Grouting Day

Another busy day of grouting. The peacock on the left had a few pieces dislodge when I grouted it a couple days ago so I reglued the pieces and regrouted. You can see the charcoal grout over his head.

I also grouted two more round pieces; a mandala with hearts and the tree frog. Unfortunately, I'm not happy with the grout on the tree frog. This is why I hate to grout! The grouting itself is not bad, but picking the right grout color can make or break the piece. Tomorrow I'll take pictures of the finished products.

Then we have the kitties staring out looking for creatures. This is where they like to sit when I'm working on a piece at the big table.

And at last, they have a rat on the run below. I hope you don't find these pictures too graphic. A while back I had an infestation of rats in my garage. This was before I had my young cats and Orange Boy was just too old to get up into the rafters. The rats made nests and chewed up suitcases and ate books and paper products. It was really a mess. So it's better now that they are kept somewhat under control.

Wine & Cheese and Ongoing Cat & Rat Story

Here is my latest work in progress. It is made of marble and is supposed to be a scene with wine and cheese on a table (I should use the tablecloth on my work table - very Italian) looking out the window. As usual, I'm great at the border, not too bad on the wine bottles, but confused about the rest of the mosaic. Does that really look like a block of cheese? Where does the sky stop and the table begin? Should there be greenery outside? A sun? This one is made on Hardibacker, and I'm using Lexel, so it will be fine to hang outdoors.

In making my wine mosaic, I find it's not easy to cut marble. A while back I made a stool top with marble and a kitty coaster. I use the stool in the studio. No cutting or keystoning was required. Just used large and small marble pieces. But this wine mosaic requires a lot of cutting, and it's a dangerous proposition! I have compound nippers that add power to the cut but they are also a bit scary to use! And if you don't hold them just right, the cut pieces go flying or you squeeze your hand with the handles.

In case you'd like a pair, you can buy them at amazon.com for $15.38. I believe I paid quite a bit more when I bought them at SAMA earlier this year. M-D Building Products #49943. I could probably do a better job with a hammer and hardie but...

And on the ongoing Cat and Rat story,  here we have Biscotti trying to find the rat. I believe the cats have found a nest because every day they bring in at least one small rat. Here the rat has gotten away from Biscotti and he's looking for it. I was able to save both rats yesterday, though I have mixed feelings. I really don't want rats in the yard or house, but the babies are very cute.

Last night there were four baby raccoons in the yard. First I hear them come over the fence and then usually pots crashing to the ground. But talk about cute!

Below is a picture I took a while back when this guy was extremely interested in everything going on in the house. Here he is just outside the kitchen door looking in at the cats on the other side of the glass door. 

Maggie the Dog and the Arch

 Well, I'm working on a couple things today. I've been trying to use up the substrates (bases) that I have already rather than buying new ones or going to the thrift stores to look for unusual shapes. I did find a wooden dolphin and a wooden chili pepper that I plan to work on soon.

But this is a piece of Hardibacker that I bought when I was at the Institute of Mosaic Art in Oakland. The tesserae inside the outlines are really all black but some look blue. And as I was starting to work on it, I realized it reminded me of the logo for the Palace Cafe here in Santa Barbara!
They don't have Calla Lilies on their logo, however.

And below I've finished gluing the doggie Maggie. I was going to grout her today but it's turned out to be too hot for me outside so I'm staying inside. The cats have a rat so they're staying inside with me too.

So I'll keep working on my mosaics while the cats chase the rat from pillar to post. They lost him for a while and I looked up on these glass shelves I have and there on the very top shelf was a big tail sticking out from behind a bowl. I moved the bowl and the rat torpedoed off the shelf and flew about 10 feet. And then the race was on again!

I heard more noise in the hall just now and found Biscotti playing with a blue-bellied lizard. I'll go rescue it. The rats are harder to rescue and put back outside. They are fast!

Another enjoyable day at my house!