Keeping up with my Weekly New Work Goal

I have been working on new mosaics! The mosaic above is a tempered glass piece that turned out looking like a bird. I started with a bouquet of Tuberous Begonias (left) made by a friend of mine. Then I put it in Photoshop and did a little Liquifying on it. Only when I showed it to friends did I see that there was a bird in the picture. This hasn't been grouted yet. I think I'll do two or three colors of grout.

On the right is a mosaic I am making for the American Begonia Society convention coming up soon. The picture is a botanical of Begonia boliviensis. I printed the picture on my large format Epson printer.Then I cut out glass squares and glued them down with Weldbond. Unfortunately some of the pieces (especially the long bottom glass piece) didn't get completely covered with glue and have a ripple effect. Hopefully grout will help to hide it.













To the right is another mosaic to enter in the ABS convention show. It is Begonia luxurians. It seems a little dull to me so I may spruce it up with some glitter somewhere. Martha Stewart has glitter paints that are transparent with only the glitter showing. I may try something like that on the sky.

And below we have a couple more mosaics; a cat rock and a big gold mirror, Neither is grouted yet. And I've been making Begonia rocks. I'll post a picture soon.

Still busy working on my mosaics!

The Good Cup Coffeehouse Show

Glitter Mirror

My show at the Good Cup coffeehouse has been extended through May! I'm very happy! It's been a really nice experience. When I go there to add pieces, people often come up and say how much they like my mosaics.

The glittery mirror on the left sold the first day as did the two tempered glass pieces below, Lava Flow and Fall Leaves. I wish I'd gotten better pictures before they were gone!

Lava Flow

I'm working on more tempered glass pieces and more hearts. Every heart I've displayed has been sold! Love is everywhere, it seems!

So if you're up on the Mesa in Santa Barbara, please stop by and see my mosaic art!

Fall Leaves

7th Annual GVAA Art Festival at Stow House - September 17, 2011 - Part 2

Well, the canopy is up! My dear neighbor, Rajie, came over and with two of us, we were able to click it into place.

This morning while exercising in the pool I was thinking of all the things I have to bring to the festival (this is my first) and I realized that there is no way I will ever get everything into my car. Hmmmmm....what do people do about that?

But I just keep making more mosaics! Here are a few I made in the last few days to try and sell at the festival. Another mirror in green with orange glass bead flowers, the word LOVE in sparkly tiles. The picture doesn't do it justice.

And at the bottom I have a couple more switchplates and a 6" x 6" smalti piece with precious stones and Mexican and Chinese smalti. Smalti traditionally came from Italy or Mexico, but a new Chinese company has started to make smalti also. I saw it first at the SAMA convention earlier this year. Each country makes them in different shapes. But they all seem to go together quite well.

If you're in Santa Barbara, come to the Festival next weekend and see everything in person!

A Nice Day to Grout

I did some grouting this morning. I wanted to do them all in charcoal grout so I mixed up a batch, went outside to my grouting table on the lawn and started in.

The first was the mosaic of the Calla Lilies. I think the charcoal grout looks good. And I like the way it makes the black arch area all black.

Next I did the odd-looking Rex Begonia mosaic. It still doesn't look like Begonia leaves but the grout did tie it all together. I like the way the charcoal looks in the green border. It actually looks like a pink and green bird in flight. Perhaps I'll rename it!

Finally I did four light switch covers that I glued with glitter tiles. As I mentioned one other time, the glitter makes the picture look kind of fuzzy, but once more, I like the way the charcoal grout makes them pop. I may keep one for myself!

Mosaic Sea Creatures Before and After

It's never easy to get a picture of these sparkly grouts, but here are the before and after pictures. I wasn't happy with all the warm gray grout so I painted the sun grout with yellow glitter and the sea with sparkly turquoise glitter. One picture was taken outside and one inside so that alone makes it difficult to get a good comparison.

I used the technique Ellen Blakeley taught in her tempered glass class. You mix acrylic gel medium with Pearl Ex pigments and then paint in onto unsealed grout. Let it sit for a minute and then wipe it off the glass. You never know how it will turn out but that's the fun of it all. I will try to get a better picture of the mosaic after the painting is done. It really does brighten it up.

Flower mosaic grouted with glitter grout

Well, it's hard to see in the picture, but the grout has glitter in it. The Institute of Mosaic Art has packets of grout glitter in all different colors. I was like a kid in a candy store. On this piece I combined two of the pink shades. When you have made your final swipe at the grout and it's still wet, you press in the glitter. And voila! you have a beautiful sparkly mosaic!

I use the grouting method where after you've fill in the spaces with grout, you sprinkle dry grout over the piece and let it sit for a while. Then I take newspaper and clean off the glass. There is no extra water to mess up everything or to make tunnels in the grout. And even with this "dry" way of grouting, it was wet enough to push glitter into the grout. Click on the picture to see a larger version.

Sparkly Turtle

I'm beginning to see a pattern in my mosaic pieces. I like sparkly, shiny things. My friend and neighbor gave me this turtle many years ago, and he has been sitting in the garden ever since. But with his subdued colors, he wasn't very visible. So I decided to spice him up a bit.

I'm only halfway done, but I definitely like the bright, glittery look. He will now sparkle in the sunlight in the garden!

Ready to grout

Well, I finished gluing two more pieces, and they are ready to grout. The first is the shiny Russian building with lots of mirror and glitter tile. The second is the gingham table. I seem to be keeping up with my goal of at least one mosaic a week.

Fanciful Russian Mosaic Building

No one ever said I was a neat worker. A workshop teacher once said my workstation looked like a mosaic bomb exploded.

This Russian building is patterned after one of the beautiful mosaics on the side of the Institute of Mosaic Art's building in Oakland, CA. The whole building is covered with giant, whimsical mosaics made with glass and ceramic tile. The picture of the building below gives you an idea of the size of the art when you notice the windows in the picture.

I am using Hardibacker as the substrate with Lexel as the adhesive so it can be hung outdoors.

IMA Building covered with giant mosaic flowers