mosaic – Page 8 – Sherry Glaab

Multitasking

Today was a very busy, but productive, day. I finished the sun panel by pouring the resin over it, set a few memory beads in their molds, and made 8 coasters using the layer method where you don’t cure the resin overnight between layers. At times I felt like the proverbial one-armed paper hanger! It was a challenge doing all this in one day, but hopefully it was a success. I will find out tomorrow when I can take the beads and coasters out of their molds. Here is the basic rundown of the methodology and things to note.

Pouring the resin on the sun mosaic was pretty straightforward, since everything was pretty much secured in place one way or another. I mixed up 16 ounces of resin and used almost all of it to cover the glass. After pouring, I immediately used my heat gun to help distribute the resin evenly across the window as well as to remove bubbles that form as the resin settles under the individual pieces of glass.

I thought about adding some glass chips to the resin, like I had planned to do, but I just wasn’t sure how that would look in the end, so I decided to save that to try on a smaller project that won’t be such a big deal if I don’t like the way it ends up looking. I normally use the glass chips in a clear background, but this whole window has glass in it, so I chickened out.

The difficult part comes after the resin is poured and bubbles start to emerge. For the next 45 minutes to an hour, I had to repeatedly use the heat gun to remove bubbles as they emerged in the resin.

While I monitored the bubbles on the sun mosaic, I used a bit of the resin to make a few memory beads. The beads take very little resin, and I had enough left to make about four of them.

Since the bubbles in the mosaic weren’t slowing down, I decided to make another batch of resin and try to do the coasters in layers without curing in between. I read that this results in a stronger end product, though I haven’t had any “strength” issues with my previous creations.

I poured about an ounce of resin in each mold, waited about half an hour, then started placing the shells, shark teeth, etc in the resin. I then waited about 2 hours before the next step.

Added the sand for the beach and the white bubbles.

First I added the sand for the beach, which I made smaller than usual in this batch. I mixed up just about 3 CCs of resin and added the white pigment, then drizzled it in a line along the edge of the “beach” using a small craft stick. I went back and added a bit more after it dissipated a little. I also had enough white resin left over to make a couple of experimental beads. The white resin still spread out a bit more than I anticipated. I just drizzled a thin line and by the time I took photos, it had spread into the sand.

I wanted to let this layer cure enough that it would be more gel-like than liquid, as I believe that causes the white pigment to spread out more than I want it to (I really want it to be a thin layer at the edge of the sand and water to look like bubbles when the waves are crashing at the beach). Since it was just a small amount of resin, that didn’t take very long, and I started mixing up the various colors of pigment for the water.

I mixed up 80 ccs of resin using a small silicone measuring cup, then split it evenly between the four medicine cups. I then scooped a bit of pigment powder into each cup and mixed it together. After all the colors were ready, I drizzled some of the Caribbean Blue (far right in the above photo) in a few lines into the mold. It will be interesting to see if making lines with the pigmented resin results in a different look for the water in the coasters.

After that, I repeated the steps for each of the other three colors. I tried to fill in empty areas with each color. I didn’t add any of the water-pigmented resin to the sand, but I knew it would drift over it a bit after the last step.

I used up every last usable drop of the pigmented resin I mixed for the water. I really wanted to fill in all the gaps.

The final step was to add the last layer of clear resin, so I mixed up my last batch of the day, 14 ounces of resin. The reason I go back and forth between ccs and ounces is because my measuring cups have different measurements which I use for different purposes, just for convenience and ease of reading. For some reason, these really had a lot of late-emerging bubbles – much more persistent than I usually see with coasters. That could be a side effect of not letting the layers cure fully between pours. Having to use the heat gun so much moved the pigment / water around quite a bit (at least on the bottom of the coasters). I might need to get a blow torch, as I think they might be more precise in removing bubbles without moving the resin around so much. I’m a bit impatient to see how these turn out, but I have no other choice but to wait until they fully cure to find out how they look. Unlike the sun mosaic, which I can look at while it cures. The only problem with that is keeping curious fingers out of the resin while it is still soft (yes, my children have been known to poke at things during this stage). Hopefully tomorrow I can bring it upstairs to photograph.

Just a side note – I’m normally a day behind posting these, but I try to write the post the same day as I do the project so all the details are fresh in my memory. That means when I reference “today”, it’s not usually the same day as the post went live. I’ll actually be pulling these out of their molds on the 30th, but I will also schedule this to post on the 30th at a somewhat random time.

Sun half way there

Today I filled in some of the empty spaces that were left (though not quite everything) and thought some more about bringing some pop to the design.

I tried some swirls, but ended up not really feeling the love for them.

Finally, I tried a double row of yellow glass around the “ball” of the sun and it seemed to work. I didn’t want it to be a complicated look – I like the bold simplicity of the orange sun and blue sky. I will likely add some accents when I pour the resin, though.

I went ahead and glued the yellow glass in place in anticipation of pouring the resin tomorrow or the next day. After that, I decided to check the levelness of the window. I have been using some sawhorses and I didn’t think they would be level enough for this piece, so I cleared some space on my workbench (much better level, stable surface) and set it up there.

Yes, much better situation for pouring the resin. If the window isn’t level, the resin won’t settle evenly and you waste resin and have a wonky surface.

Here comes the sun!

I like making sun mosaics, and they have been popular in the past, so I decided to try another with this latest old window frame I’ve been prepping. It’s approximately 30″ x 13.5″, so it’s a good size to hang at the top of a window and get some nice light. For the background, I’m using that same Spectrum iridized blue glass that I used in the mermaid’s tail. I’ve used this glass in many projects. It’s one of my favorite colors – especially for skies. I cut a sheet of this glass into strips, then into squares, then nipped the corners off to make rough circles.

The blank slate – I drew a rough ball for where the sun will go with a Sharpie pen on the back side..

One thing about the sun is it’s not really something that just falls into a rectangular shape in my brain. I tend to want to have a nice square frame for the sun, but that’s obviously not going to happen with this mosaic. For the past few days, I have been trying to decide whether this sun will be to one side or in the middle, and how the rays will be distributed. I finally settled on this starting point for this big ball of fire. I used a circle from an old pattern I have used for the sun in the past to draw a guideline on the glass, then used a self-oiling handheld glass cutter to cut the shape. I finished off the rough edges with an electric water cooled glass grinder. Of course, I cut myself while handling the glass, but a tiny circular adhesive bandage came to the rescue so I could keep going.

Next I had to start thinking about the rays for the sun. Since I’m not using a pattern for this piece in general, I will likely try a few options and move things around a lot before I start gluing anything in place. This way I can change my mind if I decide I want wavy rays instead of straight, or whatever. For now, I’m trying out some triangles with smaller pieces of glass in between. I have some more glass to cut before I will get an idea of how much I like where this is going. I also laid out some of the blue glass to see if I like the pairing with this design. So far I’m a bit apprehensive that the blue circles might be too large in contrast to the sun’s rays. I might want to make them smaller. Here I have them just sort of stacked / scattered around for an overall idea, they aren’t anywhere near where they will be when everything is ready for the resin. However, stacking them like this in layers might be a nice effect. I stacked the seaweed glass on top of itself (two layers of glass) in the mermaid mosaic and I really like that effect.

Laying out an option for the sun’s rays.

I liked where this direction was taking me, so I decided to fill it out a bit more to see how it would look. More band aids needed.

Next I glued the outer bands of glass forming the rays down. They will keep the glass forming the sun in place when I eventually pour the resin. Then I started laying out the blue sky. After I filled in as much as I could with large circles, I cut some smaller ones and repeated the process. Then I started filling in the smaller gaps with triangles and even smaller pieces.

There will be a bit more filling to do tomorrow, but I have done as much I can in one day. Half of my fingertips are in pain from being stabbed with the sharp edges of the small pieces of glass. Now I need to sit back and look at it because it still needs some interest to bring it together. My eldest child says I should add some yellow to the sun – maybe some wavy rays. I can also make another layer to give it more depth, or maybe some designs with the tiny red glass pieces I have. Hopefully sleeping on it will give my brain time to formulate a plan.

Mermaid complete!

The mermaid mosaic cured enough overnight that I could bring her upstairs to snap a photo in better light. I’m pretty happy with how she turned out.

9.5″x30″ stained glass mosaic set in resin.

Mermaid background poured

This morning I was able to pour the resin and decorate the background of the 9.5″ x 30″ mermaid window.

I mixed up 16 ounces of resin, which turned out to be a good amount. I had enough left over to start the first layer of one coaster, so there really wasn’t much in the way of waste. I love these silicone measuring cups because they are reusable and there is plenty of room to stir even when you fill it to 16 ounces.

When the resin is well mixed, I started pouring it gently over the mosaic.

Once I feel like I have everything covered pretty well, it’s time to use the heat gun to remove the bubbles that form in the resin. I have been thinking about getting a craft blow torch for this because the heat gun is hard to control and can move the resin more than I would like.

Now it’s time to add the decoration to the background. For this piece, I used some tiny blue filler (which I can’t get anymore because it was discontinued, but that’s another story). After the blue filler, I added clear glass flakes to add sparkle. My sister sent me some beads and I was thinking about using some of them, but I chickened out at the last minute because I haven’t tried them yet and I’m not sure how they will look in the resin. I’ll probably try them in a coaster first, rather than a larger piece like this.

After that, I just keep an eye on the whole piece while the resin and the decorations settle down. I added a bit more of the decoration materials and touched up some spots that seemed to need a little more resin after shifting. It’s also important to check on the piece over the first hour of curing time to ensure you can remove any bubbles that form – sometimes they can be large and will detract from the look I am trying to achieve. They can be removed with the heat gun or sometimes a craft stick. Below are some up close detail photos of the window.

Mermaid almost ready for resin

Today I went back and forth on, but finally committed to (read that, glued in place) some background decoration features for the mermaid. I glued them in place because they are small and the resin might push them out of place when I am pouring it. I don’t want to be trying to make the swirls look perfect when the resin is applied, so I used some Mac glue to secure them. I might add just *one* more little blue swirl. The next step is to let the glue dry overnight. Hopefully tomorrow everything will look great and I can pour and decorate the resin background to bring it all together!

Finishing touches on the mermaid foreground

After comparing a few alternatives, I decided to give the mermaid a bubble to hold. I really liked the flower, though, so I added it to her hair. I also started embellishing her tail with some green accents and gluing down her upper body. I was able to pretty much finish her today, now I have to plan how I will decorate the background around her when I pour the resin.

I have all sorts of options for embellishing the background.

I’d like to add some swirls and bubbles, but the placement of everything can be hard for me to figure out, so I generally lay out several samples and move them around to help me decide.

More mermaid progress

Today I was able to glue down the mermaid’s tresses and start thinking about her upper body. I spent almost all day working on her.

I used two colors of the same type of stained glass for her hair – a rich brown and an amber hue. My son says it looks like her hair is on fire. I arranged the pieces of glass and added a few details here and there as I glued it in place.

Hair detail prior to gluing it in place.

Once I had her hair done, I started trying out various colors for her upper body. This is my first round. None of her upper body / arms is glued (or really properly arranged) yet. I started with the sandy / tan glass and so far I think I like it. I would like to give her more depth, though, so I might need to incorporate some other shades, or just let her be sort of flat. I also can’t decide what she will be holding in her hands. Originally I planned for her to be holding a large marble (bubble), but the marble I have is not the right size (seems too small). I tried a large glass glob, and that seemed to be the right size, but it doesn’t add much in the way of interest to the overall piece. Then I thought I might use some of the pink glass I was thinking about using for her body and make a lotus flower out of it. I haven’t cut the glass for that yet, but it’s a possibility. I like the way the pink brings some interest to the mosaic, but I will also be decorating the background and will have the opportunity to add some interest then.

Still deciding on her upper body and what she will be holding. Above she has a pink flower.

Choosing colors

Today I was able to pretty much finish the mermaid’s tail. I used Mac glue to secure the pieces of glass around the edge of her tail, then arranged the rest inside the ones that are glued down. This way the glass pieces at the outer edges of the design will hold the rest of the glass pieces in place. I can do this because the resin will hold everything in place when I pour it in the last step of making the window.

I’ve been planning this mermaid in my head, little by little, but sometimes the decisions about layout and color are more difficult than others. While I was filling in her tail, I was thinking about what color to use for her upper body, but I am having trouble making up my mind. This is partially because I have a bunch of glass on hand and I want to use some of it, rather than buying more (so I am limited in my options), and partially because I can’t easily envision how she will look in the end with one shade of pink, cream, brown or tan vs. another. I even considered using something unusual like green. There are so many options!

Evaluating different pieces of glass / colors.

I have a feeling I will end up trying a few different options rather than jumping in with the “right” one from the start. I did have some luck choosing the glass colors for her hair, however, as I ran across two shades of amber/brown that seem to complement each other (see below). I guess for now I will start working on her tresses and then revisit her upper body to see which shade looks best with her blue tail and new head of hair.

Two shades of glass I like for her hair.

It’s interesting because when I started thinking about the mermaid, I thought her hair would be the most difficult part to do. It’s turning out that her upper body is the hardest part of the project for me to plan.

A mermaid taking shape

After I finished pouring the last layer on yesterday’s batch of coasters, I decided to stay close and spend some time on the mermaid mosaic.

Rough sketch with a Sharpie marker on the back side of the window.

I made some tweaks to the sketch to move the mermaid’s head down away from the frame a bit, though I think I need to do a bit more adjusting to even out her body. The sketch is just a rough guideline, though, so no worries about making it perfect. I chose a light blue iridized Spectrum stained glass to use for the mermaid’s tail, though the iridized coating doesn’t really seem to show through very well once the resin coat is poured (in a later step). I still love the blue color of this glass even if the iridized look won’t be as prominent. I use it in a lot of my mosaics.

I started selecting the pieces of glass and arranging them from the tips of her tail and working up toward her head. This took about an hour before I was tired / worn out and needed a break. Now I’m starting to worry about what to do about her hair. 😉 There’s always tomorrow.