Sweet Irene's Mandala's.

Look at this BEAUTIFUL mandala! Sweet Irene somehow turned this mosaic into this mandala! I don't know how you do it but you do it well Sweet Irene! Thanks for choosing one of my photo's to alter!

PS: I have tried several times to comment on your blog but internet explorer won't let me! I am not being a snob...honestly:)

Done!

At home among the cucumbers for now:) This vege patch it is going to be turned into a flower garden when the vege crops have all been harvested.

The mosaic will most likely end up attached to the fence or some-how 'planted' in the garden with the flowers. I am quite pleased with the finished result...I think I may have mentioned that previously!

Mosaic at the grout stage!

Well all the cutting and gluing is done! I am happy with it for the most part.
It's not the greatest mosaic you will ever see but it's been fun to make and it's going to look good in the garden!
It's ready for grouting here and as you can from the pics below it got a dose of grout after this photo was taken. My kids took the ones below (I would have been in BIG trouble if I had chosen only one childs photo, hence the 2. I'm not being vain! Honest!) of me in action so to speak. Once the mosaic has been touched up and cleaned properly I'll post a pic of the completed work.

I got beaten back by the sun today...27 degrees I am told and the grout drys far to quickly in that heat!

Moasic Update

I'm getting there!
One more shack, house, temple village thing (!) to go and the back ground which will be blue and lime green.

The war wounds to date include a cut in each hand, a cut on my foot (teach me to mosaic barefoot!) and a cut on my knee (well, what would you expect if your silly enough to kneel on a piece of broken tile wearing holey jeans ?!) Oh and I think my nails are probably worn and broken forever!
BUT I LOVE IT! and I'm not complaining. It's all part of the joy you get when you get down and dirty (as the saying goes) cutting and gluing each piece by hand. Ditto the slightly wonky look of the finished piece.
I don't like lots of little pieces in my mosaics. They're hard to work with and hard to dig back of out of the grout. I prefer the overall look of larger pieces too. Just personal preference of course. The smaller pieces give you more control over shape and shading if your using similar colours, the effect can be awesome if you are patient enough to commit to it. I'm not. I just like to play.

Mosaic

It has been 4 years since I last did mosaic but I was pleased to discover that it was just like riding a bike, once you've learnt you don't forget!
I have been lugging big flooring tiles around that I scored free when I was doing a lot of mosaic's. They are old samples for discontinued lines that would have normally have been thrown out. Each time we shift I get hassled for being such a hoarder! I just knew I would use them eventually! I really enjoyed spending the time doing mosaic again and it's not really all that far fetched from collage or as my son said "puzzles, except you make the pieces" Clever boy :)
I have been inspired by a sort of Tibet, Mediterranean style mixed with a bit of Lisa! Since this pic I have actually done another 'shack' and started on a 3rd. I tidied the yellow door a bit better too. My hands ache already being out of practise but there is something quite addictive about mosaic! Loosing time and gaining satisfication adding 'just' one more piece...

Will post more pics later showing the progress of the mosaic!