New section!

I started a new section of the mosaic today. It is hard to see in the picture because the light is really spotty - the trees are throwing shadows all over it, and the mirrors are always hard to capture in pictures as well. But, it was a good two hours of work, and I really enjoyed it. Today is such a gorgeous day! Working on the mosaic is a great reason to be outside. Tomorrow I'm hoping to grout this section. I have a voice over in the middle of the day, so we'll see how that works out.

Grouted and...grouted.

Today was so stunning. Oh the beautiful weather! I grouted and polished for 4 hours today and got the first section finished. The only thing I still have to do is re-paint some of the designs. I'm happy with this first section, although I was using it to work some of the bugs out of my technique. There is one small area where I didn't move fast enough and the grout dried on the faces of the tile. This part of the wall you can't even see from most of the yard though, so I'm not concerned. What fun! Ugh, el rust spot HAS to go soon.

Work.

Voice over work took over my day today. Three jobs all around the city left me no time for the mosaic. Oh well, perhaps tomorrow!

Gorgeous day for tiling.

Today was beautiful! I got the corner of the wall I've been working on completed, and I got a small start on one of the new walls. Before I can continue, I'll have to cut more mirror glass. Here's a picture of the progress. I'm hoping to get the grout on this wall done tomorrow. If I'm not too tired after that, I will cut mirror - provided I can find my glass cutter, which is currently MIA.

Have you been wondering what I will do with that ugly rusty metal panel on the wall? I've been wondering as well, and I'm open to suggestions. I can't tile over metal, but I was thinking I could paint it with oil based Rustoleum, and then maybe a poem? It is in the back of the yard, so it doesn't get seen much unless you're laying on the hammock. I figured I'd start with the wall that gets seen the least while I improve my mosaic technique. Anyway, I'm open to ideas - the rusty panel must go!

Not today.

Didn't get a chance to work on the mosaic today. Had a voice over in Harrisburg, so I spent a lot of the day driving to and from. However, the forecast for this week is now looking great until Friday! This means lots of time to work the next few days. I'm excited. Very excited.

Grout.

I not only had the wrong cement, I had the wrong sand! When I looked back over the instructions for mixing the grout, it says to use Portland white cement - type 1, and fine white sand. I had bought coarser sand, and didn't want to take any chances. There is rain in the forecast on and off til Saturday, and I really wanted to grout today, so I started calling all over to find what I needed. The cement was easy to find, but no one I called seemed to sell white sand - everyone had play sand, which is a little coarser and brown.

It was a beautiful day, so I decided to go over to the Magic Gardens to see if Isaiah was there. I asked him once if he ever took a day off, and he said definitively, "I take Sundays off." Well, when I asked him that, it was a Sunday, and he was working, so I suspect he rarely takes a day off. He was there today (Sunday) as well, and was mixing grout when I arrived. I'd brought some pictures of the mosaic to show him, and then asked him where to get the right cement and sand. He told me - it's a store on 15th and Washington, but they are closed . Unlike Isaiah, they actually do not work on Sundays. I was so disappointed. Then, Isaiah said he would give me what I needed. He gave me a 50 lb bag of white sand and half a bag of cement he had leftover, and I made a small donation to the Magic Gardens :)

I didn't get the whole thing grouted, but I did get a good portion done as you can see in the picture.

wrong cement...

Yesterday I mixed up my first batch of grout, but as I mixed it, I realized it looked wrong. There were little hairlike fibers in it, and then I realized I'd bought the wrong type of cement. I was able to use it to fill some gaps in the wall, but it won't be usable for the mosaic. A shame too - not sure what I'll do with this stuff. Taking a $3.00 five pound bag of cement back to Lowe's doesn't seem worth it to me. Too heavy. Maybe I'll put it up for free on Craigs List. People on Craigs List go nuts for free stuff.

Now I've got to find a place that sells the right cement. Isaiah suggests a certain brand and type - Portland type 1 white cement. He's been doing this for 40 years, so I think I'll trust the man.

Tiles, tiles everywhere...

I woke up last night to the sounds of a thunderstorm. I was pretty sure the plastic sheeting I'd taped up would fall and so would some of the tiles. But when I checked this morning, even though the plastic had fallen for the most part, I only lost about 5 tiles! This is great - maybe the plastic stayed up long enough to protect the wall somewhat. Who knows? I'm very happy that my work wasn't ruined.

There is rain in the forecast for tonight, so I'm leaving the walls alone today. Tomorrow I'm planning to grout the first section. This morning though, I was itching to do something, so I broke tiles for about 3 hours. Breaking tiles is fun. All you need is a hammer, a glove, and a bucket. It is very stress-relieving (not that I had a lot of stress this morning - my tiles stayed up! Yippeee!) Anyway, I would venture to say I have enough tiles to finish the project at this point. I have tons of tile, and it is nearly all broken and ready to be applied to the walls. (See pictures.)

A big thank you goes out to mom - who found a tile store that gave her lots of samples! And another thank you to both mom and dad who lugged them here in the backseat of their little car! It was worth it - I broke those tiles today and there are some great colors.

It's funny how when people come over they comment on the scale of the job. They say, "That is going to take a lot of tile!" or "Wow, this is huge. How are you going to get it all done?" On the contrary, I look at the walls and think that there isn't enough room, and that when I'm done, I'll surely want to do more. Time will tell. At the end of the project, if I do indeed want to do more, I'm thinking about doing some mosaic projects at schools. This is a very kid-friendly project. It might be great for middle school kids.