Throwback Thursday

I was shuffling through my old photos and came across the star box I made for an auction in 2014. I think it's kind of cool mostly because it's got a sun on the top of the lid. When you open the box, the underside of the lid has a crescent moon. The bottom of the box is all done inside with mirror, the rest is glass; iridescent and regular stained glass. It's truly a work of art and one-of-a-kind.

The bottom, done in dark blue glass has half circles on it to keep it from scratching surfaces when placed on them.

I think this was the last star box I had in my stash. It went to a worthy cause, Doctors Without Borders at the end of 2014.

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

It's Auction Time!

The 2014 International Mosaic Auction for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières opens today!

Auction opens: November 22 at 5:00pm EST

Auction closes: December 6 at 5:00pm EST

To Register & Bid visit BiddingForGood.com/DWB-MSF

My 'Sun and Moon Wish Upon's' Mosaic Star Box, displayed on the left at the 2014 International Mosaic Auction - Northville Art House Exhibit in Michigan. - Photo by Lin Schorr

The jewelry display, again with my art pendant on the far left, before it was hung.- Photo by Lin Schorr

Publicity poster showing the donated star box mosaic- Photo by Lin Schorr

Publicity poster showing the pendant I made and donated for the event - Photo by Lin Schorr

'Sun and Moon' Mosaic Star Box - Lid top

'Sun and Moon' Mosaic Star Box - mosaic is on the inside too!

'Sun and Moon' Mosaic Star Box - bottom

'Sun and Moon' Mosaic Star Box - moon inside lid top

'Sun and Moon' Mosaic Star Box - sun on top of lid

'Sun and Moon' Mosaic Star Box - all sides and bottom of box are covered in beautiful stained glass and mirror

'Sun and Moon' Mosaic Star Box - inside bottom done in mirror

Come join the fun! Sign up, bid for a chance at winning some beautiful art and help a worthy cause too!

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

Stay peaceful,

Cindy

The 2014 International Mosaic Auction Is Coming!

Mosaic Auction

One of the best things about donating art is finding worthy causes. I continue to give to this one because Lin Schorr works hard to organize an event such as this. It is no small feat. Lin does an amazing job from beginning to end.

The poster above shows 'Sun and Moon', the mosaic star box I donated. If you don't remember how I made it, covering the lid inside and out plus the base inside, sides and bottom too you can find many photos on flickr to look through.

I also donated a mosaic pendant which is a nice treat for those who want to something small to bid on.

photo courtesy of Lin Schorr

I'll continue to share info about this event as time gets closer. Please consider bidding for a piece of art and help DWB - you get the reward of knowing your funds are going for a wonderful cause and you get a piece of mosaic art! You must join the site in order to bid. It's free!

An international group of mosaic artists whose works will be available for bid in the November ‘2014 International Mosaic Auction’ benefit for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières at the online auction website: www.BiddingForGood.com/DWB-MSF

Known in the U.S. as Doctors Without Borders (DWB) and worldwide as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), DWB/MSF is an international medical humanitarian organization that provides aid in nearly 70 countries to people whose survival is threatened, providing medical aid to those most in need.

This auction collection of 141 mosaic artworks from artists representing 13 countries is an example of the diverse creativity in this again-burgeoning art form. Some artists use classic materials that date back to the origins of mosaic, while others take full advantage of the limitless material choices available today.

‘2014 International Mosaic Auction’ will open online, Saturday, November 22, at 5pm EDT and will close Saturday, December 6, at 5pm EDT at www.BiddingForGood.com/DWB-MSF

Local folks of the Michigan area, you're in for a rare treat if you live near Northville, Michigan.  If you don't, consider a day trip to see all the beautiful artwork in person. There will be a preview of the art, including jewelry, on Friday, November 7th at Northville Art House. The LIVE preview exhibition opens with an Artist Reception from 6:00pm to 9:00pm at the Northville Art House, 215 W. Cady St, Northville, Michigan (Regular Art House hours: Wednesday through Saturday, 1:00pm to 5:00pm)

Click here to take you to Lin Schorr's website.

Do you know someone who would love to take part in the bidding? You can Refer a Friend on the auction site. Join us as the bidding wars begin, on November 22nd.

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

Stay peaceful,

Cindy

In The Studio

Welcome to my studio!

This week, I thought I'd try to catch up on the donation pieces that are now either delivered or on their way out the door. Yay!

First, the "Q" for Quilt has been delivered and will go on a wall as part of the ABC Mosaic Mural for the Ronald McDonald House in Portland, ME. Head on over to Mandolin Mosaics' blog to read all about it after you finish reading this post, of course.

The Mosaic Star Box for the DWB-MSF 2014 International Mosaic Auction is heading out tomorrow towards Michigan. I'll share more info about this auction as it gets closer to it, because it is an online auction and all you have to do is sign up to start making bids! I've also included a pendant, which I believe I neglected to take a photo of grouted (how unlike me!) but I'm hoping I will be able to share a photo after the multi-talented Lin Schorr takes a few photos of everything before the auction.

The window is coming along really well, however my body gave out way before it was finished and I'm giving myself the rest of the week off from working on it. My neck, shoulders and back are in bad shape right now, stiff and sore from lifting the window which is ever getting heavier as I keep adding glass to it.

I place it on a makeshift table each time I work on it and put it aside along a wall in my room when I'm finished for the day.

Lifting it each time and moving it around has caused my body to groan with the movements. But it looks so pretty in the window already!

Of course each time I take photos of it in the window, it is me who is lifting it up onto the windowsill and then back down again. Really not helping myself one bit by doing that too but as they say, we suffer for our art!

Only 2 more panes to go before it can sit and rest until all glue is dry (I'm guessing about 2-3 weeks).

Once all the glue is dry, this awesome window will be grouted and placed in my window. And if it needs to be moved, someone else will move it for me. Because I'm positive it will be a struggle to get it lifted once all glass is on and it's grouted.

Isn't it cool?!

The sphere, which I've dubbed "My World" is waiting for grout. The glue is almost dry enough to do it!

I had a grouting weekend as I anticipated, and got all 3 mosaics finished up.

I love how this trivet turned out. Even though I went from one design to another, the grout sort of molded it altogether nicely and it looks great. It's on a beveled mirror with felt feet and I'm considering adding it to the online shops next month. :)

I really do love to grout. I love to see the results of my labor as I'm cleaning off the sanded grout. It's like unearthing a treasure deep under muddy ground.

The GOG Nugget Challenge! piece turned out to be a bit of a problem because I dropped it after I got the nuggets glued on the glass. It stayed together, though, so I continued on with it. It came out really nicely. I hope to frame this at some point. It's 13 x 9 inches on one of the donated glass window panes given to me recently.

Black grout rocks!

Lo and behold ... it's a turtle!! I didn't even know!! Honest. I had it horizontal for most of the time, even when I made it, and I didn't see the turtle until I turned the glass vertically. Coolio!

I also played with paint over the weekend and used the last ATC sized piece I had (2.5 x 3.5 inches) to create a "Meditation Flower". Groovy.

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

Stay peaceful,

Cindy

In The Studio

Another busy week In The Studio has slowed to a crawl due to a cold shared by the Little Dude I call my Grandson but there is a lot to share so let's get to it so I can head back to bed! :)

The donation for The Ronald McDonald House ABC Mosaic Mural is just about finished. I put resin on the grouted Q's and glued them in place on the mosaic.

The next step is to paint the sides and sign it. It then can sit and wait for the funds I need to gather in order to ship it on out to Portland, ME before June 1st.

I have some updated photos of Maddyson's Magical Shoe Wall Hanging. I decided to add a flower to the one section on the heel that had a piece of tempered glass fall off when I was grouting it. Ideally, it is best to try to glue the pieces that fall off back on and wait for it to dry to continue but I was on a time crunch and didn't want to take the chance of having the glue still be wet a week later since I used Weldbond.

I used a polymer clay flower my cousin made a few years ago and it makes it look even more magical.

Here's a close up of the glitter under the tempered glass. It's so pretty.

My lessons in resin use continues. I put resin on 6 pendants and 4 failed. I believe the 4 failed because they are not one thickness and it made it difficult for the resin to settle or even stick to the raised pieces of tess. That's my story, anyway, and I'm sticking to it. ;) But seriously, it worked on the Q's, which were flat and it worked pretty well on the hearts shown below, also mostly the same thicknesses although there are some tess that was smaller.

The heart pendants turned out pretty well and I've placed them here in the blogs shop section under Art Pendants. The other 4 are the ones that failed, as you can see.

Holes settled in between the tess and bubbles formed even though I used the technique I heard would work to get rid of the bubbles. I was told if you use a straw and blow gently at the bubbles, they will pop. It didn't work for me.

As a matter of fact, I think it actually created more bubbles. I think I blew on it too hard but the sections that just didn't take the resin at all have me convinced that adding resin to different thicknesses in the pendants is a skill that will take a long, long time to hone.

I have a ridiculous amount of photos to share of the 2nd donation I'm working on for DWB/MSF Mosaic Auction. This piece is due before August 1st and will sit for a while until I get some painters tape to make grouting an easier task.

This star box measures 6-1/2 inches. I've put stained glass and mirror on the bottom, inside and sides of the base. The lid has a mosaic on top and inside the lid so far. I am thinking I might leave the sides of the lid painted which makes it even more important to get some tape to protect and cover the painted areas.

As you can see, the entire mosaic can be turned in any direction and it still looks pretty good.

I will share many more photos once it's grouted. I'm extremely proud of this star box.

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

Stay peaceful,

Cindy