Introducing...Dragon tongue??

Here she is, my new project. I'm undecided on the imagery. It is either a dragon tongue or a flaming geyser. Color palette to follow.

I'm super good at break-ups

Trying to make it work
It's overIt can get messy

I fell out of love last week

I spent a lot of time staring instead of mosaicing last week. Glue wasn’t drying right, colors weren’t blending right. I wasn’t having fun. An episode of Craft in America depressed me instead of inspiring me.

I mosaic because I like it. If I’m not having fun, what’s the point? I tried to fake enthusiasm - gluing on a few pieces of glass every day after work, but I wasn’t bouncing back.

Ira Glass pulled me out of my funk. I don’t think I fell out of love with mosiacing; I just need to listen to myself more. If I’m struggling with a project it’s because my taste is protesting – and according to Ira, my taste is “killer”.

I’ve scrapped the 15-pane door. It wasn’t working for me, so I wasn’t working on it.

Height regroup

The pane on the left has the winning method for achieving different heights with some of the pieces of glass. As you can see, the method on the right is already being deconstructed - it was a dud.

As an aside, I'm listening to music about insects, which I think is improving my work ethic this morning.

My project for today

The "flow" will be in large pieces of teal, blue and green. I'm going to experiment a little with making the glass sit at different heights so it isn't all smooth across.

I've got a couple different ideas about how to do this - we'll see which one ends up being the most viable.

No progress

I'm abandoning the beaded tree - at least for now. I've spent hours staring at it and another couple of hours experimenting with background ideas. Nothing is working for me so I'm moving on to a new project and will return to the tree at a later date.

On the horizon: a 15 pane window/door.

I'm doing it backwards

Indecision is really going to screw me over. Despite knowing better, I glued down the beads before completing the background. I absolutely don't want grout touching the beads. So, the smart thing to do would be to get the background done, grout it, and then fill in the channel with the beads - voila - finished mosaic.

But, I was having trouble visualizing what kind of background to do in combination with the beads so against all my better judgment I skipped ahead and now I'll end up paying for it by constantly maneuvering around the beads.

On the bright side, I think it looks cute so far.

Out on a limb - again

I seem to be stuck on trees - Martian, Grandma, Wispy - and now beaded. As you can see, I've got an assortment of glass beads and other random items. They will become the tree limbs, beyond that I'm not sure what the background will shape into.

Underwater weed

My finger is healing and the mosaic is done!
It's a keeper.

Measures 17" x 17"

Blood and grouting guts

Don't say I didn't warn you. This is really gross.

I generally wear two sets of those latex exam gloves when grouting. Yesterday I only had one set on and as I was rubbing in grout I sliced my middle finger. Because I was in the middle of grouting I couldn't just stop so I just took off one glove and put on a new one. Unfortunately, glass cuts bleed an obscene amount so my new glove essentially filled up with blood.

When I finished and took off the glove I thought the result was picture-worthy. Don't worry - the mosaic came out blood-free.

From trees to grass

The wispy grass that I have here has endeared itself to me. I glued down the pieces before I had any idea of what I was going to do for a background.

I ended up with a fairly simple design but am adding some interest by making the pieces decrease in size as they rise to the top. I have yet to decide what the remaining colors will be.

Disaster Avoided

Well, my disaster recovery is complete. I think the orange/coral pops nicely and with the frame painted black the piece looks great.

After grouting was complete the consensus of the neighbors was that yes, they should have trusted me all along about the orange. (Okay, they might not have said that exactly...)

What do you think?

A mosaic and a view

My workstation while at the cottage couldn't be better.

It looks beachy

Well, I'm at the cottage for the week and made the journey with an assortment of mosaic supplies. Disaster recovery is all put together and just needs grouting but I forgot to bring the pictures with me to town - the only place I can get internet.

I did replace the green with orange/coral and I think it looks good. The consensus of the neighbors is that it looks "okay" and that they "don't mind it." I'll let you decide when its all done.

The same, but different

I've made this mosaic a couple of times now. I never noticed before how they are so different. It's one of my favorites.

In other news...

Non-mosaicing project news:

• Chris bought me juggling balls and taught me to juggle as payment for his Martian Tree.
  
• Check out the new blog header. My awesome friend Wendy made me a logo! I swear, it's the cutest mosaic apple I have ever seen.
  

Disaster Recovery: Phase II

So, I finished the "background" portion of my two-layered-trying-to-save-from-disaster mosaic.

I like the colors but now the lime green flow isn't popping enough for my taste. In this picture it looks good, but in real life it seems to just be getting lost (When I look at it I'm having trouble focusing - that isn't good.)

Hence, phase II. I'm going to cover the lime with orange - great idea, right?

Splashy!

This is a slideshow of the kitchen back splash that I did. For glass, glue, and grout the cost was around $300. Time wise I would say at least 100 hours with an estimated 30 of just cutting pieces - it's a big kitchen. (Of course I can't really complain because I could have made the pieces bigger.)

Family and neighbors were involved in gluing and grouting spread out over four weekends. One of the reasons I think it turned out so well was that the outlets were mounted under the cabinets so the glass doesn't get interrupted. In case you can't tell in the pictures, it really does kick ass.

Earthy

I really love the brown color of glass from this piece, unfortunately, I haven't been able to find it again.

Measures 26" x 18"

Cement board is pretty handy stuff

So, there are a portion of you guys that don't comment but ask me questions via email or in person. I thought I'd answer one about the materials I use. The glass for the Martian tree mosaic is directly onto cement board. This is the same stuff you would use to tile a floor - you can buy it at Home Depot in 3'x5' sheets and use a utility knife cut to your desired size.

My trick for hanging is to drill two holes through the board and carve a channel for wire or string to lay in. You then feed the wire through and tie the wire off in the back of the mosaic. Because of the channel, you can mosaic right over the top so you basically have a hidden hanging system.

It is a great surface for not a lot of money - I'm a big fan.

My second ever mosaic project

When I started mosaicing about eight years ago (holy cow) I worked with tile before moving mostly to glass. This is the second thing that I ever made. My awesome Dad made the table and I did the mosaic straight onto a piece of plywood that we then dropped in and grouted.

The table is at the lake, hence the fish design (which I got out of a book). I can still remember how cutting the tile into specific sized pieces really hurt my hand because you had to use so much pressure with the tile nippers. I also remember my roommate yelling at me about the tile shards everywhere. She wasn't too happy when I moved to glass.

Disaster Recovery

So, this is my dud of a mosaic. I did the lime green “flow” and the background in the bottom right corner. After finishing that portion of the background I decided that it was just plain ugly. As a result all progress halted for about a year.

My plan for recovery is seen here. I used some scrap glass (read unsightly colors) to fill in the rest of the background and then grouted the whole piece. Phase two of recovery involves putting a new design over the background portion, grouting, and leaving the green flow to be slightly recessed.

We’ll see what happens. Stay tuned.

He's got personality

Chris is nice so no matter what he thinks he'll fake enthusiasm. But come on, I challenge you to find a better looking Martian tree than this one.

I actually think he's pretty cute - in a quirky, happy, goofy, kind of way.


Measures 13" x 15"

A tree limb seems to always be in the way

Here is my Martian tree. This guy is a little tricky because of the constant tight spaces. As a result, he is progressing a little slower than expected.

The delay could also be due to the fact that the weather has been so nice - who wants to be surrounded by glass and glue?

My new BFF Chris

So, I'm making a mosaic for Chris. Now, I know a lot of you are saying, "What, who is this guy, I've been asking for a mosaic for years."

Chris's pathetically empty cube at work has made me pity him, and the key of persuading anyone to act is to tap into emotion. As a result, Chris is getting a small mosaic using these four colors. Design of the mosaic is similar to Grandma's piece with what I would describe as a slightly alien/Martian twist.