In The Studio - Wednesday

I've been slightly less active this week due to a cold bug going around in our home, but before I got hit with it, I managed to get the first of three mosaics grouted!

I mixed black and white grouts together and got a nice dark grey color for the beach themed palm tree.

I really love the way it looked almost immediately. That's always a good thing!

A few more cleanings and it will be ready to send next month!

The sides are tinted in a burnt sienna water wash mixture I made myself. I finished it off adding hanging hardware and signing it!

Until I feel better, I won't do the rest of what needs to be grouted. But hopefully I'll get to it soon enough!

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

Stay peaceful.

Cindy, Earth Mother Mosaics

In The Studio - Friday

Hello all! Have you missed me?

If you have missed me, chances are you've been wondering if I plan to continue with my mosaic business life or if I've retired completely.

Rest assured I will always have some sort of mosaic business, whether just doing custom work or selling online. As long as I can comfortably hold the tools and the mosaic muse stays with me, I'm continuing to do what I love!

While February was a slow month of mostly resting, getting over a nasty bug the entire household had and getting those awesome shelves that were put up recently in my room packed to the gills with boxes and mosaic supplies, March is starting out with a bang. I've completed one mosaic reward wall art piece (still not yet grouted) and will share the progress now.

I found my graphite paper (yay!) and used it to help draw a basic design on the 8 x 10 inch wood panel.

Then started looking through the glass.

Some of what is shown above made it into this piece, some did not.

I started with the palm tree and found some really cool dish shards that would work for fronds.

Switching sides, I worked on the rocks and water on the right side of this piece.

Filling in the sand and shadows was next.

Each day I did a little, some took hours, some took less. All-in-all, it took 7 days to complete, 8 hours in total.

I'm thinking gray or black grout. I want it to be intense. Either of those colors will make it so.

Good news on the Etsy shop! It is reopening in a few days! I decided to open it on the first day of Spring which is Monday, March 20th. I should start blogging 2-3 times a week at that point as well. Stay with me as I start anew once more.

For those who signed up for the newsletter, I'll be sending it out next week and then no more until the end of the year when things get busy on Etsy and discounts will be available around November, maybe. Most folks don't actually take advantage of the discounts I've offered each month in the past, so there is no need to make them until holiday time rolls around once more.

Meanwhile, stay with me here on the blog and see what the 2nd mosaic I'll be working on for the lucky person who donated money to my fund raiser last year. The 3rd one I had to do has been generously donated back to me to include in my Etsy shop and sell in that way getting even more money to add to the fund raiser.

For those who are also wondering about that, I'm very near my goal. Within the next few months, almost a year to the day that I started the gofundme campaign, I will have paid the debt completely. It is an amazing thing to have so much support when it's needed. I'm extremely blessed! I had a lot of help and I've been paying it myself now a little each month thanks in part to my social security retirement benefits. Grateful, humbled by the generous spirit I have encountered and amazed as I said, by the support.

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

Stay peaceful.

Cindy, Earth Mother Mosaics

In The Studio

I'm slowing up a bit this week and focusing on a challenge in the GOG Group on Facebook. It is an "Ocean Bottle Challenge" which began on March 3rd and ends May 3rd. We are supposed to keep our sharing of our progress to a minimum on Facebook, but here on my blog I will share as I normally would. Those of you in the challenge, if you would prefer not to see my entry, click away now!

Actually this is my first attempt and may not be the final entry. As I work on it, I like it more but it has been a bit of a bad start. I'm making a lighthouse which my grandson sees as a rocket. Now it is all I can see too. So, a rocket surrounded by water may have to stay with me while I attempt a 2nd one for the challenge once this one is grouted if I can't unsee it.

I tried putting glass on tape using the indirect method and add it to the bottle but it didn't work mostly because the tape was in small strips and not one big piece.

It fell apart during the transfer, so I attempted to get what you see above on the bottle without the tape. Nope.

Next, I put mesh down over my pattern and did the lighthouse without much trouble.

My only concern was in getting the mesh used on the see-through glass to disappear since I was placing this on glass. My solution was to cut away the mesh and add the top on my own after placing the lower part of the lighthouse on mesh, on the bottle.

Placement is wonky but it's on there and I like the bottom section a lot. I'm thinking I might do another one when this one is finished just to be able to compare. Then I can choose which one I'll enter in the challenge. Some things I do are really awesome and others are so-so in my opinion. This fits into the 2nd category. I don't hate it but I really don't like it either.

For those wondering what I've put over the bottle before adding the stained glass, I've primed it with glue. Once dried, this roughs up the surface and gives it some "tooth" so pieces don't slide when they are placed down. It's not necessary to do this for flat glass surfaces but with circular glass projects, like this bottle, it is recommended.

I have noticed it does add to the drying time as the primed glue and the newly applied glue meet both become wet. I pulled off a piece of glass 24 hours after applying to the bottle and a whole entire section of primed glue came up with it. I reapplied glue to that area and allowed it to dry. There is a bit of a waste to factor and patience is required in using this method but it is still one of the best ways to keep the tess in place.

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

Stay peaceful,

Cindy