Whirl

Last month I went to the SAMA (Society of American Mosaic Artists) Annual Conference in Miami. I had a bit of fun with the raffle and won 25 pounds of mixed vitreous glass tile- thanks WitsEnd Mosaic!! Now I did not take a picture, but let me assure you that this is a LOT of tile- especially when it is spread out on my dining room table to organize ('mixed' is code for 'you sort') .

I've mostly used stained glass for my mosaics to this point but the thrifty in me MUST find a creative way to use this tile. And it is beautiful. Lots of shades of white through grey/black, lots of shades of blue and green and browns. And really cool iridescent and metallic flecked tiles.

I have decided to mosaic the egret I took a picture of last fall:





Here is the frame I made ready to begin. I gridded a print out of my photo, and also the board so I can get an accurate sketch to start. I've been playing with different background ideas in my little sketchbook.

But before I start on this project, I wanted to play a bit with the tile to see how it cuts. I found this sketch I had done.

I used a piece of hardibacker board and thin-set mortar for glue. The red and plum colors are stained glass and the remainder is vitreous glass tiles.

I titled this "Whirl'. I made the sketch when I was extremely angry- we won't go into why. But the title is simply Whirl. Could be a whirl of emotions or a whirl wind or...

Grouted in white. I think the white grout makes it look less angry than my sketch. I wonder if I would have made a different choice in whirl colors and grout color if I had been angry when I pieced the mosaic? Hmm. Mosaicing makes me happy so that one will remain unanswered. I'll wait a couple days for the grout to cure. Then seal the grout and paint the edges and back white.