Mosaic Monday

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

 

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

In The Studio - Wednesday

Wow, look at that ... it's been an entire month since I last posted! Whew.

First it was due to spending time "reclaiming my space" and then losing the internet for three weeks made it impossible to write. However, now I'm back and ready to share some of what I've been doing.

"Reclaiming My Space" continues --- During sunny days, I sort through the jars of glass I've accumulated so far to get the colors separated (the 2nd sorting). The first sorting I did was to put the stained glass, glass gems, millefiori, etc, in jars and/or containers to get them separated from boxes filled with scraps of them all.

The next sorting, which I'm doing now, is to take each piece and decide where it belongs. The first sorting was to get like colors together: orange, amber, brown, beige, for example. Yes, each piece got looked at and a decision made. Small pieces, using tweezers, get held up to the sunlight to see the color properly. Yes, this is time-consuming. And yes, I love doing it! The second sorting I'm going through what I've done and getting color and texture separated: light blue, dark blue, mottled glass (colored with streaks or blotches of different shades) and rippled glass (an irregular, wavy line pattern).

The dish tiles will get sorted in the same way, by color then design. That sorting shouldn't take long. But the glass will take some time.

I've also put iridescent glass, Van Gogh glass, Smalti, glass tiles, mirror in separate boxes. They too will have to be sorted by color and the glass will be sorted a few times; all the examples stated will have their own container and then sorted once more: iridescent glass by color (pastels and neon colors separated as well within color), tiles by color, glitter, glass, vitreous and possibly size as well.

 I will take photos of those once I get there with the sorting part so you can see what I mean, but meanwhile, they all wait on my floor next to my bed for inspiration and sunshine.

I'm amazed at how much I've done. Believe it or not, this photo shows progress. Had I been willing to share what I had waiting for me before I started this "reclaiming my space" project, you'd be amazed, too.

Keep in mind I'm living in a 13' x 10' room. With so much around me to organize, it got very overwhelming before I started. Mosaics have a way of spreading out and needing more space. I find more substrates to use, people give me broken dishes and pottery, when I have a custom order I almost always buy new glass to work with if it is within the budget to do so. It's all got to go somewhere!

I'm so glad I've finally decided to put some sort of order back into my living space. I'm even looking forward to bringing in some new furniture once the entire room is finished (my goal is by my birthday in September).

I will be going back to work in mid-March, making mosaics and grouting, adding listings and sharing the WIP's with you here. And working on the organizing/sorting/purging as I go. I'm used to the muse stepping in and taking over, and I expect her to do so often in the next few months.

One of the main reasons I started with the studio side of the room was so I could continue the momentum to do the rest of the room (not as important to me as getting the art side of the room organized) and continue with cleaning and organizing. Getting the studio side settled first means I can go back to work on the art I love to create while working on the rest of the space to make it inhabitable for myself once more.

On a personal note: on January 30th we lost one of our beloved furbabies and my favorite napping buddy. Tramp, our old sweet ginger kitty was sick for about 3 weeks. We don't know her exact age, but my daughter thinks she was 15 or 16. That made her close to 80 years old in people years if that is the case. I think she was closer to 12 or 13, which puts her in the mid-60's in human terms. Closer to my age and could be why we connected in such an awesome way. We watched as she just slowed down to a halt. Each of us took this loss in a different way; gave her lots of love and made sure she knew it was okay to go when she was ready. Some stayed close to her, others gave her distance, but we all honored her passing and are still grieving. She made a profound mark on my heart. I miss her very much.

I'll be making a small plaque on Wediboard soon to be hung on the fence near where she is buried. One family member asked that I put a pumpkin on it because that was one of her nicknames. I'm working on the design this week and will probably start working on it soon after that.

Meanwhile, we have Gypsy still with us. Sweet as ever and happy to get the extra attention we all seem to need to give to her after her sister passed away. Here's a photo I took of Gypsy the other day, napping and hugging herself. So, so cute!!

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