In the Studio

Due to having the flu and a head cold, I’m not working much in the studio this week. The gazing balls are coming along well, in spite of a halt in the momentum. I’m half way through #8 and will grout them all very soon.

While I was laying down I noticed the view from my sick bed. Mosaics! These photos aren’t very good but I wasn’t feeling well when I took them. The reason I am sharing is because of the iridescent glass shining in the darker light just before the sun goes down. Amazing.

In spite of being sick, I have been active again this week with tumblr and making treasury’s often. I have been sitting at the computer more this week because I can’t stand very long just yet. This bug really hit me hard. This morning I made one called “Just Breathe”.  It features two teammates from the 24/7 Treasury Team.

Yesterday I made 4 treasury’s (see previous post) and tomorrow I’ll do 4 more. Someone asked me recently why I promote so many other shops and not my own as passionately. In truth, I am very passionate about my art but I have found the folks that like it, have seen it often and pushing it in my social circle is considered spam in my eyes. While I don’t feel that I need to defend how I choose to spend my time on Etsy, I do think I need to explain how enjoyable it is for me to spend time virtual shopping and finding other great shops to feature in the treasury’s I make.

I like finding new items made by others and showing them to the people who know my style preferences and my art. Sharing items I find made or found by others makes me happy and also introduces my shop to new people in a round-about way. The folks who share the treasury’s they are in, introduce 16 shops plus the curator’s shop each time they do. It takes a while to have folks check out my shop and sometimes it doesn’t happen at all. However, every so often I’ll have a day filled with items from my shop being favorited by other Etsians who found me through a treasury I’ve either been lucky enough to be in or have curated. Some favorite the treasury itself, which is a great honor. In turn, their circles get to see what they have favorited. And around it goes. We all pay it forward in our own way. An item has been chosen for at least one treasury a week since I’ve opened my shop again on Oct 1st. I think my way of sharing and showing how awesome so many people are is the right thing for me to do. I love what I do and the way I do it.

On that note, I think a favorite quote from my favorite inspirational leader is in order:

“Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life.”~Dr. Wayne Dyer

Stay peaceful.

☼-EarthMotherMosaics

©2011 Cindy White, EarthMotherMosaics

In the Studio

Custom Order: Is coming along very well. I’m about 1/2 way finished now. Yay! As I finish each ball (not yet grouted) I place them inside a 12×12 box and set them aside. They are out of the way and won’t roll around.

the work area

I have learned through the years that creating triangles almost always causes a cut or two no matter how much I try to keep the edges from snagging or being too sharp. Every time I move these balls I find if I pick them up too quickly, I get hurt. Sometimes using mirror makes it difficult to grind without losing the foiling on the back. It is best to remind the people around these kinds of mosaics to handle with extreme care. Hopefully once grouted they will lose a little of their “bite”. But they are sharp right now. OwWWeeee.

some of the assembly line ... ready for grout

New Mosaics: I took myself away from the gazing balls for a day and spent it grouting all the mosaics I had waiting their turn very patiently. In one day I grouted 5 pieces. It doesn’t sound like a lot but it took me close to 10 hours to do them. 2 hours per piece is the average for me. Some are easy and quick to grout while others take many hours. Clean up, polishing and sealing takes time too.

Sometimes I like the look of what the grout does to pieces of glass that have creases in it or marks of some kind and I leave the grout in those pieces. Other times I will stare at one piece of glass perplexed as to HOW to get it clean enough to suit me. I have an entire drawer filled with tools, so I can’t use not having the right tool as an excuse. It’s more the way it looks … if it’s pleasing to the eye as it is or will it lose some appeal if I start digging and cleaning up spots that bug me. I put those aside and go back to them often. The candle luminary I just listed this morning was one of those. In the end, I left most of the grout on the pieces that bugged me. I like it!

I think all of them will get listed on Etsy this week or within the week. I wasn’t going to list wall art on Etsy again this time around; the piece below is an exception. It is a framed mirror but I covered the mirror with tempered glass. That means it’s no longer a frame nor is it a mirror. But it fits into the frame category in my mind, so that’s that. I could post it in the blogger shop but I think it’ll hang out on the Etsy shop for a bit and see how it goes.

purple tones candle luminary

The newest addition to the luminary family is all in pinks/purples. The same colors were used in the bowl below.

upcycled glass bowl

Love that grape!

Grouted the tray in white to give it a Shabby Chic look.

Upcycled Shabby Chic Porcelain Tray

The bowl below was a piece that was with my Great Aunt for years sitting in a corner collecting dust. When she passed away I got this (along with the glass bowl and porcelain tray above as well as lots of other treasures) and figured I’d add a mosaic to it at some point. When I picked it up out of the box a few years ago it fell apart. I tried really hard to glue it, fix it, give it TLC. After many applications of glue it stayed together. I used a green oil based paint on it and it didn’t stay on too well, puddling under the base of the bowl and left small round drops — very visible. I tried a few things to get rid of them but each time I tried something it just didn’t “take”. I didn’t want to sand it because it had some green around it that I wanted to keep. Leaving it alone was my decision. I covered the entire thing in dish shards and they fell off except for the center, I’m assuming because of the stain that was on the wood when it was first made or perhaps from polish my Aunt may have used on it. I put it aside for a while to give me time to think about what to do. I didn’t want to lose the wood to primer. On Monday I decided to take advantage of all the patinas it has acquired, quite by accident thanks to me, giving it many imperfections and leave them all. I covered the exposed wood with a tint of Burnt Umber and oil and allowed the green to come through the tint where it wanted to, puddled droplets on it’s undercarriage and all. I’m pleased with it. It’s not perfect but it has a lot of character. Just like me. 🙂

wooden bowl

no longer fresh and new but still beautiful to me

The last piece is the framed mirror that is now wall art. Crescent moon, swirls within a night blue sky that lightens as the bright sun wakes up to shine brightly. We’re to have gloomy skies for the next few days so hopefully when the sun comes out again and I can get some more photos taken because in the sun, this rocks. My eye starts at the top left swirl and goes down to the sun. I had trouble naming this one. Sometimes they “speak” to me as I work on them, but this one was more “vocal” about it’s color choices and design. A tentative name for this is: Night Into Day. What do you think?

The sides are covered in iridescent rust stained glass. The back will be painted in gray today, I think, and D-ring will be re-attached. These frames were constructed really well so it should hold this 3.6 lb piece of art without a problem.

Challenge Piece: This isn’t a mosaic … yet … but it might end up becoming a mixed media piece with mosaic somewhere in it or around it. Or it could end up in the garbage. This is grout that dried in an old container while I was busy wrangling grandchildren. When it plopped out in one piece I immediately saw a piece of art. When I look at it now, I see something magical around it, like faeries. Which means glitter, of course. 😉 So this won’t stay a dark piece for long. How to get what I see into reality … that’s the challenge. Check back here to see how it’s going because right now I see what I want to do but I don’t know exactly how to do it. I gladly accept the challenge!

this way?

or this way??? hmmmmm ...

Etsy News: Last week I talked about the teams I’m active with and I have more news in regards to that this week as well. I am very happy to announce that EarthMotherMosaics has been chosen as one of the 5 Featured Shops on the Promoting Creative Friends blog! Please check it out, and if you have an Etsy shop add your link to it. It’s a great team; I’m so pleased to be part of it!

http://pcfteam.blogspot.com/

Tomorrow is another virtual shopping day for me sharing the Shops of the Day through the PCF Team which means 4 more treasury’s for me to create! Woo-hoo!

Tumblr: Don’t forget to hop on over to “Eye for Design and Color”. This week my theme is red!

http://earthmothermosaics.tumblr.com/

Stay peaceful.

☼-EarthMotherMosaics

©2011 Cindy White, EarthMotherMosaics

In the Studio

Happy Wednesday. It’s a beautiful Autumn day here in PA!

outside my window: beautiful blue skies and my inspiration tree

What’s New: This week has been dedicated to the custom order. A few weeks are left to get the remaining gazing balls covered in glass and all of them grouted, polished to perfection and sent on their way! Hazzah!!

It’s been a long, long process and I’ve learned so much, not only about how to take very little money and a lot of imagination and actually create something beautiful (times 10), but I learned a lot about myself as well. I don’t give up; I regroup, rethink, reorganize and take the detour to keep moving forward. I bounced ideas off of the fam and used the feedback to find a solution.

I’m proud of myself! Never, not once, did I think: “I can’t do this”.

There was a time when I’d not only try to do it all by myself and verbally beat myself up for failing, but I’d never have even listened to anyone’s ideas or tried things I was not familiar with. I’ve grown a lot as a person because of this custom order. I’m grateful to have been asked to do it.

I don’t ever expect anyone to need to make these in the way I did them but I will share how they were created after the holidays at some point. Lots of experimenting, research and finally decisions were made on the development. I’ll also share links of all the places, once again, that I used to get the supplies I eventually needed. If you’re into this kind of stuff, it’s an interesting tale.

adding colorant to the adhesive (thin set) gives a more uniform look to the gazing balls before they are grouted

The colors in this picture aren’t true for some reason. I did tweak the photo a lot to try to get it more “real” in color but couldn’t. It’s still a nice color combination and as I always say, you can’t truly appreciate my mosaics unless you see them in person!

Etsy: There’s been a lot of activity this week over at Etsy! I joined this great team called Promoting Creative Friends Team and have started becoming active with it this week. Making treasury’s to share the love is a big part of what this team is about. I’m very happy to say that over a 1/2 dozen items of mine have been featured within the past few days in different treasury’s. That’s gotta be some kind of record for me! Definitely a “personal best”. 🙂

As many of you know, my shop was just re-opened in October and I’m starting completely over. As many of you also know, I spend a good amount of time promoting it and my items through Facebook and on the blogs I have. It’s so nice to find teams with the same goals, to help me find new people to gather into my circle, “favorite” an item I’ve made and feature them in their own treasury’s. In turn, I do the same for them. It’s a pleasure! Thank you all for making my week awesome!

I think all the teams I belong to on Etsy are terrific and I’m proud to be apart of each and every one of them. To give them all equal time, the links are:

Promoting Creative Friends Team: http://www.etsy.com/teams/10036/promoting-creative-friends

Creative Mosaics Artists Team: http://www.etsy.com/teams/5739/creative-mosaic-artists-team

123 Treasury Promo Team: http://www.etsy.com/teams/9313/123-treasury-promo-team

Upcyclers: http://www.etsy.com/teams/6610/upcyclers

Blogging Buddies: http://www.etsy.com/teams/7491/blogging-buddies

Etsy Marriage: http://www.etsy.com/teams/8733/etsy-marriage

The last one, Etsy Marriage, is a cool concept. Finding people who make and sell items that compliment yours. You share their links on your page with that item and visa versa. I am still looking for a partner(s) but I’d love to team up with someone who sells scented soy candles to be used with the stained glass luminaries I make. It would also be cool to find a copper and/or metal smith who makes stands for gazing balls.

The one I couldn’t do without is the Creative Mosaic Artists Team. They are my people!! They allow me to ramble daily, if necessary and it always seems to be necessary, about life’s ups and downs and are always supportive. I have been so fortunate to find a large group of people within the Etsy community who are kind, give shoulders when needed, jump with joy when you are featured in a treasury or sell an item, (((hug))) you if you need it. I’d never have gotten through the tough times over the past year without this group and now that times are a little easier, they are right there with me to share in my happiness. Thank you all! ❤

Non-Mosaic Fun: I had some left over thin set again recently so I made more “Chunks of Art”. I have discovered the colorant dries out the thin set if it sits too long a lot faster than it would if I didn’t use it. That, in turn, makes the dried thin set in the molds crumbly and fall apart if I don’t add them to the mold in time. I also learned that metal or aluminum molds (can lids) don’t work too well but plastic ALWAYS does. Because my molds are made using lids from containers mostly and tossed away packaging, sometimes it is a bit of a gamble as to what will happen overnight while the thin set dries. A few times the thin set just fell apart when I tried to get it out of the molds. This is partly due to the fact that I am almost at the bottom of a 50 lb bag of thin set as well. I don’t have a container big enough to hold it all once the bag is open just yet but I know others use the big plastic kitty litter containers (empty of course) for both thin set and grout. I’ve seen people use the big storage containers found at the thrift stores too. Great ideas!!

before and after: a piece of sturdy plastic from a new set of ear buds can be used to create art

When I concluded that using plastic was the only thing to use for a mold in this case, I’ve been able to make quite a few “Chunks of Art” without them falling apart if I get the used thin set in there before it starts to dry out.

The other day I was cutting glass up and using the bottom of the container to hold it and had the lid with thin set in it drying from the night before. Once it was dried completely I popped it out, cleaned off the lid and plopped it right back on the container, holding the cut pieces of glass securely. Gotta love the versatility of it all!

future fridge magnet

small but awesome wall art!

"Chunks of Art" - small wall art - these could make great stocking stuffers!

The last two will get hangers on them. I love them all but the very last one is my favorite. On these, I used permanent marker, acrylics and toothpicks. 🙂

Stay peaceful.

☼-EarthMotherMosaics

©2011 Cindy White, EarthMotherMosaics

Friday’s Featured Item: “Peace Sign Mosaic Vintage Retro Pique Assiette – Green Earth”

The story behind this peace sign is not unusual when it comes to the way I approach my work. I knew I wanted to use vintage dishes and I knew I wanted them all to be complimentary in color using earth tones.

Not making many plans as to the set up or placement, which is also normal for me, I started out with a general idea as to what I was going to use and how but allowed the design to unfold as the tiles and glass were being glued down.

For this peace sign, I used hand cut vintage dish tiles (referred to as Pique Assiette which is a style of mosaic that incorporates pieces of broken ceramics such as plates, cups and tiles and other found objects into the design) in greens and browns in many retro designs that were donated, bought and salvaged, hand cut stained glass in brown and a few different shades of green, square glass green beads with a cool yellow flower in the center, Millefiori in geometric designs in burgundy and lime, glass rods hand nipped in small pieces of green, decorative gems in white, green and frost green and lime green glass tiles. Grouted in gray to give the tesserae (a term used for pieces of any kind of mosaic material) in my mosaic the pop we all love when using grout.

Painted in apple green acrylic on the back and along the inside of the symbol, the sides are trimmed with ribbon in a similar green with very small white polka dots. A D-ring has been attached for hanging. Signed, dated and sealed.

Measurements: 10 inches round.

Knowing only that I wanted this peace sign to have an earthy look to it, when I first started making it I was determined to keep it condensed to a few colors and that was it. I often have a way of wanting to use every color I find in the range of the colors I want and sometimes it is just too much. This time, however, I think the blending of color was a fairly good match and I’m quite pleased with the results. I think the time and effort shows in this peace sign and the vibe that it sends is soothing, earthy and peaceful. Exactly what I was hoping to achieve!

This groovy, earth-inspired piece of wall art can be found in my shop on Etsy.

Peace Sign Mosaic Vintage Retro Pique Assiette - Green Earth

Price: $70.75

Price includes shipping, insurance and handling to the US. Please convo me for international shipping quotes.

 http://www.etsy.com/shop/earthmothermosaics

Stay peaceful.

☼-EarthMotherMosaics
©2011 Cindy White, EarthMotherMosaics

In the Studio

Recycle, Repurpose, Reuse, Upcycle: There’s been some fun in the studio this week playing with leftover thin set! As usual, I look at everything that comes through here with a creative eye and the single thought: “what could this be now that it’s no longer used for it’s intended purpose?”

When we purchase new things here that come in hard plastic wrappers, often we cut along the outer edges to get whatever is encased inside out carefully. What’s left, is a lot of pieces of plastic that can’t be used to hold the toy, ear buds, cell phone, etc but it could still have some purpose as a new piece of art!

Of course this could lead to hoarding if the mindset is right. I don’t recommend saving everything that passes through your home “just because we could use it some day”, but I do think using something once or twice more before throwing it away is a very good thing to try to do. And if those odd pieces of broken things are dishes or jewelry, you CAN use it now to create a piece of art. Don’t save them for “some day”.

Mosaics, of course, are the way I use them but many use them for mixed media pieces, or gathering them up and creating something really fun with them as my friends at ReClaim2Fame on Etsy do!

Robot Dachshund - STRETCH - assemblage sculpture - Reclaim2Fame, Price: $255.00

http://www.etsy.com/shop/reclaim2fame

See how looking at something that is no longer useful as it is, as something else artistic and fun can come in handy? I love this shop and always enjoy seeing their new creations. Aren’t they cool?!

Just seeing things in a slightly different way is all that’s needed to have some fun and help keep the landfills less crowded.

These photos are of a piece of plastic that came from a doll who had a pair of boots in it’s package. It is sitting in a container that was used to hold my lunch but now will get filled up with glass and/or dish shards as I work on the next project. While obviously these are no longer needed by the child as a holder for her doll’s boots and the lunch is now gone, they are both still useful pieces of plastic. The clear plastic piece could serve as a mold for leftover thin set!

clear plastic held a doll's boots

Turned another way or looked at with different eyes, the piece of plastic could be used as a mold for some cool shapes.

turned this way it could be a mold for two small comfy mod chairs made out of thin set

I was just given this one so I’ve not used it yet, but I appreciate it when my family asks me: “can you use this?” before just tossing it away. They know, there is a good possibility that I can not only use it, at least once, but create something out of it!

Last week, I used a jar lid and a piece of plastic used to hold ear buds to add my leftover thin set to. The thin set was used for the gazing balls. I had worked all day and was ready to stop but I had thin set left in the container. It was too much to toss out, too little to start another ball which would mean I’d have to mix up more and continue and I was ready to sit down and relax. I looked through the drawers of my work station and found a few things that I saw with different eyes. A jar lid and a piece of plastic could turn out to look really cool with a little creativity.

I carefully lined the inside of each “mold” with a little petroleum jelly and poured the remainder thin set into each one and allowed it to sit overnight. Once solid, I painted them in cool designs and just had fun with them. I call them “Chunks of Art”.

The next time I go into the craft store I’m picking up some of those heavy duty magnets and making this fridge art. Woo!!

Measures: 1-1/2 x 2 x 1/2 inches

This cool oblong shape is painted with gray interior paint and acrylics, the lines are drawn on with perm. marker. I used the plastic piece twice before it split in a bad spot and I had to throw it away.

Measures: 2-3/4 inches

The jar lid had a great shape to it and I knew I’d do something retro with the designs on both. This too will eventually get a magnet or two on it.

Because I enjoyed making these two, I will continue to experiment with shapes.

These would make great stocking stuffers so that means next year I just might have enough to give, sell and share. Awesome!!

Look around your home. Do you see something that might no longer be useful as it is but could be used as a piece of art or given to someone who is creative and could use it?

Below is a beer bottle I’ve covered in dish shards. I was looking around the kitchen one day and thought how cool these smaller bottles were. I like to use wine bottles to mosaic but never considered doing the same thing to a beer bottle. I think it looks so cool and can hold a single flower or an incense stick. I may have shared this photo before but I think it’s worth another look. 😉

beer bottle transformed into a flower bud vase (not for sale) and small tea light luminary which is available in my shop on Etsy

Planetary activity: I mentioned last week that the glow from the gazing balls is pretty amazing when the sun hits them just right. I managed to capture what I see on a daily basis and wanted to share that here.

EarthMotherMosaics' mirror gazing balls making star-like reflections

Etsy News: And speaking of my garden art gazing balls, this week I was honored to have the custom ordered item for them featured in a Treasury. It’s got a blue theme and is so pretty! Please take the time to click on the photo below and take a look!

Tumblr News: The theme this week is “Recycle Repurpose Reuse” and I’ve found some seriously phenomenal items on Etsy this week for it. On Saturday I will share the week in a photo blog here but if you want to see them as I find them, follow me on tumblr:

http://www.tumblr.com/blog/earthmothermosaics

Have a great week. Stay peaceful.

☼-EarthMotherMosaics
©2011 Cindy White, EarthMotherMosaics