Recycling

Wrought Iron Base

Making mosaic art is a good way to recycle. (Some may call this project "craft", however. :-}) I found this wrought iron magazine rack at my favorite local thrift store, the Assistance League. I tried turning it upside down and right side up and thought I could probably make something with it.

When I got home, I remembered a rectangular piece of wedi board covered with a layer of thin set that I bought some time ago from Passiflora Mosaics. So I set about making an outdoor mosaic with a star to match the base.

After the star was done, it looked like it should mimic a flag, so I put in layers of red and blue mirror and white glass. Then I put a black border around the edges to match the base. Now I need to grout the piece (arrgh.....what color???) and then finally attach the base to the top.

Mosaic Star

Flag Table Top

I plan to bring this piece to the upcoming Goleta Valley Artist Tour on Saturday, May 19th. I will be sharing space with three other artists at 547 Windsor Avenue. Twenty Goleta artists will be displaying their art at eight different locations. Stop by and see some amazing art. And perhaps we can set our snacks on this flag table and have a chat!

Flag Table

More Mosaics

Tempered Glass

I have been working on mosaics as I promised. I just haven't posted anything lately. Here is a tempered glass circle mirror (mirror not in place yet) with colored papers underneath. I've had it glued for a while, but I'm not sure what colors to use for the grout. There is some lavender in the paper on the left bottom so I may use a combination of pink, turquoise and lavender grout.

Turquoise Bead Heart

Above is another heart I made. Since every heart I've ever made has sold, I guess people must like hearts. So this is one made with some beautiful turquoise-patterened plates I got at our local Assistance League thrift store. I also put in some beads, ball chain and a polymer clay heart I made. Quite a mishmash! But think it's pretty and hopefully someone else will also. Below is a picture of the Good Cup wall where I hung it.

It's hard hanging mosaics at the Good Cup in a pleasing (to me) manner because the tables are always filled with customers! So I usually just hang new ones where old ones have been sold. The spacing isn't always great but I'm glad they have so many customers.

Good Cup Coffeehouse

Goleta Valley Art Association Artist Tour

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

Happy Birthday to me!!!

I belong to the mosaicartistorg group on Yahoo and recently I read about a tool for cutting Hardibacker easily. Hardibacker is a cement board that can be used for outdoor mosaic use. The tool is called a Snapper Shear. I often wish I could cut shapes from Hardibacker like the ones I bought at the Institute of Mosaic Art below. I've tried a time or two with a jigsaw fitted with a carbide bit, but it is quite a cloudy mess and requires a mask to prevent all the dust getting in my lungs. Soooo...

Base cut at IMA

Base cut at IMA

...since this is my birthday month, I thought I should buy this tool for myself. It is quite amazing. I realize practice is needed to make good curved cuts, but below are a couple pieces I cut out for the first time.

I have to figure out a better way to secure the Hardibacker to my workbench. The problem with my workbench (which I love) is that the wheels don't lock. So if I forget to block the bottom, the bench starts to move as I'm cutting. You can tell I'm not an expert at this power tool business, but I'm trying my best to learn.

Snapper Shear

So above is the Snapper Shear tool and to the right are the first two pieces I cut. The heart was first and you can probably see that I either used too much pressure on the material or didn't have it clamped properly, but it started to split. The arch on the left is the second piece I cut. It's not bad, but I obviously need more practice. The curlieques at the top are the pieces left after cutting. You can just sweep them up and throw them away. 

Happy birthday to me!!!!

The Parrot

Well, this isn't the best picture I've ever taken, but on the left is my parrot mosaic at the Cabrillo Arts Pavilion. It's the Goleta Valley Art Association's April show. It won a Juror's Choice award. Such a surprise! I wasn't exactly thrilled with the parrot, but since it was the only mosaic I had available to enter, I submitted it. On the right is the picture I used to create the mosaic. And, of course, the ubiquitous sun is in the mosaic!

Now that I recognize that I put a sun and a cat in all my mosaics, I'll make a concerted effort to branch out. Maybe a dog!

Ellen Blakeley and Tempered Glass Mosaics

Ellen Blakeley and Julie

I spent the weekend in Oakland at the Institute of Mosaic Art attending a wonderful two-day class by Ellen Blakeley.  I finished three tempered glass mosaics and learned much more about grouting with many colors in one piece. Below is the purple and blue piece I made to match my shirt and the Hardenbergia on the left. The circle has papers underneath the tempered glass, and the one on the bottom had a design on the wood that I mosaiced over. 

Purple and blue mosaic to match my shirt!

Tempered glass with different colors of grout

And the good thing is that I bought two of the flower rectangles below (at a thrift store) so I can make another one using better tools that I have here at home. Like my ring saw or my Beetles and Bits system for cutting pieces in any shape. At Ellen's suggestion I cut out plate glass to put over the flowers but the glass cutter that was available was not very flexible (to me, at least). So next time I'll cut out pieces that fit the flower and leaves better. 

I'm also going to add to the grout color by using her fantastic method for changing color after you've grouted. I learned it in her first class and have used it on other mosaics, but it was good to have a refresher course to remember how you're really suppose to do it!!!

Ellen is a wonderful hands-on teacher who is always willing to share her ideas and techniques with the class. We used epoxy to glue the pieces of tempered glass to the base. What a sticky mess that was! But I suppose you get better at it after some practice. I did spend quite a bit of time with a razor blade scraping off the epoxy residue on the top of the glass. 

Cats and Suns

This stripey cat was started at Martin Cheek's fusion workshop here at the Santa Barbara School of Mosaic Art. I've finished the gluing and now I'll grout. It's a silly piece, the kind I like a lot. His ears are a bit big but I think it gives him character.

Another thing I notice is that I really like cats, flowers and suns in my mosaics. The piece below was started in the SAMA class about using power tools with your mosaics. I cut the yellow cat out with the power wet saw and decided right away that I would keep on using my ring saws. The saw in the class was large, noisy, expensive and required setup and takedown after each use. And it didn't really cut any faster than the ring saw. But I had a very nice time in the class. I sat next to a really fun person. We shared tools and decided we were going to try to knock the pieces out during the class. I came pretty close. I just needed to finish up the sky when I got home. And there's still grout, of course

This last piece is a Miltonia Orchid. I was going to submit it to the art portion of the Orchid Show here in Santa Barbara but, alas!, it didn't turn out as I'd hoped. The pink in the middle of the flower didn't really show up so I decided to paint the grout in those areas. Well, I forgot to add a key ingredient, gel medium, and painted it bright PINK. Fortunately I was able to tone the pink down with some Pearlx but it was too late to submit to the orchid show.