Cement Snail!

This summer I wanted to show some folks that a cement sculpture could, in fact, be made from start to finish in 5 days or less.  

Here is the result:

I admit that this guy isn't 100% complete (I want to extend the mosaics down to where the shell ends) BUT it only took me approximately 5-6 hours over the course of 5 days (so ~1 hr/day) to get this far. I'm confident that if I weren't teaching other things at the same time as I was working on this, I'd have finished this guy AND made another 1 or 2 sculptures.

Another tile from last year's 3x3 in Garezers

Playing with patterns - 2012 Garezera 3x3

Every so often I realize I've not done a very thorough job of showing the stuff I've made.... this mosaic is from the 2012 workshop in Michigan.  (Another case of OMG I NEED AN EXAMPLE NOW which resulted in a tile that I quite like!  Of course, i might not photograph all the ones i *don't* like.....)

Mosaic tile - 2013 Garezera 3x3

One of several tiles made during this summer's 3x3 in Michigan.

I need examples to demo on (so i don't have to demo anything on a students' work), so I end up with a couple of these a year.  I don't think I photographed the smaller one I did (but i gave it to my mom, so maybe i can get a picture of that one from her).

Starburst (3x3)

My very favorite piece made during that week of teaching:



Which looks like this when it's held up to the light:

Pattern Experiments (3x3)

4"x4" mosaiced tile

Blue Flower (3x3)

4"x4" mosaiced tile

Blue-Red Explodey Flower (3x3)

4"x4" mosaiced tile

Mosaic Owl (3x3)

4"x4" mosaiced tile

Almost an auseklis (3x3)

4"x4" mosaiced tile

A Brown Explodey Flower (3x3)

Hmmmm....... It's been a while - eh?

I spent a week in Michigan teaching glass stuff this summer. That was fun. Inbetween questions, instead of staring at the backs of people's heads or something, I decided to keep my hands busy. Also, I needed some glued glass to demonstrate "how to grout" without demo-ing on someone else's work. The next few posts are of the little things I finished while teaching.



4"x4" mosaiced tile

I'm not sure, yet, whether to turn these in to coasters or decorative wall hangings.

Here's what I've been complaining about working on the last few weeks. Done. Finally. This took way longer than tiling the front porch with slate. The front porch was 54 sq ft, this back one is 96.... but it took far more than twice the amount of time/effort/materials. Luckily, it's done. Just before winter. wonderful. Keep your fingers crossed that the workmanship is solid enough to withstand the freeze-thaw-freeze-thaw that is Wisconsin winter.... I guess my new project next spring might be "Learn how to repair tile flooring" which isn't necessarily a bad skill to have...

I think I need to arrange a porch-warming party in the next month or so.... perhaps with some grilled food and a bonfire... hmmmm....

Before:


After:


This was made at the same time as the tiled bench... but this piece is not (yet) having the same issues as the bench in the previous post. I *think* that that is because this is *not* a curved surface.... maybe.

A tiled bench

The bench pre-tiles....


The tiles on the counter....


Tiles are attached w/ thin-set...


The next day is grout...


After cleaning off the grout...


unfortunately.... the bench is curved and that is leading to structural integrity issues... I just got an update today, and I hear that the grout is cracking and there's at least 1 loose tile :(

Glass mosaic tiles

Three more tiles to hang around the mirror in my bathroom... which brings us to a total of 5 so far.... at this rate I will be done with that decorative project in..... 18 months?

What to do with spare watercolors?

Why cut them up and glue them on to previously ugly cards, of course!


(previously these cards had 2 stylized/cartoon-y critters that vaguely resembled cats underneath some of the strategically placed pieces of watercolored paper)

Coasters - the new stuff from the weekend

THREE BIRDS:

A BIRD and A BUTTERFLY:

ONE LADY:

Coasters - coreopsis

These are coreopsis from Birds & Bloom magazine. Birds & Bloom is one of my favorites to use, as you will see later this week when I post more pictures of coasters & light switch covers. Incidentally, I have coresopsis like the ones on the lower left in my yard. I never knew they came in colors other than yellow - I think I may go get some red & pink ones in the spring :)

4 Coasters

All four are paintings by Malva - images found in an Art & Antiques magazine I picked up while in Chicago visitng SOFA 2 weeks ago.

Coasters, take 2

Here are the results of my new camera! Too bad good picture-taking skillz didn't come along with it. I noticed that it focuses so well that I will really need to pay more attention to how well I clean my pieces before photographing them....

Next up? Glass beads & jewelry.

The last few weeks I've been trying to spend a couple of hours a week in my garage studio playing with molten glass. It's been fun, but out of every 5-10 beads I make only 1 is something worth showing other people :/ it kind of makes me wonder if torchwork is worth the effort. I guess I'll keep going for now and see what comes of it.