Tesserae Tuesday - Scrap Glass Mosaics

As many of you might already know, I LOVE scrap glass mosaics. Taking tiny pieces of glass is something I like to do anyway but putting them altogether in a cool way makes me really happy. The results look great when used on glass-on-glass projects but just as cool on MDF. Below are just a few of my scrap glass mosaics I've done over the years. All are in private collections or have been sold.

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

 

In The Studio - Wednesday

Playing catch up with my blog posts and sharing what I've been up to instead of writing in the blog!

I grouted all the crosses I had made and gave the customer her order. Listed the other two crosses on Etsy, so be sure to head on over there and take a look if you so chose.

Painters tape is used on sides and back to protect the MDF from excessive grout.

One of my favorite parts about grouting is seeing how it looks just before the cleaning begins. Makes me smile every darned time! It all comes together for me when grout is added.

Freshly grouted. Switch plate is sitting on the shelves ... unsure if I'll list it but it was fun to make!

I got myself some new acrylics and have used a few so far. The yellow and blue were painted white on sides and back. The scrap glass (custom order) was painted black.

Custom order now with the customer who loved it! Yay!

Yellow cross is listed on Etsy.

Blue and white cross is also listed on Etsy.

I had a little black grout left over from the cross I have shown above, so I added what I had to the candle holder I made a while ago. Still a LOT to grout before I'll call it finished, but it's a start!

LOVE it even more with grout!!

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



Stay Peaceful and Enjoy the Moments.
Cindy, Earth Mother Mosaics

In The Studio - Wednesday

Wow have I been busy this week!! I worked on putting mosaics on crosses and even did some grouting. I have more grouting to do but I'm fairly sure I'll get most if not all of it done by the end of the week. Good for me!!

This cross is part of a custom order.

All sparkly and waiting for grout.

Freshly grouted and STILL sparkly.

One of these crosses will finish up the custom order. I'm allowing the customer to choose from them once they are all grouted.

Positive this one will be grouted in black.

This cross will definitely get white grout.

This one will also get white grout.

This candle holder has been sitting and waiting for a while for grout. It needs one more good cleaning and then I can get some photos of it for Etsy.

Really love the process of slapping grout all over glass, mirror, dish shards and tiles too. I got my fingers in this stuff this time. I love getting messy!

Grout was still wet and there was a lot to clean off at this point but I am very happy with the results. Look for it soon in my Etsy shop.

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



Stay Peaceful and Enjoy the Moments.
Cindy, Earth Mother Mosaics

In The Studio - Friday

As promised on Wednesday, here is the next project I'm working on.

This is a 3 inch candle holder. I'm gifting this to my daughter's friend who is hosting an event very soon. This will be grouted only days before her event. It'll be a close one, but I can do it!

Once this butterfly is finished, I have one of two custom ordered crosses to start on. This one is going to be done in whites, silvers and golds.

I haven't decided what the other one will look like yet. Be sure to check back to see the progress of all of the mosaics I've been working on lately.

Have a great weekend!

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



Stay Peaceful and Enjoy the Moments.
Cindy, Earth Mother Mosaics

In The Studio - Wednesday

Now that I'm in my new space, I'm just starting to figure out where I want a table to go so I can work on new mosaics and other fun things. I surprised myself ... I needed a little time to adjust to the new space but am now ready to get to the fun part of decorating and getting organized. The best place to be to work or for a table to go is closest to the windows which is possible to achieve. It's on the dark side up here in this room as it was once an attic space a long time ago. There is an overhead light right in this area which can come in handy when I'm working if I need the extra light over the table.

Where these boxes are now is where a folding table will be hopefully within the next few weeks.

I still need to purchase a task light for the table (I see some late nights working in my future), some containers and shelving to hold things in as well instead of all these boxes everywhere. But the good news is, I have time, patience and a little money coming in each month. I believe I'll get myself organized and all decorated as I see it by the end of the summer. Just in time for the start of working on mosaics for the holidays.

It's very hot up here these days, so I've added a curtain or two and an awesome looking fan to my ever growing list of needs/wants. I can see there will be times when I will just sort of veg out with the cat and wait for the sun to pass on through. I'm okay with that! That's a great time to allow the muse to recharge.

My cat, Baby, has found the best spot when the a/c is on to get cooled off. I've got the yoga mat down as a temporary rug and she goes to this spot near her pillow next to the mat to relax and get cool. Smart kitty!!

I was moving boxes around the other day and heard from the iPod that wonderful, unmistakable "cha-ching" meaning I had a sale on Etsy! That's pretty cool and very exciting!

SOLD!

No matter how long I've been selling online, it's always thrilling to make a sale! And I really love to hear that cash register sound!! Woohoo! I'm so very grateful to the folks who find and love my mosaics enough to want to purchase them. I'm feeling very blessed!!

I don't have much planned other than getting this new space organized and ready for future mosaic magic.

I'm just about ready to ship out the reward gifts for the people who donated to my fundraiser. All 3 will be heading out in June.

The kind soul who gets this plate donated after seeing my fundraising info on my daughter's FB page. Her favorite color is pink! I just happened to have a pink plate to send her. Yay!

This 8 x 10 inch mosaic wall hanging will always hold a special place in my heart. It was the first piece I made after a long absence from mosaics. I still see flaws and wish I'd had done a few things differently but for the most part, I'm thrilled to send it on its way to its new home very soon.

I had fun making this abstract. I didn't think I had much tesserae available but as luck and good vibes would have it, about the time I was wondering if I'd ever get it made, a good friend sent me a box of goodies for me to use in mosaics. Some of those things are in this 8 x 10 inch mosaic wall art.

I can't wait to get to work once more in my new space! Hopefully very soon I'll have everything the way I see it and will be in the swing of things once more.

I will definitely share here as I go, showing the process of getting things out of boxes and in a more permanent setting. And you'll see how I've decorated the space once I've gotten it all done in the months to come.


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



Stay peaceful and Enjoy the Moments.
Cindy, Earth Mother Mosaics

In The Studio - Friday

The studio is a little less busy now that the donated mosaic is on it's way toward the silent auction in in a few weeks. It was picked up by the very sweet chairperson who asked if she could give me a hug for donating. I never say no to a hug!

I managed to get a few new mosaics listed on both Storenvy and Aftcra. Aftcra has a few items added to it each week that are already in Storenvy plus new things too. Eventually both shops will have the same items. This may seem redundant to most, but sharing on different online shops means different online customers. That's never a bad thing.

This week I was approached by possibly a new customer and a new large custom order who found me through Storenvy. Just like when I had an Etsy shop, people are finding me for their custom order needs. I love that it's starting to happen now that Storenvy has been open for a few years. More on that commission as it develops, if it does. Fingers crossed! The time-frame for it will be closer to late in the summer, so keep checking back to see what's new!

While I was resting yesterday, I did a few odds and ends. It's not uncommon for me to do small touch-ups or finishing touches on days when the muse needs to rest.

These are 2 of the newest small crosses. They are 4 inches and too big to call ornaments but the right size to call them small wall art. Now grouted and have unusual hooks on the back. All I need to do is add a string for hanging.

I used interesting bails on the back; they are from clothes pins. When Little Dude and I made snowflakes by taking apart clothes pins, painting them white and sprinkling them with glitter for holiday gifts 2 years ago, I was left with all the spring-like mechanisms from the pins.

 

 

I never throw much away that might be used for some art project in the future and these were no exception. Each pin has a spring in order for the pin to open and close. I ended up with 20+ of these springs and no clue what to do with them but knew I couldn't throw them away. I can always recycle, re-purpose, reuse!

Here, I've used them as a bail gluing them down with resin to make sure they stay put and I'll add a nice piece of twine to each one for hanging.

Being uninspired to start new mosaics isn't always a bad thing. Sometimes I just need to wait for the ideas to come flowing through but that requires patience and lots of down time. However, this plate was sitting next to me and I decided last night I had to finish it up and put it in the "to be grouted" pile of plates I've done so far.

NOW I can rest over the weekend!

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

In The Studio - Wednesday

Wow has the muse been keeping me busy!! I finished getting glass on the donation piece, which I'll share more about in a separate post once it's grouted and ready to go. Number 25 of 25 crosses got some mosaic bling and I've started working on a large glass vase that has etched fish in it. This was gifted to me by someone we consider extended family. She is always thinking about how I can take what she no longer wants and turn it into a mosaic or use for my art in some way. Gotta love it!

The donation piece is an 8 inch piece of MDF. This is similar in design to "A New Horizon" a glass-on-glass mosaic I made a few years ago. "From A Distance" is ready for grout and finishing touches.

The last cross was a difficult one. I originally used dish tiles and stones on this and the grout cracked and chipped off the tiles. I thought I had a photo of the damage it did, but I can't locate it. Trust me, it wasn't pretty. I hadn't primed the cross before putting the tiles on it for some reason; had to have been when I wasn't feeling well because this is a no-brainer when it comes to mosaic substrates --- ALWAYS prime wood or MDF and even some glass pieces before putting tesserae down on the substrate. It caused water to seep through the grout into the MDF and cracked the grout. Luckily, the cross did not warp. Whew. I painstakingly chopped up the stones with a hammer, dug out all the grout and tiles and let it sit for a while before I decided to prime it and try again. As I was moving things around during the cleaning frenzy (which has stopped for the moment because the muse wanted to play with all the fun things I found while cleaning) I saw a box with tiles in it that would be perfect for cross #25.

This vase stands 10 inches high. I tried to get some photos showing the fish. As often is the case, I started with a plan which quickly faded with the sunset. The only thing I knew was the colors I wanted would be in blues, purple and greens. We'll see what happens once it's covered with glass. As usual, grout will do wonders for this one. My nipping skills are just so-so these days. I have limited mobility with my hands some days and the tools I have are old and have been lovingly used for years. But, I will still keep going because I know at some point new tools will be purchased, more space for cutting and setting up the grinder will appear when it is supposed to. Meanwhile, here is this awesome vase so far.

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