Mosaics

When I lived in Philly- doing Mosaic artwork was my favorite (only) artistic past time. I brought some of my basic tools to Thailand and have been hunting for good mosaic supplies ever since...I've been able to find a lot of great plates and tiles here, but have not been able to find translucent glass. Here's some projects I've done recently with small amounts of glass I brought from the states and have been rationing...




This one is a work in progress, still needs to be grouted but I made it for my coworker Louisa for her birthday this weekend.





I tried something new this past week....painting my own glass to be used in mosaics....I found the idea and the directions on this blogsite : http://abrokenart.blogspot.com/2009/06/hand-painted-glass-tutorial_5066.html

I went to a frame shop on Sunday to find a piece of regular cut glass, but the glass cutter wasn't in. Since I really, really wanted to do it that day, I ended up buying a large piece of glass and cutting it myself in my house ( I think next time I'll be more patient!). The painting technique involves making 3 different applications of paint, using 3 different colors - all applied in different squiggles and designs using your fingers....




The pictures aren't great, but I think you get the idea. I was disappointed that I couldn't make the glass translucent, no matter how light I applied the paint, unless I left gaps. So, not sure if I"ll be able to use this glass for candleholders or not, I'll keep experimenting! I wanted to use waterbased paint, since I'm using my fingers to apply it....and I haven't been able to find any interesting paints yet, like metallic, which I think would add depth and texture.

At first I didn't really like it, but I think it looks much more interesting when it's cut up. I'm trying to decide what colors to use to make this cross.