More Fish

Yvonne Yaar-Sharkey has extended the deadline of the Toms River fish mural to August 30 so I made three little 2-inch fish on mesh and will mail them Monday.

Fishy

Here's a little fish on mesh, on its way to Toms River, NJ today. He will become part of a larger mosaic. I'm attached to this little fish and sorry to see him go ... All stained glass except the eye, which was the center of a porcelain saucer, quite thin, so I cut two circles and glued them together with MAC glue, after first scruffing up the finish on the bottom one so they would adhere better. Now the eye is the same height as the stained glass.  The fins are gorgeous iridescent but the picture didn't capture it. I love this little fishy; I call him "Golden Eye."

Florida Butterflies 2, 3, and 4, ready to fly

Largest one is 8" across.  All stained glass, on mesh, for a public art display in Fort Myers, Florida, to be installed by Eve Lynch of Kraken Mosaics.  All the butterflies will be grouted with black!  

Celtic Spiritual Awakening symbol

This 8" x 8" mosaic on mesh is on its way to Germany, to become part of a much larger mosaic, Alte kulturen-alte Schriften-symbole (Old cultures-old scripts-symbols).  The artist in Germany will install and grout.

Iridescent blue stained glass, opaque orange and white stained glass, 24 ct. gold plate rim,

on mesh, with MAC glue

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

Cat on mesh, ready to leave for Florida

(This first picture is after the installation.)

 

Here is the little kitty cat, all done and ready to be mailed today.  I wish I could go to Florida too! 

See the previous post which describes how to mosaic onto mesh. 

I finished gluing the tiles last night, waited several hours, then s-l-o-w-l-y peeled the mosaic up and away from the plastic-covered cutting board.  It works best to peel at an angle; start at one corner and peel upward toward the opposite corner.  Then I laid it upside down for the night to make sure the glue dried thoroughly. 

Now I am ready to package and mail.  I have cut two pieces of heavy cardboard a little larger all the way around than the mosaic, and I will place him between the cardboard pieces and tape securely.  Then he goes into a flat rate mailing envelope and off to the post office.   



Mosaic on Mesh

I am working on a small mosaic on mesh and taking photos as I go.  The cat was a glass piece that someone fused and it wound up at Goodwill.  I have cut it into pieces, head, collar, body, haunch, and two front legs.  (I know, I know!)  I have added a background including a butterfly, using stained glass, and a border of tiles (which will be shown in the finished picture). 

Here's how to create a mesh mosaic.  First we have an old wooden cutting board.  Any hard, flat surface will do.  Cover that with a large baggie (trimmed and opened up so that it is one flat layer).  Tape the baggie securely to the board.  Under the baggie I placed a white piece of paper the size I want the finished mosaic to be.  I'm using that as a guide.  On top of the baggie, I have laid a piece of mesh.  I take a tile and butter it with a dab of glue and attach it to the mesh.  When it's all done, I will wait until the glue is dry and then carefully peel up the entire mesh mosaic from the baggie.  Voila, I have a mosaic that is ready to be glued to a surface and then grouted. 

This mosaic will be installed at the J.H. Messina Children's Center in Fort Myers, Florida. The Center is transforming their outdoor environment into a Natural Playscape and several outdoor walls will be covered with mosaic work (of which this will be a tiny piece).