New: Torch Enameled and Stained Glass Mosaic Cat Suncatchers

These cat suncatchers come with a suction cup to enjoy on your window year-round, but they would also look great as an ornament.

Each one has its own personality!

Sold

My original design silver jewelry is available at:
https://www.mosaicsmith.com/collections/all   or
https://mosaicsmith.etsy.com

Reaching Mosaic Wall Art - Adventures with Pennyround Tiles and Shading

Reaching   28.5" x 11.5"
(Click photo to view larger image.)

Several years ago, out of the blue, during a time when I was struggling, as a Mom, with my oldest child growing into an adult, I had a strong vision: a gloriously colored piece of fabric stretching and reaching towards brightness....My daughter.


I got busy sourcing glass and tile to match my vision. Many sheets of stained glass in an array of colors. Matte black (and a bit of grey) unglazed porcelain tile for the background. 

Detail: uncut penny round tiles

Black glass pennyround tiles with an iridescent finish that varied from plain black to silver, to gold and multicolor.
  
These I nipped so as to use just the curved edge.  

Left: sorted pennyround tile bits. Right: sorted glass rectangles.

I created, from wood and hardibacker concrete board plus mesh and thin-set mortar, a 3D substrate on which to piece the colorful 'fabric'.
 
Finally, I hand cut many, many tiny rectangles in a rainbow of colors and shades from black to bright from the sheets of stained glass.

 

 

The beginning!

The process of gathering and figuring took three years.

During that time, my daughter continued to grow towards her bright light and she shines!!

The background I pieced with the unglazed porcelain tile and added subtle depth through use of smaller piece sizes along the center left, as well as a couple of perspective lines in the grout. 

I also added in very thin pieces of dark grey tile- the light source.

The last piece!  

I grouted the background with black and did a shaded grout on the woven section with pale grey at the top through black at the bottom.

This mosaic hangs in a special space in my home!

I create original design silver jewelry too!! 
https://www.mosaicsmith.com/collections/all   or
https://mosaicsmith.etsy.com

New Glass on Glass Mosaic Clocks

Once again, time has gotten away from me and I have not updated here for a while. I HAVE been busy creating, and, ironically, much of the mosaics I have created recently have been clocks!

Have I mentioned I hate to throw away any bits?

I have been working, for a couple years (!), on gathering the pieces necessary to create a mosaic I had a vision of. This mosaic is a bit different than my usual style. The focal of the vision piece will use rectangles of stained glass shaded from dark to bright with each color value all in a line. To achieve this, I cut a LOT of tiny rectangles and, of course, had left over bits. Not garbage! I found a use for them :))

A baker's dozen of uses:

Plus:

Silent Beauty - Mixed Media Mosaic Butterfly

My butterfly wall mosaic, pieced from stained glass and Mexican smalti glass, is now complete!

"Silent Beauty"

From a photo I took of a Mangrove Buckeye Butterfly at the Manatee Viewing Center, FL

~ 11" x 7" . 

The butterfly portion was pieced from stained glass using a double indirect method.  See previous post for a WIP picture.  After piecing (on sticky paper), I glued paper to the face, flipped the mosaic and peeled off the sticky paper. I then adhered it to a section of concrete board using thin-set mortar. This portion is grouted in mocha brown.

The background was pieced with Mexican smalti laid with the direct method. The flowers and major leaves pieced first, then the accent reeds in tan, and finally the rest of the background. The background is grouted in black. Generally smalti type glass is not grouted, but the Mexican type is smooth on the face (vs the Italian type that is used cut edge up and often will have tiny air bubbles that fill in when grout is used) and I felt the black grout would help the background to recede and the butterfly to 'pop'.  

Finished with an edge of black stained glass. Wired and ready to hang.

New Mosaic Art Butterfly WIP

Butterfly measures about 9" x 5" and is pieced from stained glass. Working title is "Silent Beauty". Finished mosaic will measure about 10 3/4" x 7".  {Odd size, yup. I've a few of these odd sized small boards on hand. Might make a related series with them. And then move on to using standard sizes that can be easily framed!}

I started this project last month and then stalled while I pondered how to approach the background (earlier WIP picture in previous post).

Next up: Transfer this to a piece of concrete board. Right now it is assembled on clear contact paper and you are looking at the right side. I'll glue paper to the face, remove the contact paper from the back, glue the butterfly to the concrete board then remove the glued paper.

The idea is that the butterfly will have a beautiful smooth texture and the background will be more highly textured for contrast.  I've decided to use smalti for the background. That should give it a nicely textured look and the uniform material will not detract too much from the focal. And I get to play with smalti :)

More: How to Make Glass Numbers and Letters to Mosaic

Find at art and fabric stores in rolls or sheets.

I did another post a while back on making stained glass numbers but wanted to re-visit the subject with a couple additional tips and more photos.

This method will make letters and numbers that appear, from a distance, to be one piece of glass although actually composed of sections. Very useful for readability of house numbers and signs.

[Click images to enlarge.]

Previously I used a paper pattern to trace around. I have since found Saral Transfer paper, especially the yellow color, works quite well on glass. My red works ok as well, but not the blue and white. Don't know why. Maybe just my package??

1. Make a template. First I type my words or numbers in a word processing program, select a font and size then print. For this method you will want an actual size printout.


 2. Trace your template. Clean your glass, then simply position your printout template over your selected section of glass, slip the transfer paper in underneath, and trace your image.

Not quite in the right place, need to re-do? The transfer on the glass will buff off or wipe off with a bit of glass window cleaner.

Above are the tools I use to 'cut' out my image from the glass. Left to right:

Running Pliers, Grozier Pliers, Breaking Pliers, Glass Scorer, Wheeled Nippers, Metallic Permanent Marker

3. Score the glass.

A.  First score around the entire transferred outline.
B. Next score rough break lines. For this image I made five rough break lines.

How did I decide where to put the rough breaks?
First task was to section off the top of the five. Then section off the upright area connecting the top to the curved bottom. Now the curved bottom needed to be sectioned so the wheeled nippers can get in there and nip away the extra glass. Too large a curve and the glass will want to break straight, not curved! I added score lines to section it into three pieces.

 4. Break glass on rough break lines.

Use the running pliers to break the glass along the rough break lines.

Shown here is the first break. You'll note this is not a perfect system and sometimes the glass just does not break where you scored.  I was lucky and it deviated outside of my image.

Do have extra glass on hand to re-do your image if the glass does not cooperate :/

< Here all five rough break lines are broken using the running pliers.

Tip: As you make each break, put the pieces back down to re-make the image.  It is quite easy to get lost now, especially if you inadvertently turn a piece, or turn over a piece.

5. Finish shaping the image pieces.

Finesse time.
Here I will use the grozier & breaking pliers together and/or the wheeled nippers.  Just depends on the shape. For short straight breaks, use the pliers combo.

For gentle curves use the wheeled nippers. Nip off a small amount at a time until you get to the score line around the image. I have a general rule of thirds- nip off no more than 1/3 of the way to your drawn line at a time.

Do be sure your nippers have fresh cutting edges. Use the little allen key that comes with it to loosen and turn the wheels if the glass takes force to nip.

 6. Cleanup and assembly.  I use a bit of ammonia based glass cleaner on a paper towel to clean off the transfer paper line as well as any oil from the scorer or my hands.

And the clear tape is used to hold the pieces together until they can be glued.

Working direct, place tape on the right side of the glass. Align each piece precisely and glue down to your board altogether.

Working indirect, place tape sticky side up on your table and assemble glass on top of tape. Glue down on your board altogether by flipping over onto board so right side is down and tape is now up.

Got a sign to make? Give this method a try.  You can see some projects I have used this method with.  Click stepping stone here or in my word cloud at right -do be sure to scroll down as a few posts will pop up, including a few where other methods were used.

I make more than just signs! 

I create original design silver jewelry too!! 
https://www.mosaicsmith.com/collections/all   or
https://mosaicsmith.etsy.com

Part 2 - Reversible Mixed Media Glass on Glass Mosaic

Part one of my discussion of my "Fire and Rain" glass on glass mosaic can be found here: http://blog.mosaicsmith.com/2012/07/reversible-mixed-media-glass-on-glass.html

Both sides of "Fire and Rain"

I should clarify- this mosaic is a bit more than a simple glass on glass project. It is really all about layers and could more properly be described as a glass sandwich where a pane of clear glass is the 'filling' and the 'bread' on each side are two unique, but related, mosaics. In addition, the focal flower on the 'fire' side is mosaiced on an additional layer of curved clear glass for the petal. (This process is the focus of Part 1, linked above.)

This post will focus on the process and design decisions for the 'rain' side mosaic.



The 'fire' side needed an upbeat mood.  Clear, vibrant, colors were chosen for that side and the leaves were oriented in a predominantly upbeat position as well. The grout lines for the sky were deliberately random but piece sizes graduated smaller going toward the horizon to give an expansive feeling to the sky. Brighter blue in the upper sky and blue/purple for the lower were chosen to help lead the eye down, as were the predominantly slanting groutlines in the sky.  Flower stem and leaf center vein lines help lead the eye around to the focal flower.

'Fire" side of "Fire and Rain" - detail

But for the 'rain' side, I wanted a more somber mood. Muted colors were key but were carefully chosen so each area was distinct. The central flower is still the focus but construction here was completely different from the 'fire' side.

Textured glass was used where the petals folded from the weight of the rain; very smooth glass for the un-folded portions.

First, the petal shapes were cut in one large piece each, then the petal was scored/broken along vein lines. The pieces, when reassembled and glued in place, had barely any space for grout but enough that a subtly deeper tone of grout defined the vein lines. Click photo for larger view.

Leaf orientation is more somber on this side with their more vertical placement. Stronger emphasis on flower stems both aid in eye movement and contribute to a less-lush feel.

Both sides of "Fire and Rain" - viewed in sunlight

When working glass on glass, the importance of light must also be considered. Especially how the opaqueness of glass and grout on each side interact.

So the light would shine through the 'fire' side central flower, all the flower glass chosen was opaque enough to stand alone in dim light situations but translucent enough to let sunlight make the flowers glow.

Leaf and grass glass is all very opaque but the sky glass on both sides transmit light well. Narrow sky grout lines on the 'rain' side give that side a rain effect but, since they are narrow, only add subtle depth to the 'fire' side sky.

Finishing details: Mosaic is set into a wood frame with a black patina and secured with hand crafted solid copper L brackets that have been hammered and also have a black patina. Mosaic title and artist signature are engraved on small copper plates.

"Fire and Rain" has sold.

I create original design silver jewelry too!! 
https://www.mosaicsmith.com/collections/all   or
https://www.etsy.com/shop/MosaicSmith

Reversible Mixed Media Glass on Glass Mosaic - Part 1

This series of posts will highlight some of the how-to on the making of my "Fire and Rain" glass on glass reversible mosaic. Below is the finished main flower on the 'Fire' side. Click images to enlarge.

Fire side of "Fire and Rain" 9 7/8" x 14 3/8"

The flowers on this side are all made up of individually mosaiced flower petals.

First I cut up a clear glass jar that previously had been used to hold spaghetti sauce. The wide mouth made it easy to use wheeled nippers to get in there to break the glass. Look at the jars in your pantry and you may also see some with interesting curves to the jar glass, especially those with non-vertical sides.  This one had a nice wide curved shoulder area that then sloped down to a highly curved sort of foot area.

Each of those five flower petals above is one large piece of shaped clear glass.

• Once I had my jar broken into large chunks, I played with their orientation so the curves resembled flower petals.  
• Then I marked them with a sharpie marker and nipped them into their final shape with my wheeled nippers. 
• I finished the shaping with my grinder to ensure no sharp edges and to give the edges a 'frost' look.
• When I was happy with their shape, I used GE Silicone II glue to attach them to a sheet of clear glass as well as to each other.

Next step was to prepare the colored glass for the mini mosaics for the flower petals.

I nipped narrow, about 1/8",  bits from colored glass. My plan was to use these bits cut side up on top of the petals. Then the natural curve they have from the wheeled nippers could be used to follow the curve of the clear glass petals. BUT, people touch mosaics! So, to smooth the sharp edges of all those little bits, I placed them all in a small glass jar, added water 3/4 of the way up and a bit of dish soap and then shook them.  And shook them.  And shook them some more. At least 10 minutes of shaking and they still had a semigloss sheen but no sharp edges.

Finally, I could begin mosaicing!

Again, GE Silicone II glue was used to attach the prepared bits to the clear glass petals.

That yellow 'blob' in the center is a cool castoff from a glass blowing shop. It did not make the final mosaic but a similar one was used instead.

Lipstick red grout then completed the flower.  The flower buds on this 'Fire' side of the mosaic were completed the same way.  The green 3D pieces are also glass blowing castoffs.

"Fire and Rain"

Next post will be about the 'Rain' side of the mosaic.
Image at left shows both sides of the completed mosaic as it looks against a white background.

Part 2 of discussion of this mosaic can be viewed here: http://blog.mosaicsmith.com/2012/07/part-2-reversible-mixed-media-glass-on.html

"Fire and Rain" has sold.

I create original design silver jewelry too!! 
https://www.mosaicsmith.com/collections/all   or
https://mosaicsmith.etsy.com

Urban Renewal - As Mixed-Media Mosaic Wall Art

Urban Renewal 8.5" x 10.5"

Inspiration is sometimes found in unexpected places and in this case it was an abandoned parking lot around the corner from where my daughter takes guitar lessons. I've seen it weekly for years now but stopped for a closer look one day...

(Click on images to view larger size.) 

Pieced predominantly from stained glass onto a hardibacker concrete board. The broken 'concrete' areas are broken pieces of granite tile placed in with the riven edges showing.  Grey tinted thin-set mortar fills the space between large broken areas of 'concrete'- the strong diagonal line- and is used to adhere the granite pieces as well.


A print of this mosaic is available on Fine Art America:
http://fineartamerica.com/artists/19+linda+smith

I create original design silver jewelry too!! 
https://www.mosaicsmith.com/collections/all   or
https://www.etsy.com/shop/MosaicSmith

Who Recycled, a Glass Mosaic Owl Portrait

'Who Recycled'
Scroll down to see construction slide-show

I recently completed this 6" x 6" framed glass mosaic for Lin Schorr's Sept 2012 Auction benefiting Doctor's Without Border's.
www.flickr.com/photos/linlee8/6260969290/in/set-721576279...

The frame inspired this piece and was found at a local fundraising sale. It likely was a sample frame for a frame shop.

The owl is from a photo I took of the one who lives at the Florida Aquarium in Tampa. The pose and texture went nicely with the frame.

Continuing the recycled theme, the substrate is from a piece of scrap hardibacker concrete board that otherwise might have been thrown away. The owl glass is all from little scrap bits and the background is nipped from wine bottles.

To see slideshows from other mosaic projects, click 'Slideshow' in label cloud in right margin.

Although the original "Who Recycled" has sold, a print is available on my page at Fine Art America:
http://fineartamerica.com/artists/19+linda+smith

All available mosaic art: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MosaicSmith?search_query=mosaic+art

I make sterling silver jewelry too!!  http://MosaicSmith.com https://mosaicsmith.etsy.com

Third Set of Nine Mosaic and Poured Concrete Stepping Stones

I have completed nine more poured concrete and glass stepping stones for my yard.

This is a very ongoing task with the goal of creating about 50 to aid in walking around our side and back areas where we have river rock in place of grass.

Click image to enlarge.

The top left lighthouse (St Augustine, FL) is pieced out of glow-in-the dark tile sections for light. The bottom middle is showing the rainbow of six smaller poured concrete bubbles from the tropical fish. Many of these designs are inspired by Florida nature. The right middle is brain coral and that rooster was one we saw living in Key West.



Interested in making some stones yourself?
I did a blog posting a while back with detailed how-to instructions, plus pictures, for making these poured concrete stepping stones- click here to see.

All designs are my own. If you make some stones I hope you use the opportunity to also create your own designs.

I don't just play with concrete!! 

I create original design silver jewelry too!! 
https://www.mosaicsmith.com/collections/all   or
https://mosaicsmith.etsy.com

How To Make Concrete Mosaic Garden Art Ball

You can make very fun garden art using found objects and scrap glass.

This post details how I made the garden ball pictured above, using a glass globe from an old pendant light fixture. You likely don't have one of those handy :) , but a little thinking outside the box and you can come up with other unique 'molds' to make bases for your own personalized garden art.

First- some general supplies:

• Some sort of 'mold'. Ideas- glass bottles, plastic containers such as milk bottles, takeout food containers... IMPORTANT: If you use a plastic form, you must have an opening wide enough for the cured concrete to be removed through. For milk jugs, cut off the entire top before adding concrete mix. The opening needs to be as wide as the widest part of your shape.
• concrete mix
• eye protection!, hammer, prying tools
• glass nippers
• scrap stained glass- often local stained glass shops will sell scrap by the pound or ebay and etsy both often will have listings for scrap.
• thin set mortar
• grout

Before adding concrete mix, I lightly coated the inside of the shape with a mold release- Vaseline but cooking spray will work in a pinch.

Add concrete mix slowly and tap occasionally (with your hand!) to raise air pockets. Don't want to break that glass yet! If your shape includes thinner sections, you will want to reinforce them with hardware cloth sections embedded in the center. See my stepping stone instructions.

If you use a plastic form, you can unmold, carefully, usually after one day.

If you use glass, WAIT a minimum of 10 days for the concrete to cure before breaking glass. Full cure is at 30 days.







Be sure to wear eye protection when breaking the glass off! I used both the hammer and the knob end of a glass scorer to break the glass in sections. Old dental tools and flat blade screwdrivers worked well to pry off sections.

Now that you have your blank concrete 'canvas', have fun creating!! I used the glass I removed to make the white flowers on my garden ball. They were especially pleasing to work with because the glass was curved and fit nicely back on the ball. I used thin set mortar to attach my glass. This is a weather friendly glue though if you live in a freeze zone, mosaic art lasts longer if brought inside in winter.

For adding flat glass to curved sections, smaller pieces fit around the curves better- and are less hazardous! Use extreme care when handling your piece as there will likely be sharp exposed points and edges. Grouting will minimize this.

 

I don't just play with concrete!! 

I create original design silver jewelry too!! 
https://www.mosaicsmith.com/collections/all   or
https://mosaicsmith.etsy.com

Making of my Mosaic 'Journey' Wall Art

"Journey"
10" x 10"
Click to enlarge

My mosaic, 'Journey', in addition to the obvious, tells the story of my own mosaic journey beginning with the use of glass tile (on reverse), to stained glass (front outer section), to a mix of tessearae and most recently exploring the use of smalti glass (center square).

There is actually a third journey to this piece and that is the transformation of an ordinary IKEA Malma mirror (see second photo below) into the substrate for this mosaic.

Some background: This mosaic began with a call to artists with a stipulation for square mosaic art. Hmm. I remembered the square IKEA mirrors I have. OK, that might work. And the square format seemed like a good fit with a photo of a gorgeous sunset I took this summer (from the passenger seat :). With these two ingredients in mind, I mulled this over and came up with the mosaic journey concept.

The journey begins on the reverse where I reproduced a wall quilt I made years ago. Vitreous tile was used since it was the first material I played with to create a simple mosaic table top. This represents my transition from piecing with fabric to piecing with glass.

I used a border of thick glass to make the surface level. I filled in the center mirror back area to level the surface as well- visible here as the gold in the spaces as this is before grouting.



These IKEA mirrors are very plain and simple ==>

But they have a broad flat border and a recessed mirror that would work here to add depth to the scene.








To further add depth I built up a third level around the perimeter using 2" wide black glass. And to frame that, I used 1/4" thin glass strips on top of the 2" wide glass.
Note- I used mitered corners throughout to add to the one point perspective of the image.







Each section is divided with strips of stained glass, placed on end. (I use wet sanding paper along the long edge corners to reduce sharpness of glass whenever I place it on end like this- people like to touch mosaics!)

Here you can see I chose to color coordinate the frame around the center (smalti on mirror) section but used solid black to divide the outer-most pieced stained glass area from the mixed-media center section.

A note on glue- Most of this mosaic is pieced using Weldbond but the smalti was attached to the mirror using silicone adhesive. To eliminate any reflection in the space between the smalti, I made sure there was silicone glue on all exposed bits of mirror.

The mosaic was finished with more strips of black on the outer edges and grouted in black and natural grey. And not a bit of the original IKEA mirror is visable, front or back.


I create original design silver jewelry too!! 
https://www.mosaicsmith.com/collections/all   or
https://mosaicsmith.etsy.com

Hey, I guess I can do whimsy!

"Why Stars Twinkle"

Stained glass on hardibacker.
10.25" x 12.5"
(Click image to view larger)

A bit of background on this mosaic:

On this mosaic journey of mine I have occasionally flirted with whimsy but more often that style has been just one I admire in others. Quite honestly, I tend to over think the whimsy right out of my ideas.
Ciel Gallery in Charlotte, North Carolina is a gallery owned by mosaic artist Pam Pardue Goode and she features mosaic artists frequently in her exhibits. She put out a call to artists this winter for a new exhibit, "Flights of Fancy", to be full of whimsical art.

Soooo, this call to artists was in the back of my mind tumbling around with other snippets of ideas. The main spark for the stars dancing is the children's song "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star", specifically the line- 'how I wonder what you are'. Oh, I did wonder. Mostly wondered what children think of when they see those twinkling stars. Maybe they thought they were dancing up there and that made them twinkle.?

Fun idea, now to try to keep it whimsical.

Well, a zebra cannot change her stripes and I did do plenty of thinking on the details but I reminded myself, often, to keep it light and fun and 'twinkly'.

The dancers were pieced in iridescent glass- for the twinkle factor. Stars are enduring and classic so I chose ball room type clothing but these dancers are swinging to some hip hopping music. I felt the background needed to be very clearly space and chose to add depth with smaller pieces to the center and larger circular flowing pieces to the perimeter. Their dance floor becomes a 'star dust' cloud, as my daughter referred to it, and two more were placed to direct the flow of the piece. And a shooting star in iridescent black/gold glass also directs the flow down to the dancers. Millefiori are sprinkled in the space background, smaller toward the center, of course, to represent stars.

And so, I say that "I guess I can do whimsy.", because you can view this mosaic in person April 2 through May 21, 2010 at Ciel Gallery, 1519 Camden Road, Charlotte, NC. Thank you Pam!

~~~~~~~

"Why Stars Twinkle" has sold but you can view my available mosaic art here: 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/MosaicSmith?search_query=mosaic+art 

I create original design silver jewelry too!!

http://MosaicSmith.com

sweet love

My new mosaic was inspired by my cat, Shadow. She is a very sweet kitty and I have often thought that she not only has a heart shaped face but that her body echoed that heart while laying in this position. Hence the theme. Stained glass on MDF. 10 3/4" x 13 1/2"

And a slide show of the process of creating this mosaic: