Lynn's Mosaics

My Mosaics Blog Has Moved

amothersjournal — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 17:31:02 +0000

Please go to:

mosaics.innatelygray.com

Thanks!

Lynn

The Birdbath’s Outside

amothersjournal — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 15:58:40 +0000

The inside is all dry, so now it’s time for the outside of the birdbath to be done. To work on the outside of a birdbath, I turn my birdbath upsidedown and put it on a supporting structure that’s covered in a protective towel. I do not want to mess up what I have already done!!

The pieces can slide, so you must make sure the adhesive is thick enough to not run away with your tesserae! If the pieces are large and heavy enough to really move around, I work on only small areas at one time.

New dishes and a plant in bloom

amothersjournal — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 20:31:40 +0000

I went to the thrift store this morning and picked up a few old dishes for breaking up and using in my mosaic work.

I also took some time today to walk through the garden. My akebia is in bloom, also known as chocolate vine. Had I known it was so highly invasive and undesirable, I would not have bought it. It does, however, have a beautiful and wonderfully-scented bloom.

Sleeping Gnome Under the Birdbath

amothersjournal — Fri, 23 Mar 2007 13:45:01 +0000

I went out this morning and caught this gnome asleep under a birdbath in my garden. Should I wake him up?

Safety Glasses for Working with Mosaics

amothersjournal — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 12:16:10 +0000

You should always wear safety glasses for protecting your eyes when working with mosaics or tiles or any project, for that matter.

Here are the glasses I use. I also have some that completely touch my face and fit over snugly over the bridge of my nose for when I am working with glass that is really prone to shatter and fly away in small shards.

Even though these glasses are “open” somewhat in design, they do come around and cover the sides of my eyes and they fit close to my face in the front.

Keeping the Work Area Clean

amothersjournal — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 11:41:21 +0000

You will notice that my workbench has slats across the top which leave space for pieces to fall through. I do NOT want glass and tile shards all over the place, so I use an old, large metal tray to actually cut my tile over. This makes it easy to sweep any shards into the trash can.

NOTE: Pieces of tile can fly away when you clip or cut them! ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS wear safety glasses!!!!

How to make a potting bench or workbench

amothersjournal — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 11:38:47 +0000

One of my favorite tools is the potting bench or workbench that I made. Here is a link to how this was done.

http://www.thehealthyhomeschool.com/pottingbench.html

How To Make A Mosaic Birdbath

amothersjournal — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 11:36:05 +0000

So far I have posted about the design process and some of the tools I use to make a mosaic birdbath. Here is a photo of all the tesserae put in place with mortar.

It will have to dry for at least 24 hours before I carefully begin my work on the outside of the birdbath.

Adhering Tiles in Mosaics

amothersjournal — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 11:31:47 +0000

In order to place the tile pieces onto the base you are working on, you can either spread the mortar or adhesive all over the area you are working on, or you can “butter” the back of each individual piece. Buttering has been my preferred method for most of the birdbath work I have done.

You can see a bit about the consistency of the mortar. It will not drip off in this small amount. It is thick enough to stick to the piece. However, a large dollop of the mortar would not stick to the knife against gravity.

What kind Of mortar to use for Mosaics

amothersjournal — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 11:26:57 +0000

For all of my projects outside, I use a thinset, or a cement-based mortar. I mix it to a consistency of a soft oatmeal. Not runny, but not so thick that it won’t drip off of the plastic picnic knife that I use to work with.

You can mix in PVA (a white glue) to make the bond stronger, although I have never found the need to do this. I am in gardening zone 7 and all of my pieces outside have withstood freezing and thawing for up to four years and are still going strong.