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

Handmade in America Exhibition at Singing Stone Gallery Tampa

   Three of my mosaic wall art pieces have been juried into the Handmade in America exhibition at the Singing Stone Gallery in Ybor City, Tampa, Florida.

   This multi-media show exhibits a wide array of the handmade, which is rich in traditions and expressive of regional craft artisans, and their contributions to America's cultural heritage. The juried exhibit will showcase contemporary jewelry, photography, paintings, glass, wood, ceramics, metals, and mixed media handcrafted by American artists.

    The exhibit opens Friday, July 4, 2014, with an opening reception from 6-8:30, and continues through August 31, 2014.

    If you will be in Tampa on July 4th,  join us for the reception - refreshments and apple pie will be served.  After the event, artists, collectors, family and friends, are able to travel on Tampa’s Trolley Car, located steps from the gallery (Stop # 1), to Channelside for fireworks and live entertainment.

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

Adventures in Mixed Media Mosaics

A few weeks ago I finished a mosaic in which I incorporated some new (to me) techniques. I oddly (again, for me) did not take work-in-progress pictures for this. Perhaps because I started it last spring and put it aside when it stopped 'talking to me'. Which was mid-layer of what turned out to be the first of four layers.

When it went silent, I propped it against the wall at the back of my work table. Where it remained silent, except for occasionally mocking me, *sigh. Until I moved it one day, then returned it to the wall- backwards.

Wow, new view, new vision!

The result:

"Misty Morning"

So..four layers. From the uppermost: Layer one is branches composed of glass drips from an glass blowing shop plus a few glass leaf beads, as well as copper enameled leaves and a copper enameled lizard that I created from sheet copper and powdered enamels + my torch.

Layer two is broken tempered glass glued to a sheet of clear picture glass and then grouted in warm pale grey.
Layer three is the back side of the picture glass and actually was the original mosaic I began last spring. It originally was to be the front of the piece. Inspiration struck when I viewed it from the back. It looked like a foggy morning!! Never did 'finish' this layer, at least as far as my original thought was concerned. This layer was left ungrouted and remains about where I left it in the spring because it worked perfectly for viewing the painted layer (#4).

Layer four is painted on a thin backer board and is mainly the sky and grassy area you can see in the photo.

A couple closeups:

I suppose the enameled bird could be called layer five since it is glued to the picture glass. When viewed from the front, the bird is under the tempered glass.

My Etsy MosaicSmith shop.

Shell Mosaic Bird and a Gallery Show

Last weekend I finished a new mosaic wall art piece just in time for it to be included in a gallery show. The inspiration for this piece was a photo I took of an Egret bird who visited a waterfront gathering I attended this summer. He (she?) sure seemed interested in our event, though perhaps because there was food involved! 

"Whatcha Doing"?

 The bird is pieced from sections of shells mostly found locally here in Florida. My Dremel was instrumental in shaping these shells. If you try this technique, I recommend wearing a dust mask and doing this outside!! The background is mostly stained glass but with a section of stone pieces depicting the sea wall.

The gallery show this piece is included in is at the Crawford Gallery in our regional library, It is a Painting and Mixed Media theme show with three artists. Myself, Jeanine Tatlock, a student who showed works in a variety of media, and Harriet Rollitt, a paper collage artist.

Artist Linda Pieroth Smith (right)

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

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

Mosaic Art Auction to Benefit Doctors Without Borders

'Dragonfly'
8" x 10" (20 x 25.5cm)
Click image to view larger

Lin Schorr is coordinating, and 126 mosaic artists from around the world have donated pieces for, an on-line auction of mosaic art to benefit Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Above is my mosaic art donation.

About the Show/Auction:
The on-line auction was April 1-27, 2011.

About 'Dragonfly':
Dragonfly is from a photo I took of a happy dragonfly visiting my Tangelo tree.

He is a layered 3D mosaic composed of a base layer of leaves created with stained glass, more stained glass create three leaves at the bottom and lower left.

The dragonfly himself is pieced from glass gems and glass found in the cull pile at the old Levay Glass Factory (Old Milton School House in Alton, Il- currently under renovation- see their facebook page.) There is a bit of brown bottle glass in there too. His legs are copper wire coated with grout/weldbond glue and the wings are clear glass etched with an engraving tool .

All exposed glass edges are wet sanded to soften the sharp edges. Frame is painted wood and the back is sealed with paint as well. Wired for hanging with stainless steel wire. Interested in in-progress photos? There are a few in my MosaicSmith flickr account.

Although this has sold, I have other mosaic art available:
https://www.etsy.com/shop/MosaicSmith?search_query=mosaic+art

I create original design silver jewelry too!!
http://MosaicSmith.com

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

Spring!! - Adventures with B-cut Smalti

Spring!!
19" x 16"
Mexican Smalti, Vitreous Tile and Stained Glass
Click image to view larger

Last spring, a lot of happenings came together to result in my newest mosaic wall art piece.

First I started researching smalti. Smalti is a glass material with strong traditional roots in mosaic, and is also traditionally laid in such a way as to eliminate the need for grout. Grout can be a wonderful design element (see my self portrait- upper right corner or here) but sometimes I've not wanted to add to or change the pieced look.


Soooo... I bought a hammer & hardie plus a (large :) variety of smalti and stone.

I initially purchased this cool slab of smalti ==> , a 'B-cut', with the thought of using it as water. But a bit of serendipity happened when I realized it was perfect for the shirt on a boy my daughter photographed in February.

I was loving the boy's personal celebration of a beautiful spring day (after a very cold winter). I was thinking, as adults, we sometimes loose the appreciation of the day like he had.


Plan in hand, what ensued was a lot of fun with the hammer and hardie as I sheered that glass slab into shirt pieces.

Mexican smalti was used to piece the shirt sleeves as well as the rest of the boy.



To emphasize the boy and the shadows, I chose to have a large surround of grassy lawn. And to further add emphasis, I chose nipped up vitreous tile for the grass and I laid the tile very flat. Graduated piece sizes, and shades, helped to add depth to the lawn.

While I was in the midst of piecing, a call for artists arrived for the Member's Show at the Morean Arts Center in St Petersburg, FL. The theme is "The Way Forward: Roads Less Traveled". I felt this piece fit the theme well, so submitted it for the show. And I guess the curators also felt the piece fit the theme as they have used it in promotional literature for the show!

The show runs through September 26, 2010 at 719 Central Avenue, St Petersburg, FL

This mosaic is not available.

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

Just Ducky - Adventures in Mixed Media Mosaics

"Just Ducky"

9" x 11.5" (23 x 29.3cm)

Mixed Media Mosaic on Concrete Board

Catching up on my blogging here. I completed "Just Ducky" this past spring but his roots were actually from spring of 2008 when I purchased a cool slice of agate from a vendor at the SAMA show in Miami.

The agate slice had me thinking of an animal eye and, eventually, a Mallard duck.

Now using a slice of rock to represent an eye was rather unconventional, so I decided to go unconventional with my mix of materials too. Lots of fun, and mess, ensued while I pulled out anything in Mallard colors from my stash. Stained glass, fused glass, polished stones, glass beads (some iridescent for a bit of that Mallard shine), vitreous tile bits, ... to name a few.

A fun bonus was using my new hammer & hardie to nip up the marble for the background.

Oh, and since this guy is built on top of concrete board, with pieces attached using Thin-set mortar (tinted black) and has stainless steel hanging hardware, he can even live outside and get wet like a duck :)

"Just Ducky" has sold.
See my available mosaic art: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MosaicSmith?search_query=mosaic+art

I create original design silver jewelry too!! http://MosaicSmith.com

A Manga Style Mosaic - Fierce Despite the Tears.

'Fierce Despite the Tears'
10 1/4" x 12 1/2"
Click photo to enlarge

I recently completed this stained glass mosaic of an elf in collaboration with my 14 year old daughter. It is based on one of her original drawings done in the manga style.

<= Her drawing. (This is done in pen by the way.)

To convert for mosaicing, with the aide of tracing paper and a copy machine, we added lines while trying to keep the original spirit.

We also tweaked the background with the addition of falling sakura petals in pale pink.

Although the original was done in just purple pen, she had a definite vision for a full color version and all glass choices, as well as grout color choices, were hers.

We are both pleased with the resulting mosaic and I'll be keeping an eye on her drawings for possible collaborations in the future.

This mosaic is in my daughter's collection.

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

Miss Dolphin and a mosaic lesson learned

Going back in time a bit here to a project I completed, with the help of my then 10 yr old daughter's design, in October 2009. There are a few WIP pictures on flickr as well.

Miss Dolphin: Click image to view larger:

For this project we spent the summer collecting beads and whatnot's here and there in our travels, and online, particularly in red and white for the shirt.

I made the fortunate decision to grout the sections in different colors and to start with the white stripes. Usually I will tape off the sections before grouting but due to the crazy texture of the striped shirt I decided that I'd just go slow and tidy the edges using a toothpick after. Really glad on this choice because the slop of sanded grout on one particular type of red square bead scrubbed the color off those beads, yikes!! The project was salvaged with a short delay while I sought out replacements in a similar size and color.

Here are the offending beads after removal from the project:
I had to replace one purple bead as well in the beach ball during the grouting process. Not sure which store the problem beads were purchased from. Because of the quantity I have, I think it was a chain big-box store rather than a smaller bead store.

The Lesson- TEST your materials before use. Another mosaic blogger, TileMosaicGirl, had a similar experience with red glass gems and blogged about it here: photo slideshow and her experiment. She tested the materials both by scrubbing with grout and with sandpaper. She found that the sandpaper method was quite effective to test if the color would withstand grouting so in the future I plan to also test my materials this way.

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:

Autumn Dance

Doing a bit of a happy dance for the completion of 'Autumn Dance'. Scroll down for WIP pictures of this mosaic- plus the story behind it.

One more WIP to finish ( http://mosaicsmith.blogspot.com/2008/05/egret-wip.html ) but I will be working on some small fun projects at the same time. I have a few mosaic light switch covers in the works and plans for some more mosaic clocks.

~~~~~~~

"Autumn Dance" has sold.

View all available mosaics in my Etsy MosaicSmith shop:

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

I also create original design silver jewelry:

https://www.MosaicSmith.com

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.

Making a Mosaic Critter with a Pattern

Sometimes in my mosaics, I use a pattern to make a critter or other motif. This time I actually had a camera handy and I remembered to use it!

1. I do a little research to find a photo or drawing of what I'm interested in making. Then I will make my own sketch- this time I sketched it straight onto the hardibacker cement board I'm creating the mosaic on. The advantage of sketching here is that I can be sure my scale works. The eye location is marked with a black bead.

2. Tracing paper - cool low tech tool. Here I traced my sketch and cut it out. Next, not shown, I cut it apart on the inside of the lines to leave a bit of space for grout. I cut away the inside of the eye location.

3. All the little pieces then traced, using permanent marker, onto the selected piece of stained glass. Leave spaces for cutting/breaking. Carefully cut and break one line at a time. Here I made a long score first along the left of the head all the way from bottom to top of glass piece. Again, be sure to cut just to the inside of the marker lines.

4. I use a grinder for making holes for eyes. And sometimes for tweaking the shape of a piece. Here the bunny is dry fitted. Stained glass does not always cooperate and break precisely. Re-cutting a piece is often necessary, but sometimes you can work around the oops. Here, at the bunnies neck the glass did not want to make that full curve break. I dry fitted in clover and decided that actually added to the look of the bunny hiding in a clover patch. To further add to that effect, I nipped out a bit from the back of his leg.

And here is the completed picture:

This mosaic was made for the Etsy Mosaic Artists Spring Challenge. The theme is "On the Wings of Spring". My kids collaborated with me to come up with this fanciful interpretation of the theme.

In addition to the main rose, there is a tiny flock of roses and three more just about to join the fun from the field.

Click on the picture to view it full screen size.

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