasters for the shop this weekend. They'll be grouted soon, it doesn't take long for these kinds of mosaics to dry.
The funniest part for me was telling myself NOT to cut them into triangles which is my "go to". It was hard to leave them in squares. And it was hard for me to go back 20 years to a simple design in my head.
They look like a quilt with the blue tape around them. The tape was used as a measurement guide for me. This tape is 1/2 inch wide. Perfect. Believe it or not, I can't draw a straight line. Not even with the help of a ruler. Using this tape makes it so much easier to get a straight line and it will come off after I've grouted.
I know I shared the color tiles last time, but I'll share them all again below. I'm not sure all will get used in the coasters but I have a lot of them and can use them throughout the months in future mosaics yet to be dreamed of.
The supplies list is below. I'm not including the tray because it basically fell apart.
If you make mosaics, I highly recommend these two sites.
Vitreous and Morjo™ Mosaic Tile: https://mosaicartsupply.com/
Van Gogh Stained Glass: https://mosaicsbymaria.com/
The glue I prefer is: Aleene's Original Tacky Glue. It is easily found and reasonably priced. If you're doing indoor mosaics, this works really well watered down a bit (ratio 1:1) as a primer, sealer and over glass-on-glass mosaics to make sure the grout doesn't bleed through the stained glass before grouting, and as an adhesive full strength for glass, dishes and mirror. It takes a little while to dry to clear but it does get there.
Next post will have a mixed media project I've worked on and some painting/doodling. Look for that midweek.
Enjoy the journey.
Cindy aka EarthMotherMosaics
