Thursday 17 September 2015

smashing and sticking

A couple of weeks ago, me and wonderful mum went to a mosaic workshop with Lily Mosaics.  She's local to us in Nottingham, so if anyone in the area is interested, I'm happy to pass on her details, she's a great tutor and mosaicing is great fun.  I think I just made up the word mosaicing.  Spell checker doesn't like it anyway.

I completely failed to take any photos during the class, I was having too much fun choosing tiles, using tile nippers to cut them up and sticking them in place.  We had a choice of a mirror, a tray, a plaque or various MDF shapes we could cover.  I chose the tray and drew round two MDF birds for my pattern.  This is how far I got in class.


To be fair, Lis said I didn't have to leave and she'd help me finish it even though the class was over, but I was feeling very tired (and came down with a depressive episode that evening), and said I'd finish at home.  The depression grips me and I'm never able to do much craft work, it takes away my motivation, that's why blog posts have slowed down a lot over the last year or so and I haven't been doing as much sewing.  When I started to feel better, I got out the mosaic and finished it off.


The main background and bird tiles are ceramic tiles, their beaks are made from glass shards (the same kind of glass I used when I made my stained glass window).  The domes are... well they're domes!  The ones on the right are really shiny and pearlescent.  I also used some glazed ceramic shapes, buttons for the tails and some pieces of millefiori for the eyes.  The flowers next to the big bird's beak are also millefiori, it's just so beautiful.  Millefiori I mean, not my mosaic.


When all the nipping and gluing was done, I grouted it.  Waited overnight to clean the grout off the tiles, then grouted a second time for the places where the grout had sunk.  The day after I cleaned it off really well (whilst watching Special Forces: Hell Week - one of Mr C's programmes that I was made to sit through and became hooked on!), then polished it with a soft cloth.  I'm really pleased with how it turned out.  I've bought a tester pot of paint to paint the tray with, I will show you if I ever get round to it!  Mosaic will definitely feature more in my future, I just need to find things to mosaic - wonder how the buns would feel about mosaiced (another non-word) hutches?

To see and buy Lis's work or one of her excellent kits, you can visit her website here.  That's not an affiliate link.

15 comments:

Pamela said...

What a sweet tray! Looks like fun.

Rachel said...

I don't know how the bunnies would feel, but if a mosaiced hutch would make you happy, you go ahead and mosaic their hutch. Just remember to make sure the door hinges are strong enough, or the doors will fall of and you will have a hutch break-out on your hands!

pennydog said...

It's so pretty :) I'm having a deja vu though, I thought you had done a mosaic tray before (and wished you'd painted it before the mosaicing) or am I going mad?

Christine B said...

Wendy this is a fabulous project.... I really love it! Christine x

Cath said...

That looks like another fun craft. Great finish :-)

Sharon - creativity and family said...

It is so beautiful, you must be so pleased with it. I am so sorry about your depression, having lived with a sufferer I know a little about how hard it can be. Take care of yourself, hugs. Sharon xx

Stephanie said...

This is absolutely beautiful! Have a wonderful day. Hugs!

SuperMomNoCape said...

I love your bird mosaic!

Depression is such an insidious thing and so little understood by many. Sending Aloha hugs!

Jo Ferguson said...

It's bright, cheerful and beautiful.

Sandra :) said...

Girlfriend you have a real talent for mosaicing - it's gorgeous! Get her (yep, she's a she!) painted and into use - she should not be sitting around as a UFO! I did a bit of mosaicing many years ago - several clay pots - I quite enjoyed it, but I was using broken plates from the thrift store, and they weren't the best things to learn on, as large portions of them weren't nice and flat. I would definitely try the technique again, but using actual tiles :D The birds are so sweet, and the 3D (it looks like they're 3D?) embellishments are perfect! Are they flat enough so that you can still put things on the tray, or do they stick out too much for that? What did your mom make - tell her we want to see a picture!

So sorry about your depression/depressive episodes - it's a real struggle, and so hard to live with :(

Jane said...

I love it. I haven't done any mosaic since the boys were little, I find it very therapeutic.

Anonymous said...

This is great Wendy, love the addition of the buttons.

Pookledo said...

Lis is Lovely. I met her a while back :)

Sarah in Stitches said...

That is so cute! I recently made my first attempt at mosaic, and it was a gigantic mess but turned out all right in the end. Not perfect, but I can live with it. You've done a lovely job! :D

Anita said...

Oh Wendy, that bird tray is just gorgeous!!! What a wonderful
design and love the colours. How cool are you two little gals!
Cheers, Anita.