Stained glass mosaic coated with resin in a recycled window. Approximately 13.5″ x 30″
Fireball Sun – Done!
Tag: mosaic
Fireball Sun Poured
Today I finished filling in the small gaps in the blue sky background on this sun, which I decided to call “Fireball”. I didn’t glue the background glass in place (just the glass for the sun). That was foolish, but I did it because I was impatient and didn’t want to wait a few days before pouring the resin. If I glue the glass in place, I have to wait for it to completely cure / dry. The benefit is that there are a lot fewer bubbles when I pour the resin.
To get rid of the bubbles, I had to stand over the mosaic for a couple of hours and blow them with my heat gun. I ended up just running the heat gun over it every 5-10 minutes. Hopefully no more have popped up since I left it, but it seemed to be done with the bubble phase after about 1.5 hours. This is pretty long – it shouldn’t generally take that long to set, but I was very quick with the mixing today since I didn’t have any pigments, etc to mix in and I was only working on this one project. I used 16 ounces of resin and only had a very small residual amount left over.
Every sun needs some sky
So I spent a couple of days figuring out how to make the background, or sky, for this sun mosaic. I had planned on a completely different approach, but after looking at various types of glass, I decided that the background I had in mind was too “busy” for the glass I chose for this sun.
To help me make the decision, I set the whole window over large pieces of “sky” glass. I really had planned on making the background out of many, varied shades and types of blue glass, but ended up deciding that the iridized Spectrum (one of my standby favorites for lots of things) would be best against the multifaceted colors of the glass I used for the sun.
I spent today cutting the larger pieces for the sky / background. It will likely take a couple of days to fill in the smaller spaces between these.
A New Sun
It’s always fun to start a new project. It can be a challenge to decide what to do next when you’re looking at a plain window. I really like to do sun mosaics, and I have a neat piece of glass that just shouts “SUN!” to me, so a few days ago I measured the middle of the window and then figured out what size sun I thought would look good there. I cut the circle down with my manual glass cutter, then smoothed the edges with my saw and grinder and glued it in place. Today it was ready to be joined by some rays.
I free-form cut the longest rays that will go to the left or right of the ball with my manual glass cutter, then smoothed the shapes with my saw and grinder.
Rays emerging from the sheet 
Smoothing edges on the saw
Once I had a few cut out, I set them in place around the ball of the sun. I’m not worried about the small gap between the ball and the rays because I plan to add a second layer of glass in a circle around the edge of the ball when I am further along with the base layer of glass.
I plan to add a lot more detail in the background, but for now I want to get the major focal points in place around the sun. I haven’t glued any of the rays in place yet, but the ball of the sun is glued down.
I think I might try to not use any more of the glass I used for the main sun / rays in the rest of the background. The decision I have to make now is whether the rest will be various shades of blue or if I will add more yellow / orange / red flame accents. Once I fill in the entire background with glass, I will coat it with resin to bring everything together. While I was working on this, I rough cut two additional circles and some extra main rays in case I decide to make some additional, similar projects from this sheet of glass. While working with the extras, I stacked them together and really liked the look of the rays overlapping. That might be the next version of this – layered rays. The pieces get heavy when I use a lot of layers, but it might be a fun experiment.
Results…
So today is a results day – didn’t start anything new, just got to see the results of previous hours of work.
My first shot at the bracelets was interesting. I had a pretty rough time getting them out of the molds. Ironically, the one without the mold release was harder than the other one. I’m not really that excited about them. I think I need to pour a little less resin into the mold so the resin doesn’t get to the top. I’ve got a lot of sanding to do on the top edge.
The next project on my list will be a 13.5″ x 30″ window. I have no idea what I’m going to do. A sun? Maybe some spring flowers? A beachy scene?
Sunset – done!
Sunset – stained and dichroic glass coated with resin and glass chips. Approximately 30″ x 13.5″. This piece has many different looks depending on the ambient lighting. All of the below photos are of the same mosaic in different lighting conditions.
Pouring resin
Today was the day to pour resin on the Rainbow Row / Sunset mosaics. I originally planned to do all three, but at the last minute I decided to make one of the Rainbow Rows “hangable” and affixed hardware for that purpose to the back of the piece, so I couldn’t really pour the resin on it today (need to give the adhesive time to cure). I used E6000 glue for the hardware, but I will also coat it with resin later. I started off by mixing my 400 ml of resin. It was 69 degrees in my work area, so I warmed the two parts a bit with my heat gun before mixing them.
I used a piece of scrap glass to prop up the hardware while I waited for the glue to set.
Next I used some scrap glass as “shims” to level the sunset mosaic. This is important so the resin isn’t uneven.
Once everything was level, I poured the resin all over the piece and spread it using a sponge on a stick. Once the resin was pretty much evenly distributed, I used the heat gun to remove bubbles and move it around for even coverage.
Next, I did the same with the Rainbow Row piece. It is much smaller and unframed, so I used much less resin and relied on spreading it. This helps reduce the amount that drips over the edges, as well.
Once the resin was coating all of the surfaces, I sprinkled some clear glass chips around the edges for sparkle and interest. Then, for the next 30 or so minutes, I used a craft stick to scrape excess resin from the edges and underside of the piece. This has to be repeated as needed until the resin sets up enough to stop moving. Any that I miss can be removed afterward, but it is *much* easier to do it now. I have also cracked a few finished pieces trying to remove the drips in the past, so I spend the time up front in order to avoid the scraping later.
I also sprinkled some clear glass chips around the very edges of the sun’s rays adjacent to the frame. I did this to reduce the jagged appearance of the edges of the mosaic.
One thing I should have anticipated, but didn’t, is that there were bubbles in the resin that I couldn’t get to under the waves. This was due to the layering of the glass for this part of the piece. In the future, I will have to consider pouring the resin on the first layer, then adding the additional layers afterward. This will be a bit tricky due to the timing involved, but should reduce the bubble issues. Luckily these bubbles are part of the churning sea, so they aren’t as bad as they would be if they were in another area.
During this time, I also use the heat gun to remove surface bubbles on both pieces. This has to be done until the resin is somewhat solidified.
Now we wait! Tomorrow I should be able to get some better photos (and clean up my work area).
Almost ready for resin
I had a few errant pieces of glass to glue in place today, but I was able to get a nice snapshot of how the mosaic will look in reflective light (in the evening). I’m really pleased with the look. The neat thing about the dichroic glass is your mosaic has two looks – the evening / night look (1st photo) and the daytime / bright sun look (2nd & 3rd photos). Even though I still have to pour the resin, I’m really happy with how this piece is shaping up.
More waves
I was able to make a few more waves Tuesday, but managed to really slice one of my fingers while grinding the glass, so I didn’t get as much done as I had planned. Today my finger is feeling better and I was able to make some more waves (this time I was smart and covered my fingers with band aids before I ground the glass for the waves).
I was able to fill in quite a bit of detail on the sea / waves after all. My next step is to wait for the mosaic adhesive to dry, then I will be able to hold the entire window up to a light source to check for areas I want to augment. My light tray only covers about a third of the window at a time and I need to see “the big picture”.
Once I’ve seen the fully lit window, I’ll be able to plan the finishing steps, which will be pouring the resin coating and then decorating some areas of the resin with glass chips / frit. That’s the part I still need to plan. I’m also considering adding a layer of glass around the edges of the sun’s rays (adjacent to the frame), though I haven’t figured out exactly what yet.
Making Waves
I spent most of the day Monday working on gluing down the pieces I had already cut for the rays of the sun, and making waves to start layering the ocean below the sun. First I rough cut some waves, then used my grinder to shape and smooth the edges.
After I got the above pieces ready, I realized that I would need to glue the dichroic glass I had cut and laid out for the suns rays before I started working on the layering for the waves, so I set out to do that.
Using Mac mosaic adhesive and a small paint brush, I spread a thin layer of adhesive onto each piece and then position it where I want it. I already did this step for the main ball of the sun and the first layer of waves last week.
Using a light tray to help me see what I was doing, I worked one row at a time from the inner row to the outer edges. I decided to place the pieces a bit closer together than I previously had them laid out, so I had to rearrange some and also cut quite a few more squares.
Once I had all of the rays glued down, including the smaller filler pieces at the edges, I started gluing the second layer of waves in place.
I will need to make quite a few more waves, but I at least got a start on them today. Gluing the rays in place took most of the day. I really want the mosaic adhesive on the rays to have plenty of time to cure before I pour the resin, otherwise they will be cloudy.
Hopefully I’ll have time on Tuesday to put some additional waves in place. I also need to plan how / if I will embellish the resin when I pour it. I think I would like to do something at least around the edges of the frame.