Where Does the Time Go?

Have I said that before? It's already June! I've taken down the mosaics from my show at Salon Patine. I sold eleven pieces and want to thank owner Rob Hofberg for allowing me to have a show at his shop.

However, I now have a house full of mosaics! And I want to make more. My friend Brenda Sullivan, who is responsible for starting my journey down the mosaic hole, came over for lunch the other day. We had such a nice time catching up, and once things settle down in her life, we are going to get together to work on mosaics. It's perfect out in the yard now, and since my dear friend Jennifer moved to Colorado, I really miss having someone to mosaic with.

So I've put some of my items in my store on Etsy. I have a tempered glass mirror that another friend almost bought but she hates the color pink. She liked the roses but wanted them in the color blue.

Next I have a spiral mosaic with hand cut English china plates. There is an inset of a round portion of one of the plates, and it has a burgundy tile border.

And I have another house number commission which is almost finished. It's glued and the wedi board and edges have been covered in thinset. I cut blue flowers out of English transferware plates to decorate, and it is done in blues and greens. I made the numbers large and white so they can be seen from a distance. I've noticed that sometimes house numbers are too hard to read from the street. Tomorrow I'll grout it in charcoal and then seal it the next day. I've already added special hanging hardware with posts through the wedi board. I think it will be a nice addition to someone's home.

House Number

Here is the house number Christmas gift in place. Isn't this the most beautiful setting?

Merry Christmas 2011

Biscotti and the keyboard

Merry Christmas to everyone! It's going to be 70° here in Santa Barbara today. That must be Santa's gift to us. 

I have a new computer with wireless mouse and keyboard. I found that Biscotti doesn't mind if I set the keyboard on him while we're working. He just looked up at me occasionally and then went back to sleep! 

House number ungrouted

And trying to add some mosaic news to this blog about mosaics, here is the house number I made for my dear friends. I couldn't post it until today because I didn't want them to see it in advance. Above shows it ungrouted. Below it is grouted in charcoal and I added some bling to the grout while it was still wet because my friends love sparkly things.

House number grouted

And Yet Another Lesson Learned

Commission House Number

Will I ever reach the point where I'm not learning from gaffes I make. This is a commission for a blue-diamond-border house number. My house number below was the sample the customer saw. and I love mine. When I made the 857 in the studio it looked wonderful. I used a beautiful iridized dark blue for part of the border tiles. Well, I took it outside to take a picture and, lo and behold, the beautiful dark blue tiles have a pinkish cast and look pink in the bright light! Oh no!

My House Number

I sent the house number to the client today and offered to make her another one if she doesn't like the pink tones.


How many more blunders can I make? It's a good thing I don't get discouraged. Maybe it's because I have these darling boys to brighten up my day.

Biscotti and Prancer Dancer

Time to Grout

Yesterday was grouting day. Several people have asked about metal house numbers so I made up a sample - the "7" with mirror glass. I found a supply of numbers at a local "random" store where they buy everything under the sun from who knows where. The parrot is for a friend of mine who likes parrots. The house number plaque is a commission and the heart and flowers are just because I like hearts and flowers. The heart is cut from Wedi board so it can be hung outside as is the parrot.  The more I mosaic, the more I find that I just like the soothing quality of gluing. Now if only I found the initial design soothing...