Day 117

December 21st, 2009

I have been wanting to get to blogging for a few days now so finally I'm making time to do this.

The class went well and the trivets turned out so nice that the ladies worked on. Here are some pictures of a few trivets. We found that the black grout worked the best. It is so fun to see the different designs. They are so full of color!

I have been trying to find time in between all the holiday "busy"ness to work on mosaics. I'm plugging away at my "Welcome" sign-it will be interesting how this will turn out-I'm ending up more detailed than I thought. I really like having a glass grinder to help with the curved shapes. I like the edges smooth. This will be on a wall entering my studio.

Quote of the day

"The unconscious mind writes poetry if it's left alone." from Duma Key, Steven King

Day 110

December, 14th 2009

I have been spending a lot of time on my mosaic class and it went very well. Most of the ladies made 6 x 6 trivets . One gal made a 12 x 12 mirror which I had ready for her on WEDI board. I had them adhere thier tesserae onto mesh then when it sat for a day I used thinset to adhere them to a 6 x 6 ceramic tile. On Wednesday they will grout them.

thought I would participate and make a trivet also-It's fun how quick the project is.

Quote of the day

"To be a powerful woman you don't have to be aggressive or forceful. Like a tree, you have to find your roots and then you can bend in the wind." -Angela Farmer

Day 105

December 8th, 2009

Today I started mosaicing my "welcome" sign. I'm using WEDI Board as a substrate-I was told to use thinset on the sides to make them strong and not dent-so I did that. I like to put borders around my pieces first to give me an edge to mosaic in. I like the rectangle ceramic pieces from Wits End. I'm going to be using mostly stained glass for this and some mirror for the letters.

I had some thinset leftover so I worked on my birdbath that has been neglected in my studio (I've had other things I have been working on) It was nice to get most of the base done. One tip I learned about was to put a dollop of Weldbond in the thinset to make it a little creamier to workwith also to keep stirring it so there you get more "open time".

I finally put the rest of the silver beads on my daughter's Fleur Di Lis piece and finished that.

I have been also busy getting ready to teach another class in my studio and have some gals have some studio time to work on mirror's or trivets.

Quote of the day

"Without a free, vigorous and creative mind, man is but an animal, and he will die like an animal, without any shred of a soul".

Day 97

Day 97 of my mosaic year!

December 1, 2009

Well I took some days of because of Thanksgiving and some other commitments.

So back at it!

I have been spending some time on organizing my studio a little more. I cut down some large sheets of stained glass and put them in containers to organize by color. I also hung my latest piece "classy blue" in a window.

I've had a roadblock with my installation piece "counter/bar" the plywood piece that I had all cut and painted may be too thick-so I'm still figuring out what thickness and how much tile I need and since I do not have the frame here I have to wait til Thursday when I am on site to figure that out.

Soo.....I started a project that I have been wanting to do-a Welcome sign for my studio. It took a few hours to come up with a design and colors that I like but I think what I came up will work out nice. I thought I'd have this project going since I can't work on the other one everyday.

Quote of the Day (I'm reading this book right now)

"When you begin to feel the Universal rythm in which everything on earth moves, you begin to understand life." -Lust for Life by Irving Stone

Song of the Day

Fantasy Impromto

-Chopin