Hello everybody! HAPPY OX YEAR!!

Well, here you have the mirror almost-finished, all pieces in place, ready for grouting. Note how I resolved the right side: as I said, I cut the tiles in half, but after three rows I went back to the squares. That way all green areas have a size-relation between them, not only color.

Now, the step that many says is the most difficult when making mosaics: grouting. Is not that grouting is hard, but if you choose the wrong color, you could kill a nice done design. I have at least one post about that, with an example. Of course, you can always fix it, but definitely is not the idea! So, how to choose the correct grout color?? Well, you should have color notions I guess, and/or a good taste. Most people use gray or sand colored grout, because those are neutral colors and work well with most design and mixes of tiles. The other typical are black and white. I like black, but rarely use white. I just don’t like white grout. In fact, I normally use a grout in a dark shade, compared with the colors in the mosaic. I think it looks better than a lighter shade. And as of colors, I love to use different colors! Is not that I don’t use gray or sand colors, but there’s also blue, red, red clay, clay, different shades of green, even purple!… and you can make your own mixes out of those!! So, it is endless, really. And that’s what I love about it!

In this case, I decided in an early stage of the work to use the aquamarine grout that I have. I think is perfect, because it mixes green and blue perfectly well. Sometimes this early decisions end up changed in the end, but in this case I stick to it.

BTW, is necessary to wait 24 hours for grouting, after gluing the last tile. This way we are sure the glue is really dry.

So first, is necessary to protect all the areas that wont be grouted. In this case, the mirror itself and the back. I wont add a picture of that. Then, make the mix with the perfect amount of water. With a spatula, I cover all the areas of the front part, making sure the grout is really penetrating all the spaces between the tiles. Finally, I apply grout on the sides, so they have the same color and everything matches perfectly.

After waiting for 15 minutes (all the timing depends on the temperature), I clean very softly with a humid sponge. Just a little water in it, so the excess of grout goes away. This is the moment of true, were I’m able to see how the mix goes, if the grout add to the design, or on the contrary, it results boring or unbalanced.

In this case, I like it! I think the grout makes exactly what I was expecting. Beautiful. After about 30 minutes, I clean again with a dry cloth, and leave it for other 12-24 hour to keep drying.

Final steps (last but not least): painting the back (blue in this case), add the hanging hardware and add a polyurethane layer to the back and the sides. This is important to fix the color on the sides.

A lot of steps! But totally worth it, for me. Ah! Still have to take pictures to sell it! I like that part, though. Hope you like the results!

So, after deciding what colors of vitreous glass I’ll be using for the rest of the mirror, I observe the mirror with a little more attention and decide that it should have a wider section of green stained glass at the bottom. Fortunately I have a piece left and had no troubles cutting it out:
That is the mosaic with the stained glass piece added, and the blue ribbons. Note the difference of the look when I just put the pieces to check colors, positions, etc, and when I actually cut the put glue them to the base. The strong curve at the top required smaller pieces, so I cut them in four, and repeat the idea on the lower ribbon for balance. Also in that parts I added other colors other than blues: aquamarine (solid and translucent), green, and gray.

Now, I can start with the background. BUT, new decision, what shape are they going to take? plain squares, halfs, quarters, curvy (the slowest), triangles…. The possibilities are almost endless, so I apply, again, the trial-and-error technique. I had already decided not to use complicated shapes (curvy, triangle, etc) because one of the goals is to make the mirror faster, so the final price is cheaper. So, let’s see the possibilities:

First, just squared vitreous in a boring layout. Then, I remembered I had come pieces of green stained glass (that’s for fusing glass), so I tried that too that adds a little texture. Third, the squares following the shape of the objects. I like this the better, so I choose this. At first I was going to cut the pieces in half, but then I realize I can try an even more simple solution and leave the things how they are. This is weird in me, actually. I don’t think I have one mosaic where I leave the pieces squared-shape, except for the coasters, of course.

Well, in this case I still take a little in some edges to facilitate the curves and keep a more even space in between the tiles. One of my obsessions, something I learned on the very beginning, was that a good mosaic has to have a constant space in between pieces. That makes it flow better, and shows dedication form the artist. He/she doesn’t just put the pieces in place, but also shape each of them to fit perfectly. Like a perfect puzzle. So I made that part of my style. Very time consuming, yes, but I really like the results.
That’s with the upper part finished. Note how the smaller green cuts on the ribbons start to make sense against the background. I like it so far!
BUT, and there’s normally a BUT, I have a problem: on the right side, if I put two squares, the space in between them results too wide. Aggghhhhhh. I should had thought of that when I was making the initial drawing, plan it. How to avoid it: in this case, the stained glass on the right should have been wider, so when I get to put the green vitreous, there was only space for less than two pieces. One hole piece, and one cutted, so I could control the space in between them. Hope that makes sense! LOL.

Left: the right side of the mirror. Tiles are not glued, just putted there for reference of space.
Right: the upper side of the mirror. Tiles are shaped and glued, and keep a relatevely constant space.

Well, I’m very inspired and concentrated, so after get up the table, walk around the house for a few seconds, I find the answer: Cut the vitreous in half!! That will use a little more space, allowing it to fill all the wide needed. It also makes sense right next to the ribbon, that uses smaller pieces. Ok! Let’s try that, then!

Ok, so the glass cutting went pretty well, not weird cuts at all, which means the glass is very good quality. Excellent!
Next step, is to decide the colors I’ll be using in the rest of the mosaic. I think it will be a mix of greens and blues, but not sure the order: what will be the ribbons and what the background. Here, I apply the scientific method of “trial and error”:

Final decision (never so final) is to make the ribbons in blue, and the background in light green with some darker hints. I still plan to use some aquamarine in the ribbons…

Hey!

The first thing I have to say, is that every project is very particular, the process varies depending on the design, the materials and the decision and particular taste of the artist of make the cuttings in a particular way. So, this is very personal.

So, this mirror will be made in a wooden base, already assembled so I just have to make my design on it. I decided to use stained glass on this, mixed with vitreous glass. I made the drawing in a piece of paper, and I took the inspiration from another mirror made by one of my mentors, Maria Jose. I wanted to try her designs, that are beautiful, rich, but easier to make than mines (I have to make several new items because I’ll be participating in a very fancy event, but I’ll talk about it later).

So, I made the drawing on the paper, and with copying paper I translate this to the wooden base. That way I know were to place the pieces when they are cut. Then, with the same copying paper, I copy each piece to the piece of glass so I can cut it exactly the needed shape. This technique is the same used by stained glass artists for making their art.

The process of cutting glass is pretty fun. After you draw the line you want to make, you have to “mark” it with a glass cuter, which is a kind of a pencil, with a rolling point that scratches the glass. Then, you have to give the glass small beats with the rear of the glass cutter, along the marked line, on the back of the glass. Eventually, the two pieces of glass just split. BUT, if the line is too curvy and you’re not experienced the glass may broke, not exactly where you were expecting! This is soooo frustrating!

Well, I’m cutting glass right now. Doing well so far. I will update when I’m finished with that.

So, i decided to start a more educative kind of posts. Today I’ll talk about different kind of tiles and my tools.
90% of my mosaics are made from vitreous glass. This material always comes in little squares and the most common size is 3/4″. There are other sizes, here in USA you could find 3/8″ and in Argentina I’ve found up to 1-1/4″ (I have those in yellow and turquoise, I use them in my coasters On Fire and the Aqua). There are also different origins and qualities. Back in Chile I used to buy Argentinian, Mexican and Chinese tiles. Argentinian tiles have a rich texture, and normally when you grout the mosaic, some of it gets in the tiles, very noticeable in the Coasters On Fire (yellow tile and black grout). Mexican tiles are smooth finished, both sides of the tiles are flat (all the others have a “grooved” back to enhance adhesion) and looks more like stained glass. They don’t sell it here in USA.
Here, they sell Italian and Chinese tiles. They both look kind of the same, except that some chinese tiles look and feel more “plastic”, and the Italians just look fine. Italians are also easier to cut. The pictures show Chinese tiles (horizontal sample board) and Italian tiles (vertical sample board). When I got here I bought chinese tiles (they are cheaper) but I’m using mostly Italian now. Anyway, mosaic artist always buy from different brands because each brand carry different shades of colors, so if you want to have a wider palete (which is the obsession of any visual artist) you have to buy from more brands. Even for the black color, for example, all are black, but have different textures ans shines, so I still want to have more than one type of black.
There are also vitreous glass with a metalic blended effect, or iridiscent. And theres also little tiles in the same format but that are not vitreous. For example, clear glass with the solid or metalic color on the back (the tiles in the middle and bottom of the last picture) that give more depth to the mosaic.

I guess I’ll leave the rest of the materials for tomorrow…

I decided to change the color of the grout of a box that, despite of been nice, I haven’t been able to sell. I had this idea because grout is the only thing that (sometimes) can be changed, and also because the color that it had wasn’t so good after all. The results were so obvious that I decided to show it here:That was the mosaic before the change, now AFTER adding a new grout:Isn’t it great? It looks a little darker, but much less fragmented… at least in this case that’s better. I definitely prefer darker grouts, and normally I add paint to the grout to get exactly the color that I think will match perfectly with the mosaic. That is sometimes difficult if the mosaic has very different colors on it.

Well, hope you liked the change!