Picture Frame Challenge

My daughter's friend asked if I would mosaic a picture frame for her, salvaging her broken vase for the tesserae.  Then she added another broken vase and asked me to combine them.  She wanted to furnish the picture frame herself so she bought a 16"x20" that is dished, not flat.  One vase was a tall, thin cone shape, so had a definite curve to it, and the other vase was short, squat and even more curved.  So the curve in the frame was an "innie" and the curve of the vases was an "outie" (just to add to the challenge).

Now, all this stuff was made in China.  So it turns out that the tall thin vase that looked like such elegant glass was actually just clear glass with a film on the inside, which peeled off easily.  I painted the back of each piece with gold metallic paint.  The short vase, that looked like it had a bronze glaze, turns out the glaze was fake and the color started to come off when I grouted it. So this was truly a challenge, and since I never stop learning, I now know to just say "no" to some requests.  Also found out last week that she needed it done for Christmas.  So it's done! but never again.

She picked it up today (Dec. 24) and she loves it!  So all's well.

The colors are pale gold and bronze.  The glints of red are reflections from our Christmas tree.  

I think my next "how to" article will be all about tesserae; what works well and what doesn't.