Still Unfinished

I'm still working in chronological order through all the mosaics I've made (sort of) and I want to show you one that I started and will someday finish. I started it right after the pickle jar and I was making it the same way. I used a picture like the one below:

I printed it out and taped it to the inside of a votive candle holder and started to mosaic over the picture, onto the glass.

As you can see, I taped the image onto the inside of a curve so that's why the inside of the candle holder is stuffed with tissues and a toilet paper roll. I wanted to push the image into the curve.

I'm not quite done with the petals of the poppy but even when I do that, I'm not sure what else to fill in the spaces with. Maybe more poppies or maybe leaves. I don't really know what I want to do and that's why this project stalled. I do know one thing. I want the grout to be black. I bought some black grout from Michael's and I've never used anything like it. It seems like a sanded grout so it shouldn't give me trouble when I get to that poin. Fingers crossed.

Now let's skip the rest of the mosaic talk. I have told you all that I have a cat named Emma but I also have a cat named Artie. He doesn't usually get in the way when I make mosaics so that's why he's not mentioned but I'll bring him into this. Here he is trying to sleep:

Isn't he cute? He's my little, stinky boy and I love him. He's an old, stubborn boy too. He likes to fight with Emma and this chair he's in is a prime poin of confrontation. Looks like Artie's won.... for now!

Grouting 101

Let's GROUT!

Yes, wurwolf, those are my hands. I am covering them to protect them from the lye in the grout... even though it looks like I'm getting ready to give a prostate exam. These gloves are a nursing home special so I feel very safe for anything that comes my way!

Here is the batch of grout that I whipped up. This is a sanded grout which means it does contain sand. You'll see why that is nice later.

Now, every batch of grout that I mix up is a learning experience for me. The consistancy of the grout to supposed to match that of mashed potatoes but since I've never had sandy mashed potatoes, I have to use my best judgment. It looks like I got close with this batch. YUMMY!

To start grouting, you simply glop it onto the mosaic and push it into every space between the tiles. This is where the gloves are nice. This is a messy job but fun. It's the poin where you start to see the whole project come together. The places that you one saw as problem areas while cutting and gluing, you see the grout fill them in. Everything comes together. Then the gloves come off!

Once the grout is between every tile, I like to use this shish-kabobby stick thing to clean off the surfaces. I pick away at the places with the clumpy grout or uncover the tiny pieces that the grout has hidden away. This part of the process can be compared to being an archeologist digging for relics or a dental assistant scraping plaque off teeth. This is where the sanded grout is nice because it comes off easily. It dries and when you scrape into it, it becomes a nice sand that cleans off easy. I like to do this part of the project in two days. Day one with the soft, wet grout and day two when it's hardened and nearly set.

I'm going to work on day two today and blog the final part of the project when it's all nice and clean and ready to be sealed.

//latex gloves for wurwolf!

Mosaics and Cat Butts

Welcome to my first blog ever. Yay me!

Some of you know me as Rimmi from Holeee Cow. I know, I'm a big celebrity from that blog but please, hold you fan mail. I'm new to blogs so too much attention may scare me and I might run away.

I started this blog because all my online friends have blogs so it's my turn. Like Lita and wurwolf, I've decided to blog my craftiness. I like to make mosaics and stained glass decorations but I'm very new to this. I consider myself a beginner so I can show you my work so far and all the pieces that go into it. That way I can totally stretch out my blog and not blow it all in one silly post.

I'm also very new to digital cameras. Sorry for the grainy picture. Enjoy my first work in mosaics:

This is a tea tray that I bought from Wal-Mart. I brought it to my first class on mosaics because I figured it would be the easist thing to mosaic and also the easiest thing to transport. The other ladies in the class were using tables and bowling balls. You'd think that on a first project you'd go the easy route like I did but no. Lugging tables and bowling balls into class made every bit of sense to them until week three when they realized just how stupid that really was and then they lost all their love for the craft.

That having been said, the bowling balls didn't look too bad once they were finished. Grouting was kind to the sphere shape and when the balls were placed in terra cotta pots, they looked great for gardens. It was Martha Stewarty without the big bucks.

My peice here is obviously a fishy in the water. I'm not great with my biology so I'm not sure what type of fish, nor can I tell you what body of water it's in. I guess since it's mine and I can say whatever I want, it's the ocean.

I was experimenting with colors, textures, patterns and using the tools involved. I think it turned out well for a first try but I still feel compelled to poin out the things I wish I'd done differently. The orange fish has purple fins and the purple fins on top are hard to see because I chose a similar color for the ocean so it all blends together. I should have made sure the ocean blue tiles were a little lighter in color around the top fins. My other mistake, I guess, is all in the eye of the beholder. I consider it a mistake because I really didn't know at the time but the brown/tan tiles at the bottom that are supposed to be sand are backwards. I bought them at Michael's craft store around the fourth week of my class and thought they'd look good as sand. They are smooth on one side and have lines carved into the other. I glued the smooth side and left the lines on top. I thought it looked more sandy but the instructor told me the lines were supposed to hold the glue better. I totally lied and said I did that on purpose for texture. She was impressed with my brilliance and that was that.

On the other hand, let me talk about what I did right. I love the circles I was able to cut for the sun and the bubbles. I didn't have a glass grinder so I used a wheel cutter. In a future blog I'll discuss wheel cutters. For a beginner, I think I did a damn fine job. Some thing with the curving of the seaweed. That was half wheel cutter and glass scorer. So was the tail. I'm so happy with the shape of the tail. I tried the same thing on the mouth that I used for the tail only in reverse but instead the mouth look like a beak. But! It's a parrot fish. That's it! A parrot fish! My mosaic. I'll interpret it how ever I choose. So there.

I'm quite proud of this tea tray. So much that I'd rather display it than use it. One spill on this thing and I'd have to kill someone. On my shelf it goes.

Speaking of shelves, I was using a nice, sunny shelf to take the picture of this tray. Here we come to the cat butt portion of this blog. My kitty, Emma, decided she needed to get into the picture as I was taking it. I'll spare you the pictures of her ass and my fingers and show you a nice shot of her:

Note how she only has eye whiskers on one side. She came to us that way so don't ask me why she's like that.


This concludes my first post on my mosaics. Until next time. "MLAAAAAAAAGH!"