Building Discipline

I tell myself that completing this project will make me stronger. How I miss color! This black and white sign will be striking, and the original logo of this company IS black and white so therefore ..... but I must say, I long for color and I will be so happy to complete this project and get back to color -- blue, gold, red, orange, green, and most of all, Purple!

South Austin Music WIP - white glass done and starting black glass

I was ill with Cedar Fever for 27 days; no lie. Some days I stayed in bed all day. Some days I glued two or three pieces of glass and then went back to bed. I am well now and making progress; tomorrow I start with the border and the black glass background.

Happy Holidays

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday.


I have cedar fever and have been in bed for four days and have missed my deadline on the South Austin Music mosaic but I am still having a great holiday. I think the worst is behind me now and tomorrow is Christmas Day!

South Austin Music WIP

Left half of sign, stained glass on Wedi. The sign will be 6.5 feet x 5.5 feet. The M becomes hands that are playing the guitar. The lettering and all the design are white stained glass and the background will be black stained glass. The plan is a random crazy-paving mosaic on the white areas and orderly, horizontal waves on the black background. The Wedi will be bolted to the original sign.

Quote

"He who works with his hands is a Laborer. He who works with his hands and his head is an Artisan. He who works with his hands, his head, and his heart is an Artist." ~unknown

Outdoor Sign is now on the back porch

Billy and his friend Dave delivered the South Austin Music sign earlier this morning. I have everything I need to start work. Today is Wednesday before Thanksgiving so I will be baking pies today and getting my hair cut and will celebrate the traditional holiday tomorrow with family and friends. Friday I will begin the mosaic and I'm so looking forward to it.

Preparing for the next big project

I just added a tip to this page: http://mosaicroad.blogspot.com/p/instructions-tips-and-tricks.html

I have spent the last several days organizing, clearing off the back porch, and getting ready to start on the sign, which will be delivered tomorrow!

Ready for the next project

Just got back from Blue Moon Glassworks with the black and white glass. I took some time to look around Jim's and Rose's shop and was so happy to discover that they have added MAC glue to their inventory and Wedi board (!) (my favorite glue and my favorite substrate). They carry everything a mosaic artist would need. I bought 2 firesticks to use as strings for the next mosaic guitar. I plan to spend this weekend cleaning and organizing; getting ready for Thanksgiving and the upcoming mosaic project. The granddaughters are out of school for a week (yay!) and we will be gearing up for the Thanksgiving meal. The sign is coming on Tuesday and I will be multi-tasking (baking pumpkin pies and homemade rolls and nipping stained glass).

New Project - Outdoor Sign - South Austin Music

This morning I'm on my way to Daltile for two 3'x5' pieces of Wedi board, and then to Blue Moon Glassworks to order 60 pounds of glass for an outdoor sign for South Austin Music.

The Cow Jumped Over the Moon

Had to come back and include a closeup. Left-click once on the picture to enlarge.

Space Mosaic Done

Three panels, totaling 7 ft x 2 ft. (Left-click on pic for a larger view.)

Space Mosaic Center Panel Done, 4 ft x 2 ft

These pics are all of the center panel. To view closeups, click on a picture, select "show original," then click on the picture again to enlarge. Note the cow jumping over the moon, in honor of CowParade Austin.

Space Mosaic WIP center panel grouted!

I grouted the largest piece yesterday. Black grout is the devil's own grout, but it sure looks good once you get it cleaned up. My fingernails will have to be clipped short although I did wear gloves and I coated underneath my nails with bar soap before I started . . . still the grout stained my hands! So the grout looks good but I am not going to post a pic until I get some metallic paint on it. That's what I'm doing today. So much fun.

Space Mosaic WIP - ready to grout

Click on the image to enlarge.

Ready to grout with black grout - then metallic paint and some touches of GLow In The DarK paint! Seven feet long, two feet high. I am happy with it. Earth - Saturn - Mars - Black Hole! Sorry for the glare on the bottom third.

Ready to put the space mosaic together

I spent yesterday preparing the substrates. I am using three gallery-wrapped canvases; the center one is 24" x 48", and there will be one on each side measuring 18" x 24", so this will be a horizontal installation measuring 7 feet long and 2 feet wide. I flipped the canvas over so the back is now what I call the front. I glued pieces of 1/4" birch plywood to the front of each canvas, using Liquid Nails, and then placed wood screws at each corner. I clamped it all together and left it overnight. Remember, I already have the mosaic done on mesh! so it should go quickly.

Little River Band

Just got home from a Little River Band concert at the One World Theater. Their performance was great; such energy; they really put on a good show and everybody had a wonderful time. Thanks! (The tickets were a gift for our anniversary.)

Lisa's painting final 24x36

Delivered this yesterday, October 25, and it looks so good in Lisa's office on a buttery gold wall. I think she will have it framed in black.

Painting for Lisa

or a cropped version:

Space Mosaic nearing completion

Left-click once, then left-click again to enlarge.





Currently covers about 4 feet x 4 feet, and probably will be rearranged; it's just randomly laid out in these pictures. Also, the camera's lithium batteries died so these are just regular batteries until I can get to the store. One needs to envision the pieces all blended together with more black glass; the finished piece shouldn't have a hint of the squares. So exciting to be near the end. Still considering the substrate, framing and hanging issues. After grouting and sealing, there will be some metallic painting going on, including the awesome suggestion of my good friend Cathy, who thought GLOW IN THE DARK paint would be cool!

It's raining!

Lovely beautiful cold drenching rain! (It's probably been 100 days since we've seen rain.) Yay I am so happy!

Still more mosaic butterflies

Another mosaic butterfly

Help, I can't stop. These are so much fun to do. This one is 9 inches wide, made from a vintage plate with touches of gold.

Fires are burning all around

Yesterday's fires are still out of control today. We are surrounded by fire in all directions. Bastrop, over 14,000 acres and more than 300 homes destroyed. Steiner Ranch, Spicewood, Pflugerville, La Grange, Liberty Hill, Hayes County ... sending positive thoughts to our brave firefighters; how exhausted they must be. They are dealing with conditions caused by the horrible drought, over 100 degrees every day for more than 70 days, high winds, no fire hydrants; it is mind-boggling. We have our bags packed in the front hallway and we watch out the windows in the front and the back and watch the news scroll across the bottom of the TV screen and scour the internet for information. It's frustrating when the link feature doesn't work, but here's the address for info on the Texas fires. http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/information-on-fires-in-central-texas

Happy Birthday, Freddie Mercury

Freddie would have been 65 today.

Don't know why I can't post a link today, but paste this in your browser, http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/09/happy-birthday-freddie-mercury.html?spref=fb

Butterflies butterflies

After making butterflies for the Calusa Nature Center, I couldn't stop. This one is now installed on our house, to the left of the front door. The edge tiles are all the same, an iridescent grey, but the reflection makes two bottom ones look different. It's installed directly onto the stone, using mortar (thinset). (Left-click once on the image, then again to enlarge.)

Could I have a refill, please?

(click on the picture for a larger view)





As you probably know, Texas is suffering from a drought and 66 days straight of over 100 degree heat. Every morning I fill the birdbaths with ice water for the squirrels and birds.

This afternoon we noticed this little squirrel lying in the birdbath staring at the house for a long time. I took a bowl of ice water out and of course he immediately ran for the trees. The birdbath was dry so I filled it and hoped he would come back. Poor baby!

Space Mosaic - Earth in progress - still needs work

(click on the pic and then click again to enlarge)

More Butterflies to Fly to Florida

Couldn't resist doing more mosaic butterflies on mesh. Yesterday a dear friend gave me a bag of costume jewelry. Check out the butterfly bodies! They were part of a cuff bracelet and each link is made of three black faceted glass beads set together in metal. Two butterflies are red-orange stained glass and two are dichroic glass, one predominately pink and the other lime green. The dichroic glass didn't photograph well but the glass is fabulous.

(click on the photo to enlarge)

Space Mosaic - Saturn almost done

Saturn will be a small part of a large mosaic (perhaps 9 feet by 3 feet) that depicts a tiny portion of the universe and will include planets, spiral galaxies, comets, and other heavenly bodies. For inspiration, I visit the Ministry of Space Exploration website and gaze in awe at the magnificent images of outer space.

(a detail pic, a large Austrian crystal with a tail of crystals, located on the far right in the larger pic)




I think this mosaic will be a triptych; I toyed with the idea of triangles but I'm not sure that shape is conducive to outer space. I like the idea of a large circle also. It will probably consist of three equal squares, hung close together side by side.

Mosaic Butterflies to fly to Florida

Here are the steps to make a mosaic on mesh and ship (ungrouted) to its final destination where it will be installed and grouted as part of a larger mural. The artist in Florida (Eve Lynch) will trim away the mesh from the edges of the design. These butterflies and many many others will form a cloud of butterflies at the Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium.

Note that on the blue butterfly and the orange butterfly, I pieced together two scraps of mesh. Just overlay one piece over the other and glue together.

Step 1 -- a design on paper.
Step 2 -- the paper overlaid with a piece of clear plastic such as a sandwich baggie.
Step 3 -- the paper and the plastic overlaid with the mesh.

Mosaic onto the mesh, buttering each tile with glue by dotting the back of the tile with glue but not covering the entire tile. Continue with this procedure until your mosaic is finished. Allow it to completely dry. Peel the mosaic on mesh free of the plastic. Sometimes it's easier to turn it over and work from the back, and sometimes it helps to peel at an angle. I like to turn the mosaic over, free up a corner of the plastic, place my hand over the mosaic, and then jerk the plastic off quickly.

Step 1 - a design on paper

Step 2 - clear plastic over the design

Step 3 - mesh layered on top of the plastic

Another community project

Eve Lynch of Kraken Mosaics is planning a wonderful community project, a cloud of butterflies. I will be making three butterflies on mesh and mailing them to her for installation and I will show the progress here.

Her website is http://www.krakenmosaics.com.

ACEO cards

I'm still working on the space mosaic -- just finishing up the Saturn mosaic and ready to move on the last and most difficult: Earth. Meanwhile, I listed 17 ACEO cards on eBay (seller Silvamae) and someone on here asked me to post some art other than mosaic so here are some of the ACEO cards I listed:

ACEOs are 2.5" by 3.5" collectible art cards. Stevie Ray is my favorite guitarist so I did a little portrait of him; Neil Young is one of my husband's favorite artists so I did one of him; I love doing little music cards. Some of my mixed media cards are created using wine labels that I carefully soak off the bottle and affix to the card and then embellish with borders, and I also enjoy creating cards using bits of carefully trimmed cigar labels. Feedback welcome! (as always)

Space mosaic - WIP 6-11-11

(left-click on image to enlarge and then left-click again to enlarge further)

Here's what I have on mesh and ready to install, an area about 2.5' x 3'. I estimate that I have about half a cow's worth right now, and next I plan to work on the Earth, Mars, Saturn, and a large comet.

To explain how these pieces will be used: A mosaic on mesh can be trimmed into any shape that's needed. Right now these pieces are 12"x12" squares, but the goal is that, after installation, there will be no hint of individual squares, but rather, the mosaic will be blended into one harmonious whole. A mosaic on mesh can be installed on a flat surface, or onto a moderately curved surface, such as the body of a fiberglass cow for the CowParade. I am toying with the idea of several separate pieces, such as a triptych, and what I am really interested in is stretched canvas, in the shape of 3 triangles, each framed with black metal.

Hand-poured stained glass, Swarovski crystals, vintage costume jewelry, glass beads, pearls, 24K plate rims, pique assiette

Space mosaic work in progress

Here are pieces I've finished so far, little vignettes that will be used as filler around the planets and the large comets. (Click on the picture to enlarge, and then click again to enlarge further.)

These are done on mesh (netting), the largest ones being approximately 12 inches by 12 inches. This technique will save me hours of work; it's a simple matter to glue the mesh piece to the cow and the piece will conform to the cow's curves. I order this mesh from Wit's End Mosaics and apply the tess to the mesh with MAC glue. I wrote a how-to article about this method: http://hubpages.com/hub/How-to-mosaic-on-mesh

Glass Tumbling for mosaic project

Today I began tumbling glass for the big outer space mosaic project. I have cut round shapes for planets and ground the edges smooth. I nipped bits of glass and 24K plate rims using Leponitt glass nippers. I loaded one barrel and tumbled the glass for 35 minutes. It came out great, shiny with smooth edges. I was concerned about the iridescent glass and the 24K gold-plated porcelain but it was fine. This first load was a test. I loaded up another barrel and started it, noting the time. I got busy with supper and granddaughters, etc., and suddenly realized that the tumbler had been going for almost an hour. I dropped everything and ran out to rescue the glass. It was still in good shape; the iridescence was still there and so was the gold.

These pieces will be used to mosaic galaxies and nebulas and comet tails. I decided today that I will write a Hubpage giving detailed instructions on how to tumble stained glass. When I publish it, I will come back here and post the link. I am having a great time, putting together all the tess for this large and wonderful project!

Still haven't heard from the CowParade, but if my design is not selected, I will use all these pieces in a large wall hanging with the same theme. So either way, I am anxious to get started!

Purple mosaic guitar, bumped up

Favorite of my mosaic guitars; looking at it makes me want to do another one. The textured stained glass, stars, the wings, the dichroic strings ... a few of my favorite things. I am waiting to hear that my cow design is approved. I have started cutting circles of stained glass to represent the planets and today I am creating the comet's tail on mosaic mesh. I ordered 40 sheets of mesh last week, enough to cover a life-sized cow. I love the fabulous look of outer space and I recommend the link to the Ministry of Space Exploration at the right -- fantastic photographs and a mind-boggling video called Epic Voyage Through the Universe.

Mosaic tequila bottle, finished

(Before and after -- click on the photo to enlarge)

Sea Journey with oak frame

I like this better with a frame; it looks more finished now ... (click image to enlarge)