"Fancy Lady" Mosaic

Another project as a result of the Tuesday "Milwaukee Rec Dept Craft Club" is a mosaic. We've played around creating mosaics with paper and jewelry, but this time got serious. For several weeks we talked about what we might use as a base, and what to use as mosaic pieces. Our teacher brought in quite a few different types of tile from "Hobo".  She also found oblong wooden trays at "Goodwill" so we now had our base. My base came from my basement - a round wooden tray someone had given me many years ago.

For the mosaic pieces, my first thought after visiting the local dollar store was to use pebbles or glass gems. I did test out the glass gems by gluing them on a glass candle holder but didn't want to use them on a tray. Instead I found shinny glass tiles at "Home Depot".

The day I brought them to class, our craft teacher also brought in some four inch painted tiles to use as a focal point. There were several really cool designs, but I really like the fancy lady. Using the adhesive, I set the fancy lady tile off center and swirled the glass tiles around her. The grout we were using was white. I wanted to soften that and try to match the light grey in the fancy lady tile so I added "Payne's Grey" acrylic paint to the grout. It did work, but isn't quite as dark and I thought it would be. Anyway I'm quite pleased with the result. Instead of using it as a tray, I'll probably hang it up...probably in my kitchen.

Beginning to glue glass tiles on my tray

"Fancy Lady" off center

Preparing to grout the tiles. Protecting outside wood & "fancy lady" with painters tape.

Waiting for the grout to dry.

"Fancy Lady Mosaic"

This project was loads of fun - messy but fun!  I visited "Goodwill" last week and found a small wooden crate to use as a base for a new mosaic; and bought several Fiestaware plates to smash and use as mosaic pieces.  Never a dull moment.