Shading Grout for a Sunset Sky

Tropics Time

Pendulum Clock

10" x 4.25"

This is a project I completed a few months ago on which I did a grout shading on the sky area using four grout colors.

At the bottom I started with 'Camel' which is kind of rusty orange. Moving up I transitioned to 'Summer Wheat' which is a dusty gold. Next up I used a bit of natural grey and at the top is 'Pearl Grey' which is a blue-grey color.

Before adding these four colors, I grouted the lower 'water' portion in Mallard Green as well as a skinny strip in the center of each of those sky palm fronds. Once the green had cured for a bit- a few hours is enough- I used masking tape to protect it from the sky colors. 

When laying in the sky colors, I started from the bottom and added grout in rows. Where two colors meet, I did a little bit of smooshing to further blend the colors.

When cleaning off the excess grout, it is very important to wipe in the same direction as you used to lay in the grout color, in this case from side to side.  A change of direction during this step will muddy up your color gradient.

To see more posts about grout, click 'grout' in the label cloud => or this link http://blog.mosaicsmith.com/search/label/grout

This clock has sold, but see my other available clocks in my Etsy MosaicSmith shop. https://www.etsy.com/shop/MosaicSmith?search_query=clock

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

 

I make sterling silver jewelry too!!  http://MosaicSmith.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

Mosaic Fact: Bits Multiply - Making of a Glass Mosaic Clock

I, and I suspect every mosaic artist, have an bottomless collection of glass bits.

My thrifty nature compels me to save them. Larger bits get tossed in labeled plastic containers by color and small, even tiny, bits get tossed in a shoebox lid. I've had that lid on my work table for a while and have mentioned it before. Still looks much the same even a year later. Weird.

Occasionally I'll set out to use as many of this bits as I can in a mosaic and my 'River Sunset' clock is the result of my latest effort:

That largest red boulder was the inspiration for this entire piece. I found it just the way you see it in the shoebox lid - don't recall what project I nipped it roundish for then rejected it but I think it worked perfectly here. Just was waiting for its time. Ha, lol, didn't intend the pun :)

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This clock is in my personal collection.

See other available clocks in my Etsy MosaicSmith Shop:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/MosaicSmith?section_id=18932211 

 

I also create original design silver jewelry:

http://MosaicSmith.com