Grandma's Crazy Quilt Mosaic

I have a beautiful crazy quilt made my either my grandma or an aunt back in the early 1900s. A crazy quilt used up a lot of old fabric pieces left over from other sewing projects. The edges of the pieces were stitched with lovely designs, maybe a picture or two went inside the quilt somewhere, and the overall all look was warm and homey. 

So I thought, why not make one as a mosaic! Here I'm working on it, trying to get the perfect pieces and colors for the stitching and the "fabric" pieces. It was really fun to work on since I could mix and match colors of glass, Van Gogh glass, ball chain, Swarovski crystal beads, silver jewelry and leftover pieces of English Transferware china. 

Sometimes I would take it out in the sun and work in it too. Here it is almost finished. Below it is all filled in and ready for grout. I mosaiced the edges also using vitreous glass in the colors of the piece. And, of course, there is a little kitty in the middle. 

Grandma's Crazy Quilt

So next I have to figure out a grout color to use, maybe black, and finish it up. I'm really pleased with the way it turned out.

New Work

I've been working on many new things getting ready for our show at a local restaurant. Here is a pretty in pink heart. I found the base at a thrift store and I added some china pieces. I cut the center out of one of the plates for the center of the piece. This one has two holes near the top so I'm going to try putting a pretty ribbon for hanging.



The next piece below doesn't look very good in the picture but in person I'm finding it quite interesting. I have a crazy quilt stitched by one of my aunts way back in the 20s or 30s. I decided to try to make a mosaic that looked like a crazy quilt.

And finally here is another piece I found at a thrift store. A key! My dad was a locksmith and the large round key on the right was one he made for me to open the door of my house. So I decided to find some interesting keys and populate this wooden piece. I also painted it turquoise and threw on some gold glitter. Then I glued tempered glass on top. It isn't grouted yet because, as usual, I'm not sure what color grout to use. I'm thinking of something in the gold family also. Maybe I'll use a couple colors of grout to add some interest. 

So I just thought I'd let you know that I haven't reneged on my goal of making a new mosaic a week. I'm still at it and loving every minute of it!

Spring!

Spring

OK, it's not spring yet, but I'm looking forward to it so I finished grouting this piece. I'm very happy with it! It's stained glass on the inside and those beautiful Trend Sunshine tiles for the border.

And below is another mosaic where I decided to use Optic Drops for the tree leaves. There are also stained glass pieces and Trend Sunshine tiles. I love the bright colors. 

I'm still working on a place to photograph my pieces. These are sitting on the end of a wooden display stand for plants. Even if the sun isn't shining directly on these shiny pieces, it's often hard to get a good picture without a lot of glare. Well, just another thing to add to my To Do list.

Mosaic Froggy and a New Heart

First is a heart made with mirror, stained glass and some roses I cut from an English plate with my ring saw. It started out as a resin heart-shaped trivet I found at a thrift store. I drilled two holes in it and added two d-rings for hanging. I seem to have a penchant for hearts. I have one ready to cut out of a wood piece in the studio but the blade keeps falling out of the jigsaw. Obviously I'm still learning about power tools. I'll have to wait until my friend Jennifer or my handyman Jim come over and tell me what I'm doing wrong.

And then below is the froggy. It's still hard to see that there is a frog in there. Maybe the grout will help. It was a hot weekend here in Santa Barbara so I spent a lot of the afternoon yesterday in the house affixing tesserae to substrates! That means gluing tile to a base!

Santa Barbara Mission Mosaic

I decided to attempt a mosaic of the Santa Barbara Mission. It's quite near my house so I went over and took a number of pictures and then pieced together this design. The substrate is 24" x 19". I may have overreached my abilities (or my patience in attempting such a piece) but I'm going to give it a try. It won't be terribly detailed, I'm thinking now.

Also in the works is a round mosaic of a tree frog and a gecko on a cupboard door. I'll take some pictures of them later today.

And I received word that my mosaic piece "Raj Mahal" won the People's Choice first place award at the Goleta Valley Art Association's August 2011 Library show. Thank you, People!

It's Labor Day!

It's Labor Day! Where did the summer go? Well, I've been laboring (not really...more like having fun) working on my mosaic pieces. To the left is a round mirror in a gradation from red to blue. I'm not a big orange fan but a lot of people are.

On the right we have the wine bottles a little farther along. The sky and sun are going in today. The forecast is for hot weather so I'll work inside and try to finish these pieces.

And below is another frame. I cut a mirror for it and will put it in the back after I've grouted.  I'm not sure why I grouted over the nice green frame but no looking back. The little flowers are glass beads cut in half. My friend Tami will shake in her boots when she sees the "Michael's Beads" but I like them!

Ready to Grout

Stained Glass Bottle

Today I have a few items to grout. The first is a fancy-shaped bottle I found at a thrift store. The second is a small wooden lazy susan I found at a thrift store. The third is the stained glass piece I started at Tami Macala's Santa Barbara School of Mosaic Art workshop last year. I started it but had another piece I was working on and so I did that one instead. This has been sitting around, and I finally decided to start using up some of the many, many substrates I have ready to mosaic.

So today I'll grout them all. The weather is overcast right now so it's a good time to get outside and get busy. I'll post finished pictures later!

Lazy Susan

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Mosaicing a Wooden Salad Bowl

This is a lovely wooden salad bowl I've had for as long as I can remember. It has seen many, many salads and participated in many parties and family dinners. It was made in California and has three little round feet that you can see in the picture on the right.

One day my friend (and instigator) Jennifer was here, saw the bowl and said, "you should mosaic this." Such a good idea, I thought. There is always the question of whether you do the inside or the outside of the bowl. I think it's too hard to see all the beautiful glass work if you do the outside because it's always sitting on a table and you're looking down at it. First I put these lovely little iridescent squares of blue/purple and gold along the rim. Then I wanted to put hearts inside and I picked some beautiful stained glass that matched the rim. However, as you can see from the picture, the hearts blend into the background stained glass so they are a bit hard to see. However, I might still be able to save it by picking the right color grout. I'll keep you posted!

Mosaic Parrot Round 2

OK, so the first parrot above I made for my friend Eva wasn't exactly a success. He looked good until the grouting and then I broke off his foot! Learned a good lesson there about Wedi board. It can be fragile. Don't make any tight cuts!

So I decided to go a different way and began Parrot 2 on Hardibacker. Then she can hang it outdoors if she chooses. He looks much better. Yesterday I finished gluing him. I plan to grout in charcoal which I think will really help make him stand out. The difference in the two bottom pictures is that the one on the left was taken in the house with a flash and the one on the right was taken this morning on a very overcast day here in Santa Barbara.

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...

Mosaics and a Dog!

It was hot all the holiday weekend here in Santa Barbara, so the cats and I stayed inside and did some mosaicing. This doggy is owned by a friend of a friend of mine. Her name is Maggie, and she is very sweet. I thought I'd do a mosaic of her but as you see, I've done the easier parts, the area around Maggie, first. I cut pieces of blue stained glass for her eyes and then used a Sharpie to put in the pupil because I always struggle with pet eyes, and I've been told that is one of the most important parts of the mosaic.

Mosaics AND Cats

The letters P A T for my friend Pat's party are all glued. An interesting thing to notice. When the dichroic glass is in the sun - second picture on left - the colors are green but when taken in the shade they are yellow. And it took many tries to get pictures of P A T because Biscotti wanted to be petted. Now I'll grout them with charcoal grout, maybe add even more sparkles and they'll be ready to go.

The lower right picture is Prancer with my almost finished Frolicking Sea Creatures. I still have to do a little color work on the grout.

You can probably tell these two cats are related. They are brothers about two years old. I've had them since I adopted them from a neighbor.

The Letter "P"

Today I began working on the word "PAT" for a friend who is being honored next month at the Westchester Begonia Show and Sale in Westchester, CA. Pat is always the one who does the decorating for the show, and she has a flair for color and style. She also likes bright, sparkly things! So I am making the letters "P", "A" and "T" for her with Van Gogh glass, mirror glass and dichroic glass in pinks and purples. I'm throwing in a few green pieces also.

Here are pictures of the "P" before grouting. I was tempted to throw in some glitter glass but held myself back.

Raj Mahal

I finished my fanciful Russian (or Indian) domed building. I wish the picture could show how sparkly and beautiful it is. I submitted it to the Artists of Step One group here in Santa Barbara, and it will be hanging in Gallery Ten-Twenty-Nine for First Thursday festivities. First Thursday, June 2nd, is an award winning program highlighting Santa Barbara downtown arts, culture and entertainment on the first Thursday of every month.

Click here to read about First Thursday 
 

GALLERY TEN-TWENTY-NINE 1029 State Street (805) 866-0192 Taste of Summer: a feast of paintings, collage and photography incorporating varied media to "kick it up a notch!" Featuring the artists of Step One, a local artists group with a mission to advocate, innovate and educate. Come and join us for an artist reception where the artists will be present to talk about their work and answer questions.

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.

Watering Can is Finished!

The watering can commission is finished.

Time to get organized....arrghh!

So a couple things happened recently to spur me on to organizing my spaces (I have several rooms and a studio dedicated to my mosaicing). First a friend decided she didn't want to work with stained glass any more because she kept cutting herself. So she asked if I wanted her stash of glass. Of course I said yes, and went out to pick it up. It had been sitting outside for a long time against her garage. I washed most of it and passed the transparent pieces along to my friend Gary who works with stained glass.

Biscotti

Next I visited another friend who had a very organized way of storing her glass. She uses Michael's storage containers to organize glass by color. I was very impressed and went right out to Michael's and purchased four of these units. So now I've started repositing the shelves in my garage to make room for those containers. Then, since many of the sheets of glass were large, I'll need to cut them down to fit in the storage bins.

Next I moved my Beetles and Bits cutting system, circle cutter, ring saw and grinder to the studio. I'll take a picture of that later. And the most important picture, this is my helper Biscotti.

Lorenzo

My dear friend Jan lost her beloved cat Lorenzo this year so I'm working on a mosaic of him.