..................................................................Click on a photo to connect to my Flickr page to see more of my art! ............................................................................

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

How to...Make a Beautiful Mosaic Christmas Tree

For Crafters and Artists, Christmas projects have already begun! This project is fun, quick and fairly simple. What you need is:

Cardboard or styrofoam cone (mine was cardboard, 11" tall)
Fiberglass Mesh
Thinset mortar
A whole bunch of different small things to put on the tree (I used rocks, shells, beads, marbles, buttons, small ceramic figurines, jewelry, tiny Christmas ornaments)
large piece of paper
Q-tips
Water spray bottle



The first step is to cover your cardboard or styrofoam cone with a layer of thinset mortar on the fiberglass mesh. I simply cut out the fiberglass mesh to fit around the cone. Then I held onto the mesh around the cone with one hand while spreading on the thinset with the other hand. It "grabs" onto the mesh, which is on the cone, quite easily. Use your gloved fingers to smooth the thinset as best you can. Once the thinset is completely dry (24 hours), take a file and file all over the cone to smooth the surface. (The above photo shows the prepped cone). This gives you a solid base that will not only keep your tesserae on firmly, but strengthen the structure itself for a longer life.


   Take the large piece of paper and wrap it around the cone to get a fit. Trim off excess paper. Lay the cone "pattern" on your work table and use it to set up your tesserae, if you want to sort of plan out your design ahead of time. You could just stick stuff on to the tree without planning it out first, but I found I liked to move stuff around and try different things before I settled on what final design I wanted. Even with doing that, I still changed things a little when I was sticking things on.
   When you are ready, mix up a batch of white thinset mortar- mix a large batch- and generously smooth it on all over the cone. Try to get it between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick. As you are placing things onto the cone, push them into the mortar. If you get excess mortar squishing out, gently scoop it off using a q-tip. For larger items, "butter" them on the back with  your extra thinset you made and then stick them on. It is important to keep your thinset moist as you are placing things onto the tree! Generously spritz your tree with water every few minutes.
   Another helpful tip: Place the cone up onto something while you are sticking things on. I put mine onto a shoe box just to elevate it enough so I could stick things on along the bottom easier, but also so I could spin the tree around without having to touch the tree itself.



The above photo is the finished product! If something happens to pop off after your thinset has dried you can simply glue it back on with either hot glue gun or Weldbond glue. This project is really two phases: 1) prep the cone with the 1st layer of thinset and mesh; 2) stick the tesserae on the cone with another layer of thinset. The first phase took about 30 minutes and then one day to dry, with another 10 minutes to file it smooth. The second phase took me about an hour and a half. So, all in all, this project is fairly quick and the results are stunning! I plan on making three more mosaic Christmas trees: a gold one, a red one, and a green one. Check out my Flickr link to see the finished products next month!

Friday, October 5, 2012

How To...Grout Without Staining Your Scrabble Tiles

Scrabble tiles are so popular to use amongst crafters and mosaic artists. They allow you, as the artist, to say something in your art. As a mosaic artist using grout, however, they can pose a problem as the wood sucks up the grout and becomes discolored. This month, I am posting a "how to" grout without staining your wood letter tiles. The answer is simple: cover each tile with blue painters tape before you grout!

For this blog post, I am including photos from a project I just completed. I wanted to make a little sign that said, "I [love] Chico" (Chico is my hometown). The heart I used on my sign is a painted styrofoam heart that I found at a yard sale. I needed to cover that as well so that the paint would not rub off the heart during the grouting process.
So, now that my pieces are covered, I can dive right in and grout just like I normally do. You do not need to avoid getting grout on the tape. The tape holds very well-- but not too well that it leaves residue behind when you want to take it off.

After the grouting is done, it's time to clean! I use my dry q-tips and clean off the excess grout. Sometimes I need to sort of "sculpt" or re-shape the grout here and there to porperly fill in all the spaces evenly and with clean lines, and to do that I use a wet q-tip (not too wet though- I usually dab it on a paper towel after dipping it in water). Then, once all the grout is cleaned off, you can peel off the painters tape. I use a toothpick to grab the corner of the tape up and then peel it off the rest of the way with my fingers.

The tape will lift some grout up here and there. If you need to, you can wet a q-tip and mash down and smooth out the grout along the edges, but do this carefully as it will get grout on the edges of your tiles. If you do get some grout on your wood letter tiles, you can take a q-tip and dip it in white vinegar, then dry it off a bit by dabbing it on a paper towel. Then clean off the wood tile with the vinegar. You may have to do it twice and you may still get some discoloration. I did not need to do any fixing of my grout after peeling off the blue painters tape. And my wood letter tiles looked just as clean as before I grouted!

And one final tip: If you notice my Scrabble tiles are blank besides the "O", it's because I did not have the letters I needed, so I simply used the back side. In the past I have then just painted on the letter and number onto each tile. But I am going to experiment with a wood burning tool to "write" on each letter. If you look at a Scrabble tile you will notice that the letter and number are sort of carved into the wood, rather than sitting directly on top. I want to try to match this look. If this works, I will write a blog about it and spread the word! Imagine...being able to use all those extra letter tiles like Q's,  X's and Z's, by flipping them over and making your own letter!