Yesterday I celebrated another year on this beautiful world with just a very few of my most special people. Yesterday was a perfect spring day and somehow my presents confirmed it. Well, at least here it’s Spring already, and looking around, I’m pretty sure about this.
First a gift of Orchids called Cymbidium, pale mauve pink and spotted peaking out from an abundant set of leaves. Love the name, the way it sounds. Sometimes I just love saying the names of flowers and plants, just for the way they sound, like cymbidium, alstromeria, phalaenopsis or pachysandra.
And it just so happened that I had the perfect pot for them, made years ago by mosaicing an old crock pot of all things.
Then, a beautiful arrangement of spring flowers which, after spending time being admired as my table centerpiece, will be planted out in the garden. Almost like a double present. The wire hearts will I think become part of some chime arrangement later.
And then last but not least, a Hart’s Tongue Fern. This is for some reason my most favourite fern. I’ve been wanting one for years. There is something about the curl of the leaves that I love. I may have to draw it first, before it takes its place in the garden.
So yesterday was a perfect day. And my birthday celebrations are not over yet! Friday, I’ll have more of my very special people over to make all kinds of pizzas and drink lots of wine. Ah, can’t wait!
Anytime that I’ve grouted a mosiac and had a bit of grout left over, I’d just shape it up into a heart and let it set. Somehow I’ve gotten quite a little collection of cement hearts to put in the garden. In summer they’re often lost in the strawberries and the flowers.
Then of course, being Valentines day, we need a few flowers too. These lovely Bergenias blooming this week in our front garden fill the bill.
Quite a while ago, I took one of those little cement hearts and pasted it down to a little board. Then I had some fun creating a Rosie Valentine with a few broken dishes.
if you’d like even more hearts and valentines today, have a look at an old post of mine about my collection of heart boxes, “A clutter of hearts”, that I posted last July.
Sometimes as you scan the shelves in a thrift store something just calls out to you, reels you in and you know you must have it. Ok I couldn’t resist alluding to fishing terms, but this little fish ornament had me hooked and became the start of this next mosaic. I just loved these little pink fish, even though I had no idea what to do with them.
But then, later that summer, I found a really crazy beach-colored teapot, with a seahorse handle. Check out the under shelf area here.
It also had a rather wonderful lid with a seashell on it.
Well, of course, it all came together, all I needed were a few more fish.
The next step was to create the backing. I thought round, like a porthole. And then how was I to attach the little fishies? I needed shelves. And under the shelves I wanted a curved area. You really don’t want to know what a hassle this was and just how much mastic glue there is under these pieces to create this effect. But I love it. It worked.
Suddenly all the dishes in watery colors and patterns called out to be used. And, along with a nice discovery of using the underside of dishes to create this undulating seaweed feel, everything just flowed together. Just can’t resist the watery terms.
Do you remember those fish ornaments in plaster with bubbles that everyone in the 50’s had in their bathroom? Well, maybe not or maybe yes, depending on your age. Giving mine away again. Well, this is my answer to those plaster fish. And of course, it’s hanging in the watery room of the house, the bathroom.
I just realized that I haven’t carried on with my “inspiration series” for a while and thought of this odd little mosaic to post about today. I call them “The Happy Trio” and they never fail to give me a smile.
I often get my inspiration in a serendipitous manner. Now did you know that the word “serendipity” was coined by Horace Walpole as “the gift of making delightful discoveries by pure accident” in his fairy tale, “The Three Princes of Serendip”? We have adopted it as our motto for years.
My delightful discoveries were the two Japanese figure ornaments that I found in a Thrift shop one day. They were so unique and such good work that I wondered how someone could have given them away. I still wish I knew who the original designer was but there were no tags or identification as is often the case with ornaments. Will found the little cat in the middle, also a Thrift find, and gave it to me, as a present. And right away I knew just where the little cat must be…..
I set the three of them together and wondered how to create a mosaic home for them. The circular back was maybe inspired by the Japanese flag, really I don’t know. It just came to me. I always love the look of checkerboard and somehow it felt right to use that and a modern design behind them.
And the chopsticks? My son, Dave, had given them to me. He was watching me one day, as I was putting the pieces on the back and suggested using them. I’m so glad he did. I think it makes the piece.
So now I present the finished mosaic. Here are the Happy Trio, posing graciously and quite happily under the Bonsai tree.
Serendipity The gift of being able to make delightful discoveries by pure accident. (Coined by Horace Walpole after the “Three Princes of Serendip”, a fairy tale).
My latest student has a dream of creating a mirror with four special tiles and a huge collection of beach pottery shards that she has been collecting for years. When I saw the tiles and her collection of beach pottery I knew instantly that the shards and tiles were meant to be together. But it left me with a problem to solve. I have always avoided using beach pottery shards for mosaic because I was afraid of how grout would react with them. A year ago, I’d seen another mosaic artist use it on a vase and she had reported no problems with it. But I knew I had to try it out for myself. It was time for me to experiment on a small mirror.
Luckily I had been given someone’s entire collection of beach glass and pottery shards over a year ago and added it to my own collection. All those lovely worn, wave-washed pottery shards had been waiting in the greenhouse for this day.
Beach pottery shards feel smooth under your fingertips, their surfaces ground by waves and rocks. Unlike the shiny, grout-repelling porcelain surface you have on new dishes you now have a matte surface, worn and pitted. I wondered if the grout grittiness would ruin the surface and if the colorant in the grout would mar and color the surfaces and sink into the pits. I also wondered if I’d like the matte surface against the grout when I was so used to the jewel-like mixture of dull grout setting off shiny bits and pieces. Well, the only thing to do was try it.
Deciding on a random design, I started applying the pieces as they fit. I wanted to avoid having to cut the shards and preserve the smooth edges that they already had.
After spending a few hours listening to music and getting lost in the meditative world of fitting shards I was soon near the end and pretty happy with the result. I’d taken quite a few breaks, something I always recommend to my students, to stretch and move. It’s so easy to get caught up and give your self a nasty back spasm from being in the same position for too long lost in your work.
I left it all overnight to allow the mastic to set and harden. Tomorrow would be the test. I must admit to some trepidation. I loved the surfaces on some of the shards so much that I was loath to lose them if the experiment failed.
Next day, I mixed up the grout. After a little consideration, I’d chosen a colored grout that coincidentally evoked sandy beaches called Summer Tan. I needed to find out if the grout colorant would be a problem. And if it was a problem, at least this color, which was a bit rusty would at least blend in with the rustiness of some of the shards if it did sink into the pits on the surface.
And the final result? Well, I must admit, it was a little harder to clean off the grout. The matte surfaces held onto the grout and developed a cement sheen that had to be rubbed off and even sponged. I hardly ever use a sponge, preferring instead to only clean with old cotton socks. Oh yes, there is a use for all those old cotton socks with big holes in the heels!
I loved the final look! This surface felt old and worn still and so smooth to the touch. It all looked antique and I wished in the end that I’d used an old worn mirror too. Ah well. Experiment done. I was glad though that I’d used the rusty colored grout, because where it did stay in the pits on the surface it looked natural.
Conclusion: yes it’ll look good and yes it will be a bit more work.. but all very well worth it. And next week we’ll use these results to help my student create her dream.
The Buddha Shrine is finally done. My little Buddha, rescued this summer from the back of a truck full of junk, now sits in splendor, cross legged, quietly contemplating the lotus flower I have bestowed upon him. Will is sure his expression is now one of serenity with just a hint of a smile. All problems have been solved, all has come to it’s inevitable conclusion, all is as it was meant to be.
Well that’s pretty well how it seems to me now, now that it’s all done. The dishes I thought I needed, I didn’t need. The dishes I had and the decisions I made now all seem right, destined even.
I suddenly came to a conclusion about the back and just filled the space with green and blue turquoise dishes. Dishes, I might add, that were in my kitchen cupboard all along. Sometimes I use dishes meant for mosaic for a while and I’d totally forgotten they were there to be used.
The color fit well with the front of the shrine and it also leant a quietness to the design. So another problem solved with no effort.
The edge was done with the little scraps of gold tile I had left and the skinny little pieces seemed to be the right design solution after all.
So yesterday, Will and I donned our rubber gloves and slathered on the grout. The grout color was somehow fittingly called Green Tea, to which I added water colored with just a bit of Phthalo green paint. I wanted the grout to be more turquoise. Oddly that didn’t work either but the color actually became an almost exact match for the Buddha’s antique finish. Another strangely perfect conclusion. I was actually quite pleased when we finally glued him in place and grouted around him, just how well the grout color fit so well with the Buddha.
So here it is, all done. Candles lit. Shown here as he is in daylight.
And then here as he is at night with the glow of the tea lights flickering on his meditation.
Now all I have to do is find a spot for him or a new home where he will be appreciated, where his serene meditation of a lotus flower in front of the tranquil green rippling pond will remind an onlooker to slow a bit and quiet their thoughts. And realize that everything has a way of flowing, just as this little shrine did, to it’s inevitable conclusion.
One of the things I enjoy doing every summer, besides working in the garden, or garage sailing is teaching mosaics. This summer was no exception. I love mosaics, especially pique assiette which is making mosaics with broken dishes and found bits and pieces. And along with that, I really enjoy getting students hooked on mosaics too. So every summer I take a few people through the journey of not knowing much about mosaic or their own innate talent, to going home, four weeks later, with a beautiful finished piece all of their own design and inspiration. Can’t have more fun than that.
Now usually, because I have a very small studio, I only teach one or two and in a pinch, three students at a time. At the end of the summer, when everyone is now curious about what other students have done, I usually have a party/show of work. But this year it was not to be. I got hit with a flu bug at the end of the summer and along with that and other reasons the party just didn’t happen. So instead I’ve decided to post everyone’s work on the blog today. Sort of a mini show. The party would have been more fun, with lots of cookies and iced tea, but hopefully this will be ok too. There will be a couple of students that won’t be included this time, because they haven’t been able to finish their pieces yet. But for now I’d like to present my Summer of 2009 students.
Rahni is, like us, a real recycler.
Rahni with her inspired piece
Her piece has as it’s base part of an abandoned table that she found. She loved the color of the wood which was weathered and gray and quite wonderful. Now the only rule I have is that when we shop in the first class, the Shopping Class, everyone’s favourite, that you can only buy dishes you actually like. And in no time Rahni had found dishes that were absolutely perfect with her weathered table.
Rahni’s table mosaic
From there, with her very strong sense of color and style, it was a wonderful journey for her to the finished piece, a striking and beautiful cityscape made completely from broken dishes.
Everyone who takes my class is encouraged to create their own project. Sometimes, it’s not clear what to make till the shopping class, when suddenly the dishes you find and the objects that you want to mosaic all come together. So it was for my next students, close friends, Jane and Lisa who were a hoot to work with.
Lisa
These two had me laughing constantly. Jane found the perfect mirror frame and Lisa a pot. Both worked in an entirely different manner.
Lisa’s finished piece
Lisa, who had done quilting, zoomed through the dish breaking and worked intuitively, creating a lovely “crazy quilt” of texture and color on her pot.
Jane’s mirror frame completed
Jane, on the other hand, worked in a more deliberate manner and carefully, cutting the dishes into quite small pieces, created a beautiful watery flow of color diagonally across the frame. Their different ways of working were a constant source of fun to them. And you must admit the pot and mirror frame are gorgeous!
Jude came to my class excited that she was finally going to do mosaic. She’d been inspired by a trip to Italy and maybe that was why I found that the dishes she chose just had a bit of a Tuscanny feel to them.
Jude working on her mirror
Together we came up with the Fan design as the base for her mosaic. One little problem was in finishing the corner where all the pattern converges. But serendipitously, she found a little brass fan that just finished that corner perfectly! The result was this almost antique looking piece, striking with it’s blend of earthy tones.
Jude’s finished fan mirror
Now, hopefully, Jude, who I think is going to continue with this new art form, has created a new place to work. I don’t think her husband is going to allow her to keep using his pool table as a work area…
My last three students, were Susan, who’d done a bit of mosaic back in Australia, and her friend Kathryn who had brought along her mom Glenna, both new to mosaic.
Susan, Glenna and Kathryn in the studio
I always encourage everyone to decide on their own project. Susan had sort of decided on a mirror, Kathryn wasn’t sure and Glenna kind of liked the idea of an umbrella stand. Off we went shopping at the Thrift store that evening and Glenna actually found an umbrella stand! Now that was lucky! Kathryn decided to use a pot she found with just the right shape.
Some students need more help, encouragement and direction than others. Susan, was not one of those. She preferred to quietly work on her own.
Susan with her finished mirror
And delightfully came up with a wonderfully flowing design composed of oriental dishes. Quite fabulous.
Kathryn got right into breaking dishes and soon got the knack of intuitively placing all the different designs to create a great overall texture and pattern. She loved the suggestion of creating a new effect around the top of the pot with linear lines from plate edges.
Kathryn’s pot before the grout
The pot was transformed into something quite beautiful!
Glenna had the biggest project and thank goodness was a hard worker. She had been so sure that it would be a complete disaster that I even worried a bit that she would give up before it was done. But in the end, with just a bit of direction and some renewed faith in her choice of color and pattern, the stand was a complete success.
Glenna’s umbrella stand before grouting
A beautiful mixture of greens and blues and yellows that totally transformed the stand into a work of art.
The finished, grouted mosaics! Pretty wonderful eh?
At the end of the last class, we all sat back and surveyed their finished and grouted mosaics from the couch. All had to agree that they had done a wonderful job!
All in all, the summer was a success, I think, for everyone. Everyone had fun. Each had a wonderful piece to add to their homes and for sure, as they all told me, none would ever look at a dish or plate the same way again. From now one they would all look at a dish and wonder how it would look…..broken.
What is it about this little shrine that makes me think that it is becoming a string of problems, one thing after another? Why does it seem like every dish I planned to use on it is either wrong or I don’t have enough of it? Decisions I make and try out, turn out to look all wrong. Frustration is becoming a constant visitor.
Oh, of course, here’s me trying to be as serene as the Buddha, but I can’t. No, it’s not going to happen. No serenity here today. Ok, Helen, Breathe.
I started on the back of the shrine the other day. I thought OK this lovely little plate and this lovely little edge will be perfect. And that part of it is. I’m happy, I’m serene, even, with that. But then I needed to fill in the space. First I just was going to do a mixture of turquoise, bright green (the same plate as the lily leaves on the front) and yellow. This would be picking up the colors in the pattern on the central area. Then I got the bright idea of having a starburst in yellow and then filling in the spaces with greens.
Well, after spending almost a whole afternoon at it and then looking at it again the next day, I decided it didn’t work. Too bright, too whatever, at any rate, I removed it.
Since then I’ve been checking out thrift store dishes every chance I get and nothing, nada, I haven’t found anything that is just right….yet.
Ok never mind, I said to myself. Work on the front.
First, I needed to make a little stand for the teacup that I plan to use for a tea light holder. Will, thank goodness, found the perfect solution, a little piece of dowel, now covered in gold tile.
As you know, I’ve been looking for more of that lovely dark green malachite looking plate. Again, no luck. I used almost every little scrap of the dark green plate to finish the pond. I wanted to rim the pond with it too. So, ever the problem solver, I decided to go with using my tiny cache of gold tiles to rim the pond.
Each little piece of gold had to be cut from an inch square tile, and individually glued on. At last, something that just required some time doing tedious, repetitious work. Strangely, this became an exercise in becoming calm, focusing and patiently working.
Last night, after I glued on the last tiny little bit, I stood back and enjoyed the almost finished front.
But then today, out on my walk, I quickly nipped into the thrift store across the street, looking for the perfect plates to finish the back. Again, no success. OK Helen, Breathe, Relax and Know that you will find the perfect plates yet. They are just still on their way. Be Serene.
One day this summer, on a whim, Will suddenly built this driftwood chair. It’s not exactly sit-able so I think of it as being more of a sculpture. I’ve put off posting it because he keeps adding to it. But for now, it appears to be done… at least until he finds something new for embellishment.
The seat creates a nice spot for my little dish of Hen and Chicks.
Right now we are trying to decide if his latest embellishment, a spiral hanger attached to the back, should be painted something colorful. I’d like that since it would relate to the mosaic chimney in the herb garden.
More color, I always say.
We have these bits of found art all over our garden that, to us, add a great sense of whimsy to the place.
We found the old basin at a demo site years ago, and it’s nicely weathered. It’s a great place to grow succulents and we love it. So do the succulents.
One day, while out walking, Will found this rock tangled up in a piece of rusty wire and it hung on the wall for a long time before we found the perfect circle of rusty wire from an old pot, to pull the whole thing together.
The chime came together last year, oddly enough just before our wedding anniversary. The silver goblet found that day at a garage sale, where else, celebrated some other couples long ago anniversary.
Will put the whole thing together that day as a special gift for me. Friends and relatives have loved it too and he’s made quite a few now from bits and pieces. Seems we’re always looking for good old silverware for another one.
Some of these serendipitous sculptures never really get finished. Will just keeps adding to them.
I like to call this one his bird playground and one day he added this rusty colander to it. Just the right addition.
The Buddha shrine is slowly coming along. I haven’t had much time to work on it in the last little while but I did manage to get the base that the Buddha is resting on covered in gold tile. I did say it’s a slow art, didn’t I?
The gold tile is from a stash of Italian tile that I picked up at a garage sale years ago. There is very little of it left and I do what I can to stretch it out. A sneaky way to do that is to cut the tile up into smaller pieces. Luckily the brick pattern I chose perfectly fit the space.
The top of the base where the Buddha sits meditating was filled in with tile while the statue was in place. Much the best way to ensure that by grouting time the space where he will be glued down is exactly right. Right now you can see the broken raw edge of the Buddha statue around the bottom, but trust me, when I grout this, it will all look great and be hidden. I’m considering a sort of verdigris color of grout.
I’ve been doing some of what I call “fine fitting” to make all the little spots left on the back fit well. One of my students this summer, a nurse, left me a pair of forceps and I must admit they’ve come in very handy when fitting tiny bits of mosaic in tight spaces.
I always tell my students to grab all they can if they see a plate that they know they love and will use. Why oh why didn’t I follow my own advice? I’d seen two of these plates a few weeks back in a thrift shop but had the idea that I had much more of it than I actually did and didn’t buy them. Last weekend I hit as many thrift shops as I could, but no luck. Ah well, I’ll keep looking but I may have to come up with another solution for the raw edge around the pond.
All in all, though, I’m quite pleased with how it’s progressing. At the moment my next decision is whether or not to mosaic the back of the stand behind the statue. Will it find a home against a wall? Will the back be seen when it’s all done? On the other hand, it does give it a finished look. Oh, more decisions. But I may find just the right plates and that will make the decision easier. I’d still love to find some sort of feet to put under the stand. Wish me luck.
