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...

Tuberous Begonia in Tempered Glass

I decided to try another tempered glass mosaic. This is a photo of a tuberous Begonia grown by Paul Carlisle, famous tuberous grower. I glued the photo to the substrate and then used Mac glue to affix the tempered glass pieces. I find epoxy is just so messy so I tried this method instead. So far, so good. Today I plan to grout though I have no idea what color to use. Maybe charcoal.

And below is a picture taken last weekend of a real tuberous Begonia grown by Paul Carlisle. Maybe I should use this photo instead.

It's going to be hot here in Santa Barbara today (78°) so I may not get to grouting. I like to grout outside to keep the mess under control.

Pat McElderry and letters P A T

Here is dear Pat McElderry on the left with her mosaic letters at the Westchester Begonia Show and Sale. She could give Princess Beatrice a run for her money when it comes to beautiful or unusual hats.

And it was a day for wearing hats to honor Pat so here are Jan Brown and Stephanie Rose with Pat.

Pat, Jan and Stephanie

Smalti Workshop Day 3

Our smalti workshop is over! Here is my smalti piece from start to finish. Our teachers, Betsy Gallery and Tami Macala, did a wonderful job, and I recommend this class very highly.

My piece was made on 8" x 10" 1/4" MDF. It was painted a matte black so any spaces between the smalti would not show up. Then we used a transfer paper to put our design on the black surface. The smalti is easy to work with, and I plan to make more pieces soon. The upside of smalti, besides its beautiful surface, is that you put the pieces as close together as possible, and you don't have to grout! Here are three more works of art from my friends Jennifer, Nancy and Gaynel. They chose a different flower design to mosaic.

Jennifer

Nancy

Gaynel

Mushrooms

Here are mushrooms in the garden. The sparkly set on the left is mine. The one in the middle is the sand casting done by Betsy Gallery to make the mushroom shape. The one on the left is Betsy's mosaiced mushroom. The Santa Barbara School of Mosaic Art is planning a class in sand casting. We will learn how to make our own mushroom bases. Sign me up!

Smalti Workshop

Jennifer and Jooolie

This weekend is our Smalti workshop! We all chose a design and started Friday afternoon. These pictures are from the end of Saturday, Day 2. We have one more day to finish our pictures. Because we are working with Mexican smalti, we don't have to grout so hopefully everyone will be done today.

These are our teachers, Tami Macala and Betsy Gallery. Betsy has taken classes in smalti in Italy and Mexico.

Teachers Tami and Betsy

My piece at the end of first evening

Marta

Loree

Nancy

My piece at the end of Saturday - a lot of blue!

End of the second day

Mosaic Begonias and Gazebo Begonia and Flower Show

My friend Mike Flaherty is having his annual Begonia and Plant Show at his Gazebo store in Montecito  August.19th and 20th. I thought I'd make some Begonia-related mosaics since there will be a lot of Begonia people attending. There is even a bus coming up from Los Angeles with about 50 people. These are pictures from previous years. Seems like a lot of orange. I'm not a big fan of orange but an awful lot of people are so I am forcing myself to do some mosaics with shades of orange.

 
This is my friend Gary's beautiful terrarium with Begonias inside. Gary does stained glass lamps, terrariums, bowls, etc. This last weekend we went to Hollander's Glass in Irvine and bought a lot of glass. The colors, patterns, styles and prices are excellent. I've had to buy more storage containers to store my glass.

Below is the beginning of my mosaic. It's even too early to get a sense of what it will look like through the camera. I will hope for the best.

Rex Begonia Mosaic

Crow Bar

My friend Irene and I had lunch in Newport Beach today with our friends Mike and Gary. We're here visiting Sherman Gardens while they have a Begonia show and sale. We even found a street named Begonia Avenue.

Begonia Avenue

Irene and Joooles

Gary and Mike

More Cat Adventures - Biscotti

Biscotti sleeps on his cat tree

"Something is waking me up!"

Biscotti is sleeping on his cat tree. But then there are camera flashes waking him up so he struggles to sit up, still very sleepy.