Revisiting the topic of shading grout in a mosaic. In a
previous post I shaded using two grout colors.
For this project, I shaded between four grout colors. The fade from deep black/green to pale green was chosen to enhance the glass shading.
First step was to play with mixes to find the effect I wanted. I used a plastic spoon, leveled off with a wooden stir stick as a measuring device. Stirred well, the dry mix color will be approximately the same as the finished, cured, color.
(Each recipe was written on the cup so it can be duplicated in the future, assuming those grout colors can be obtained. I used the colors black, mallard green, tea green and straw [no, not pear like it says on the cup, oops :] - for those that might have those colors on hand.)
Working from light to dark, I laid in each color. Since my substrate was glass, I marked it off into sections on the reverse using a sharpie marker. You might be able to see that in the first picture- green marks.
Picture on the right shows the grouted project before much 'smooshing' has happened.
In the left picture, you can see the results of careful cleaning. **Note: NO WATER, and no sponge, is used for this cleaning method.
First I removed excess grout. I started from the light end and moved across the piece from side to side just within that color. Then cleaned my tool (my finger!) and moved down a bit and repeated until I removed a lot of the excess from the entire piece.
Still with the grout very wet and soft, I started again at the light end removing a bit more grout but this time made a zig zag line across from side to side. I continued on down toward the dark end in this zigzag manner and this helped to blend each grout section.
At this point, much of the excess grout has been wiped off and I waited a bit for a haze to develop. I then used a soft cloth to remove the haze, again starting from the light end and working across from side to side. I used a clean section of cloth for each pass.
And here is the finished project, a wall clock.
SOLD
I create original design silver jewelry too!!
https://www.mosaicsmith.com/collections/all or
https://mosaicsmith.etsy.com
Working from light to dark, I laid in each color. Since my substrate was glass, I marked it off into sections on the reverse using a sharpie marker. You might be able to see that in the first picture- green marks.
I thought I'd start off my blog with work in progress (WIP) pictures of my latest mosaic clock.
The rest of the design evolved to solve the problem of how to indicate time- this is a clock after all. I hate clocks that make you guess too much. I always indicate at least where the hour numbers are in a creative way. My quilting background is showing here- I used a 12 point star of my own design and cut out little graph paper patterns. A sharpie is essential for marking glass- quilting rulers are fantastic with glass too.
Looks like I'm nearing the end now that the top glass is all laid out? Not quite. Next up is a date with a cup, or two, of thin-set mortar. Each piece is now individually back buttered with thin-set and put back into place. Popsicle sticks are wonderful. So are tweezers and dental probes. And that ruler was handy again to make sure the clock hour indicators were where they belong. The whole gluing process took about two hours. Well, that did include time using the grinder to fit the inner white triangles around the flower petals.
The clock hands are just laying on top to approximate the finished look. I'll grout this in white most likely. But first I need to add glass to the edges. I also need to paint the back of the mosaic to seal it and add the clock works and hanging wire. After it is grouted, I'll seal the grout as well. Then look for it for sale on etsy.
