In the Studio

Whew it has been a creative week in the studio! I love the ebb and flow of the tides. It feels great to be active again. Busy, busy week!

I decided to play with more cut up, old business cards while I was waiting for glue to dry on the mosaics I made this week. I finished the “Groovy Chicken”.

For a first attempt, it’s kinda cool. It is slightly crooked and I’m not sure if it’s the placement on the wood of the card or the card itself but it’s crooked just the same. It’s okay but if I had a do-over, I’d make sure it was a little straighter, for sure. It IS cute, isn’t it?

I started in on another one too. Butterflies. This one will have layers on it, I think … more mixed media and not just paper … I’ll share what I do when I do it. If I get enough made I’ll list them on indiemade.com exclusively. I’m still playing and learning, so that won’t be anytime soon.

I grouted a lot yesterday and have all 4 things finished. I’m cleaning up and polishing all of them still and will have to paint the MDF pieces but all should be listed by Friday. I’m thrilled that I found the energy to grout them all in one day!

Here’s the gazing ball in it’s work-in-progress:

This is one of the spheres I started to build up last year for the large order that was rejected. I have so many sitting around me here in my room in all sizes and in a few different materials. I had so much fun covering this 8 inch sphere in bone china (built up from 6 inches) and recycled silver mirror. I was shocked that I was enjoying it so much. I’m actually anxious to make the next one and have some mesh to get some designs on — maybe some suns and moons?

Here it is waiting for the glue to dry (keeping my Chakra ball and a few other mosaics company):

Now it’s grouted in white and waiting for a bit of clean up! Yay!

Next is “Vincent’s Moon”. This crescent moon is grouted in plum and I LOVE how it looks. I wish the photos were better but I was losing sun when I took the photos yesterday. It’s name is due to my daughter and another family member who said that it looks like the swirls and colors Van Gogh used.

Grouting in progress:

And finished:

The peace butterfly was grouted in brown:

And a sun catcher/trivet all in blues that remind me of waves of water, was grouted in white.

Before grout:

After grout:

I made a sale this week! Yippy Skippy! I’m always thrilled, of course, when one of my items sells but this one was especially making me feel victorious. I sold the stained glass vase I had only listed the week before. This item was on consignment and when I got all the items back from the shop, I listed most of them. Nothing sold that I put in consignment and the shop changed their venue so that my mosaics were out of place and consequently packed up and stored for many months unseen anyway. It was with a very happy heart that after taking some updated photos and listing it, it sold! The best part is that I got a note from the buyer who was sending it to someone else as a gift. There have been a few mosaics sold recently that were being sent off to another person. Giving a mosaic gift is a wonderful thing! I’ve since added in my policies on Etsy (and soon will add them to indiemade.com) to let me know if it’s a gift and I’ll add a card and wrap it up. I don’t get too fancy with expensive papers or ribbons but some pretty tissue paper makes it a little more special.

Sold and on it’s way to someone as a gift.

I’ve also decided to double box all the items I ship. I’ve not yet had anything break in transit that I’m aware of, but as a precaution besides the bubble wrap and packing peanuts I use to ship my items out, I feel it is worth the extra effort and gives me more of a sense of security. This made the shipping prices go up a bit on Etsy (soon to be reflected on indiemade.com as well) because it is important enough to me to make sure they get safely where they are going.

I recently made a purchase on Etsy too! I got this beautiful necklace for my daughter’s 25th birthday (tomorrow). I really love this shop and had a hard time just picking out one item on it. I will definitely be back!

A silver tree necklace from Reina Jewelry on Etsy for my daughter. Isn’t it pretty?!

I have been saying I need to focus on the new site over at IndieMade a little more and have yet to do it. I am hoping now that I’ve made a few mosaics and the muse may need to rest a bit before the next wave, I can spend a week on that and get it where I’d like it to be. It does take time but I have been uninspired to do much with it just yet.

Today’s only task is to clean up and photograph the newly grouted pieces to get them listed within the next few days. Friday’s Featured Item might just be one of the new listings.

Be at Peace.

☼-EarthMotherMosaics
©2012 Cindy White, EarthMotherMosaics

In the Studio

My goodness this will be a long one! So sit back and relax, look at the awesome mosaics and read what’s been going on.

As you may recall, I took a week off to get elbow deep into creating in the studio. It was so much fun and lasted slightly longer than I expected!

The results are plentiful and I’m still in the groove working on new things each day. My mind is expanding more and more each time I work on something new. It’s been so long since I’ve felt this way and I LOVE it! I’m so very glad I broke away from the computer for a while. It has reminded me once again what many say, including me, that spending more time at the crafts table and less time on the computer can be a good thing for at least a week each month. I keep saying I should do that, often grump that I don’t and use the lack of energy as my excuse. Instead, I plan to mark off two weeks each month on the calendar and only spend it working on art. It will make my living space crowded but creativity is an important part of who I am, so I will deal with it! That means when the spirit moves me, which may change from month-to-month — I can’t set a certain time aside for creativity … it just doesn’t work that way for me — I may be gone for a week to 10 days to spend the time contemplating the next and the next after that.

When I can, I’ll alert everyone here that I may be gone for a while. It seems I need to honor the muse while she is awake and bursting with energy and so it shall be!

Sometimes when October rolls around, creativity takes a hike and goes to sleep, hibernating for the winter. That should be when I spend the most time promoting, networking, photographing and marketing what I’ve created once the frenzy has subsided instead of trying to share everything as I go. However, that would require restraint on my part and I’m not sure I could rein myself in enough to wait that long. I have to at least show some WIP’s!

A lot of ideas came into mind as I was looking at the dishes, stained glass and other cool objects I use to create. I did some more reorganizing, cleaning and straightening too which was a great boost to the energy level. I decided to start a new challenge piece which is still in the “in my head, not even on paper” stage so there’s nothing to share just yet.

Now to get to the fun part! Here are a few things I made that are ready for grout.

Here’s a gazing ball I just started and a cool shot of some of the tess I’m using for it:

And here’s another holiday mosaic ready for the end of the year madness. I’m really pleased with this and am ready now to work on other things. The big green glass piece is fused and something I found in a box filled with different fused glass created in the early 1980’s by a stained glass artist no longer with us. These pieces were all clumped together in a box filled with wood shavings and garbage. I know she thought of them as failures. I never met her but when I saw them in the box and noticed how many pieces I had, I knew I’d have to use them in my mosaics. They still have purpose. Look how pretty this is!

I took pictures of quite a few things that came back from consignment recently and listed them on Etsy last week. I am glad to see them again as I missed them just a bit. But I’m ready to send them off whenever anyone is ready to purchase them!

Pique Assiette Mosaic Tray, Flowers, Vintage, Cottage Chic, Silver, Wedding, Anniversary, Birthday
Price: $31.52

Pique Assiette Decorative Mosaic Bird House, Vintage, Recycled, Reused, Re-purposed, Cottage Chic, Summer Decor
Price: $86.00

Mosaic Stained Glass Butterfly, Orange, Black, Yellow, Meditation, Tranquility
Price: $43.26

Mosaic Vase, Candle Holder, Stained Glass, Green, Blue, Summer Decor
Price: $48.61

Stained Glass Mosaic Sun Catcher, Mosaic Trivet, Green, Summer, Woodland, Birthday, Housewarming
Price: $33.66

Mosaic Ceramic Coasters, Neutral, Olive, Home Decor, Graduation, Birthday
Price: $30.72

I listed the new things I made recently too. This shows how busy I’ve been at the crafts table!

Stained Glass Geometric Mosaic Framed with Mirror, Summer, Green, Yellow, Graduation, Birthday
Price: $87.66

Stained Glass Mosaic Sun Catcher, Mosaic Trivet, Summer, Red Hot, Red, Yellow, Orange, Birthday, Housewarming
Price: $26.55

I’ve also been looking at some older mosaics I made when I first started making them with different eyes. I have decided to place them on indiemade.com for sale. This is a huge step for me and I’m proud of myself for taking it.

They will be photographed and treated with as much respect as any other mosaics I have made but the price will be slightly lower than most pieces. I have a few frames and quite a bit of small and medium sized wall art that were learning pieces for me.

In making them, I learned what I liked to use to make mosaics. What adhesive is my favorite, what tesserae I use more often, what abstract design I like to use with certain materials, what grout I prefer. I have grown a lot in my mosaics and I can see the difference in the way I nip things, place things, even how I see the combinations of colors I now use. I’m no longer afraid of grout like I used to be when I started. I love to experiment and try different things and I’ve seen the progression in my work, like most do, I suppose.

I’ve been holding onto these items because I felt they weren’t “good enough” to sell but in truth my feelings were all of an emotional nature thinking back on when I was taking my first steps, so to speak. I just didn’t want them to go away.

While it is true they aren’t as “perfect” as I like my work to be, they are nice pieces, some useful and many are really not being given the TLC perhaps someone else could give them. I’ve learned from them and they are priceless for that reason. But that doesn’t mean I need to hold onto them now. They’ve taught me all I can learn from them. It’s time to let them go.

I wanted to give them away but almost every person I mentioned that to said I should try to sell them first because, lets face it, I could use the money. True enough. So there you have it! New items, at a slightly reduced price, will be listed on indiemade.com within the next month.

I don’t expect much traffic at first but hopefully as time goes on, people will find the website. I’m working on the site when I have a good chunk of time to think about it in between my Nana gig. There’s still a lot to do on it but in time, it will look like I want it, I know.

I will do an announcement here when I have started listing them. It would be nice to see them go to someone who will love them like I do. And I hope there are folks out there who can find room for them in their home or as a nice gift for someone special.

I have listed a few pendants on IndieMade but ran out of steam after listing all the consignment pieces on Etsy. All the wearable art will be listed on earthmothermosaics.indiemade.com ONLY. Hopefully I’ll get back to getting more jewelry and belt buckles up on my shop very soon. I still have many, many photographs to take!

Mosaic Pendant – Pewter Yellow – 1-2/4 x 3/4 inches
Price: $15.00

Mosaic Pendant – Copper Yellow, Brown and Blue-green – 1.5 x 1 inches
Price: $18.00

Mosaic Pendant – Copper Hearts – 3/4 inches
Price: $13.50

Mosaic Pendant – Pink – 3/4 inches
Price: $9.50

Mosaic Pendant – Copper Orange and Blue – 1.5 x 1 inches
Price: $18.00

Mosaic Pendant – Pewter Beach Blue and Silver – 1.5 x 1 inches
Price: $18.00

Mosaic Pendant – Pewter Circle Iridescent Blue and Purple – 1 inch
Price: $15.00

Mosaic Pendant – Copper Orange Glitter and Brown – 1.5 x 1 inches
Price: $18.00

Even after all these years of making mosaics, I’m still learning what I like to use, how I like to work, the ebb and flow of creativity. I am learning to listen more to the inner spirit and give it the attention it deserves. My goodness it’s been yelling at me for years, it is about time I really listened.

I hope you enjoy looking at all the new listings! Be prepared … more are on their way! 🙂

I found this on Facebook and shared it there, on Pinterest, Tumblr and now here. It’s perfectly written and describes how I feel to a “T”!

Be at Peace.

☼-EarthMotherMosaics
©2012 Cindy White, EarthMotherMosaics