Plate Challenge 2007!

I started a new mosaic project so I thought I'd show off the "the plate challenge" since my project involves breaking a plate. I'll be using pieces of a broken plate on top of a keepsake box. I found a nice plate at the local SPCA Thrift Shop and I thought it's flowery design would look cute on top of the box.

It's not neccessary that the flowers on the inside of the plate remain intact but the challenge requires that the design on the inside doesn't get broken. I was taught this game in my mosaic class when our teacher had us draw a heart with permenent marker on the center of the plate. The goal was merely to remove the outer rim and keep the heart together. On my second cut with the wheel cutters, I broke my heart. I had no other plates to practice on so I had to leave my sorry failure on the table for all to see. It was shameful.

Not long after I started buying plates but I was nervous to try the challenge again. When I felt I had a plate that didn't mind trying the challenge on, I did and again, same results. I broke my heart on the second try.

I used my digital camera this morning to show my third try. Here's a picture of the plate, the wheel cutters and the safety glasses I needed to wear:

And there's my finger also!

I placed everything in the plastic tub because when you cut into plates, glass goes everywhere. This type of glass in unpredictable. My teacher also taught us that after working on a project like this, your skin will become very zitty. This is because those tiny little glass shards that you can't see get into your skin and voila! Pimples! I still laugh at her story that when her husband saw her a few days after she completed her project he looked at her face and said, "Jesus, Wendy! What the hell happened to you?" I don't have a husband but I have looked in the mirror and said the same thing only without the Wendy part. Since taking on this hobbie, Aveeno has become my friend.

Here I am cutting. Well, not really. I 'm just setting up the shot. You can tell because I'm totally not wearing those nifty goggles.

For the challenge, I'll be using both hands and really gripping those wheel cutters hard. As you can see, I have little puny hands.

Also, I'll be cutting into the plate, not at an angle. Cutting into the plate seemed to be the method the successful people in my class used. Of course, I used that method too and broke my heart twice.

Here goes my first cut:

And crap. I failed. Again. I'm not bitter. Not at all.

That's it for Plate Challenge 2007 then. See you all in 2008 or whenever I find another plate to break. Until then I'll be showing updates on this project through out the blog.

I'm gonna go away and cuss now.