http://www.tilemosaicgirl.com/
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Please see new website for up-to-date posts & more content
http://www.tilemosaicgirl.com/
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Online Registration Now Open for my "Tile Mosaics for Beginners" Classes in Denver
COURSE DESCRIPTION: In this fun, fully interactive course, learn to make your own mosaic art piece. Choose from several project bases (what you will put your mosaic on; like a frame or address number plaque), which are included along with tiles, adhesives, grout, and sealer. Use the wide array of colored ceramic tiles provided or upgrade by purchasing more elaborate tiles and other items that can be used in mosaics. In the first class, students learn the basics of breaking, cutting, arranging, and adhering tiles and complete their designs. In the second class, students learn how to grout their piece and complete finishing steps that “bring their piece to life”. Leave the second class with sealer to take home and apply later. Information on mosaic basics, great sources for materials and supplies, setting up a mosaic art workspace, and next-level mosaics will be also be discussed. Each class consists of two 3-hour sessions for a total of 6 hours.
DATES and TIMES and REGISTRATION LINKS:
Two Fridays, 9 a.m.-noon Begins 2/5;
https://www.colofreeu-registrar.com/sdc/regclass.html?class=254871
Two Sundays, 1-4 p.m. Begins 2/21;
https://www.colofreeu-registrar.com/sdc/regclass.html?class=254872
Two Wednesdays, 6-9 p.m. Begins 3/24;
https://www.colofreeu-registrar.com/sdc/regclass.html?class=254873
Two Wednesdays, 6-9 p.m. Begins 4/28;
https://www.colofreeu-registrar.com/sdc/regclass.html?class=254874
COST: $69 member ($25 yearly membership fee for CFU, gets you member rates on all classes), $81 non-members. Materials fee includes all materials to make your own awesome mosaic piece; $21 if you bring your own safety glasses, $26 if you don’t (you’ll receive a pair to keep).
QUESTIONS? Please email me or post here; would love to see you there; should be really fun; I already know of several people coming! (Oh; and; NO: you DON’T need to have any prior artistic experience; believe it or not; mosaics are VERY easy to learn, I’m a very supportive and encouraging and fun teacher, you CAN bring wine, drinks, or food and you WILL have a great time!)
Monday, January 4, 2010
"Grouting Step-by-Step"
…Coming soon…I finally got some extensive pictures taken last night of my step-by-step process for grouting; should be helpful to those of you starting out in mosaics or wanting to change your grouting process. It’s funny; every book and every mosaic artist seems to have different directions for grouting; you really do have to do what works for you. I’ve combined the direction I’ve received from instructors, books, and websites and that’s what I’ll be sharing, if you’re interested in trying it and settling on what works for you. Keep watching; coming soon!!
Oh; ya know; before I sign off on this post, I think this might be a good place to rant about “what not to use” when grouting….many books and artists say to NOT use “pre-mixed grout”. Well, lil ‘ol TMG is here to tell ya that she took a bullet and defied their direction and tried it over the holidays. I was away from home and thought a pre-mixed grout would make my job easier with less mess. First of all, “less mess”; yes; no grout dust in the air from mixing, or slopping it around while mixing, or grout powder spilled on the table or floor. “Make my job easier”…uh…NO!!! Nightmare!! NOW I SEE WHY they say to not use it; it was WAY too wet, took FOREVER to set up enough to really work with, which dragged out my already way-too-long-grouting process, did not want to be molded w/ the sponge (def. not w/ rags!!), mostly b/c it was so WET, and left a very substantial film and thick granules on everything, that took extra time to get scrubbed off afterward (who needs that?!) So…long story short…DON’T waste your valuable time and money w/ pre-mixed grout!
Saturday, January 2, 2010
Cool Mosaics by artist Dotti Stone/Smith Mtn. Mosaics
Just found out about this mosaic artist via another mosaic artist, @shonalockhart, one of my followers on Twitter (thanks; Shona!); I checked out her stuff and it is REALLY cool, plus she teaches classes in Virginia. Check her out:
http://tinyurl.com/yjl3bq9
Friday, December 18, 2009
Wonderful Mosaic Art Studio/Gallery in Denver!
I’ve been meaning for some time to share a wonderful mosaic studio/gallery in Denver…Kashi Kari Gallery http://www.kashikari.com/
Father and Daughter, Abbas and Roya, make beautiful mosaic works of art, from mirrors to trays to sculptural pieces to tables to huge custom pieces! I had a hard time a few years ago finding mosaic art classes in the Denver area, but I finally found Abbas and Roya at Kashi Kari! They offer introductory, intermediate, and advanced classes, as well as individualized study in a variety of topics, including working with stained glass and creating beautiful mosaic furniture. Their costs are very reasonable and they are always willing to answer any and all questions you might have (and boy, do I have a LOT!; ask ‘em!).
The Kashi Kari Gallery is one of the combo work/create/show art studio/galleries in the 910Arts building in the Santa Fe Arts District of Denver, on Santa Fe Drive, just barely North of 9th Ave. There is plenty of free on-street parking in the area and the 910Arts building is a fun mix of work and live spaces that includes a great little inner open-air atrium and an on-site coffee shop. They always participate in the “First Friday Art Walks” on the 1st Friday of each month, which were packed with people when I went through in December, even though we were in the middle of a cold snap. LOTS of fun and interesting people in the area, and Abbas and Roya are two of those people! Read up on their website, if you’re interested, the press clippings they have received over the years, after becoming self-taught mosaic artists “kinda later in life”. The things they have produced are absolutely beautiful, including Abbas’ house, which is surrounded inside and out with beautiful mosaic art!
So; if you’re interested, call, email, or read their website and see about taking some classes from them; they have had many satisfied students over the years (I’m STILL one!) and the classes are usually small, comfortable, and relaxed. I, myself, love how supportive they both are as teachers; they are never going to tell you how you ‘should’ do something; they are all about letting you find YOUR unique talents, interests, and techniques; not forcing you into some prescribed mold of art. I don’t know about you, but I’ve have always been thankful for those types of teachers; they’re the ones that have really inspired and motivated me and done nothing to stifle my creative spirit, but rather have enlivened it. Check ‘em out; even if you’re not interested in taking courses from them, their artwork and backgrounds are very interesting to read about, and you can share their information with other people you know who might also find Kashi Kari a neat place.
Krystie Rose :)
Glass Gems in Mosaics: The Best of Times, the Worst of Times
Glass gems, oh, the glass gems! What, you ask, are glass gems? They are little pieces (or some people say “blobs”) of glass that are usually flat-backed, that mosaicists (mosaic ‘arteests’) use to make mosaics (yes; some look just like marbles, but with a flat back, and yes; mosaicists DO use marbles in their pieces, but, we’ll talk about that some other time!). You can see, if you look at my most recently posted pics, I used ALL glass gems in the “Funky Flower Mirror”, many in the “LIVE!” star wall hanging, many in the serving tray called “The River”; you get the idea!
So; why do I say, “the best of times, the worst of times”…? Well, lemme tell ya!; I LOVE, love, LOVE working with the glass gems; they come out beautifully in mosaics, can be used to many different effects, come in a wide range of colors, styles, patterns, transluscency-s (not really a word, but you get the jist), are very easy to find, easy to apply, and are very economical. I am a very “circular”-oriented visual artist; I am not into sharp lines and geometric patterns; I think that is one reason that the round, oval, and squiggly shapes of glass gems attract me so. And, one of the BEST things about glass gems is that you don’t have to CUT them to create your piece!!! YEY!!! Much quicker to put things together, a much smoother process for people new to mosaics, no glass shards flying, no need to master glass cutters, nippers, and the like; cool!
Where do I get my glass gems?…A popular question for me lately! Well; lemme tell ya, the great thing about being an independent artist and businessperson and the lack of censorship on the Internet means that I get to tell you EXACTLY where I get them and EXACTLY what I paid for them and EXACTLY what I think of them, without being accountable to some company or organization or ad sponsors, or whatever!!! How cool is that?! So; just a side note; you have my promise here that I will be giving you the straight sh*t in this blog; no “glazing over” (no pun intended!), no trying to be all “p.c.”, no pandering to some product or company that I don’t truly support.
Okay; back on subject…I live in the Denver metro area and the absolute, best-est, most wonderful place I’ve found for glass gems is…”DOLLAR TREE”…you get an avg. size mesh bag of gems for them for guess how much? ONE DOLLAR!!! And, they have all kinds of colors and shapes that I haven’t seen at Michael’s or Hobby Lobby (two other chain stores here that I will be referring to often in this blog, both for the good and the bad)! I got these super-cool ones from D.T. recently while visiting the Northwest (Portland/Vancouver) that are shown in the “LIVE!” star wall hanging photo, that are the squiggly-shaped, but, instead of being sold colors like all the squigglies I’d seen before, they are clear glass w/ a STRIPE of color in them!! SO cool looking! They seem to stock them at every D.T. store I’ve been to (which is a lot!) and they just vary in colors, shapes, patterns available at the different stores. I looked up D.T. online and even found that, if you’re an active mosaicist or you’re teaching a class or something, you can order certain items (including SOME glass gems) on their site in case packs (24; for $24) and pick them up at your local store! That is pretty cool! See http://www.dollartree.com/arts-crafts/arts-crafts-supplies/Multi-Colored-Luster-Gems/209c304c304p46533/index.pro
So…you may be remembering, I also said something about, “the worst of times”…well, that’s referring to the quality of some glass gems you get out there. I have been amazed to find that some of them have an actual painted-on finish, rather than a color that goes throughout the piece. The problem with this for mosaicists is that, when you go to grout something like that, that has a painted (or, I’ve heard some people refer to it as “baked on”) finish, it scrapes right off! I have now had TWO pieces (which is WAY too many in my mind!) ruined or almost ruined by these pieces of crap! With one, I was able to find a metallic/pearlized paint that matched the gem exactly and carefully paint over them after grouting (there weren’t that many in the piece and I sealed them w/ a waterproof sealer after painting) and save the piece. With the other, it was basically a loss; I used some red ones on a very complicated base (“bases” are what mosaicists call anything they glue mosaic materials on), grouted it, the color scratched right off, then I tried to match the color w/ about 5 different colors of red paint, to no avail.
So…you say, “how do you know if you have the crappy glass gems or the good ones?!” GREAT question! That was MY thought, too! So…here’s the answer; I got all crazy and frustrated at the “failure” of those gems (took one bag back to Michael’s and made ‘em give me my money back!) and was super worried that I would put a bunch of time and effort into more pieces only to have the gems’ color “fail” again and ruin my piece. So, one recent night, I decided to conduct an experiment; I would take one of every, single glass gem I owned and do a “grouting” test on it, and see which ones ‘survived’ and which ones didn’t!
As you can see from the photo in the post above this, it is a “before” picture of all my different glass gems, with grout blobbed on them. I waited for the grout to dry, then rubbed & rubbed each one to see if the color would come off (NO; it WASN’T fun AT ALL, but I was determined to get my answer and make sure I had good materials). The next picture is of all the gems that “survived” the grouting process intact. (BTW; includes all those purchased at a Dollar Tree!) Finally, the last photo is of those that FAILED miserably, of which you can see most are red! Now, I don’t know what it is that makes the red gems seem to “fail” more than the other colors (maybe someone who knows will post…?), but, they sure do seem to be the ones to be wary of. As you can see from the 2nd photo, there were some red that made it through well, just not the majority.
Another thing I tried, (of course, AFTER I went through the hell of grouting every one!) was taking my sanding block to each one to see if the color would come off. That method proved to be a much easier, more efficient, less timely way of finding out which ones were bad; the color either scraped off, or it didn’t. In my extensive “research”, I didn’t seem to notice many commonalities in why the red ones “failed” or not; ie; did the clearer-looking red tend to scratch off more often than the opaque ones. Transparency level didn’t seem to matter. So…in conclusion, I guess I would say, that I will be very careful when buying glass gems from now on, ESPECIALLY the red ones, and I may just be so crazy so as to have a sanding block with me that I try to get to one inside its mesh bag before I purchase a bad batch and take them home and then have to go return them (because that’s just the way I am!) and explain why they don’t “work” for me while the salesperson looks at me like I’m a lunatic.
So; why do I say, “the best of times, the worst of times”…? Well, lemme tell ya!; I LOVE, love, LOVE working with the glass gems; they come out beautifully in mosaics, can be used to many different effects, come in a wide range of colors, styles, patterns, transluscency-s (not really a word, but you get the jist), are very easy to find, easy to apply, and are very economical. I am a very “circular”-oriented visual artist; I am not into sharp lines and geometric patterns; I think that is one reason that the round, oval, and squiggly shapes of glass gems attract me so. And, one of the BEST things about glass gems is that you don’t have to CUT them to create your piece!!! YEY!!! Much quicker to put things together, a much smoother process for people new to mosaics, no glass shards flying, no need to master glass cutters, nippers, and the like; cool!
Where do I get my glass gems?…A popular question for me lately! Well; lemme tell ya, the great thing about being an independent artist and businessperson and the lack of censorship on the Internet means that I get to tell you EXACTLY where I get them and EXACTLY what I paid for them and EXACTLY what I think of them, without being accountable to some company or organization or ad sponsors, or whatever!!! How cool is that?! So; just a side note; you have my promise here that I will be giving you the straight sh*t in this blog; no “glazing over” (no pun intended!), no trying to be all “p.c.”, no pandering to some product or company that I don’t truly support.
Okay; back on subject…I live in the Denver metro area and the absolute, best-est, most wonderful place I’ve found for glass gems is…”DOLLAR TREE”…you get an avg. size mesh bag of gems for them for guess how much? ONE DOLLAR!!! And, they have all kinds of colors and shapes that I haven’t seen at Michael’s or Hobby Lobby (two other chain stores here that I will be referring to often in this blog, both for the good and the bad)! I got these super-cool ones from D.T. recently while visiting the Northwest (Portland/Vancouver) that are shown in the “LIVE!” star wall hanging photo, that are the squiggly-shaped, but, instead of being sold colors like all the squigglies I’d seen before, they are clear glass w/ a STRIPE of color in them!! SO cool looking! They seem to stock them at every D.T. store I’ve been to (which is a lot!) and they just vary in colors, shapes, patterns available at the different stores. I looked up D.T. online and even found that, if you’re an active mosaicist or you’re teaching a class or something, you can order certain items (including SOME glass gems) on their site in case packs (24; for $24) and pick them up at your local store! That is pretty cool! See http://www.dollartree.com/arts-crafts/arts-crafts-supplies/Multi-Colored-Luster-Gems/209c304c304p46533/index.pro
So…you may be remembering, I also said something about, “the worst of times”…well, that’s referring to the quality of some glass gems you get out there. I have been amazed to find that some of them have an actual painted-on finish, rather than a color that goes throughout the piece. The problem with this for mosaicists is that, when you go to grout something like that, that has a painted (or, I’ve heard some people refer to it as “baked on”) finish, it scrapes right off! I have now had TWO pieces (which is WAY too many in my mind!) ruined or almost ruined by these pieces of crap! With one, I was able to find a metallic/pearlized paint that matched the gem exactly and carefully paint over them after grouting (there weren’t that many in the piece and I sealed them w/ a waterproof sealer after painting) and save the piece. With the other, it was basically a loss; I used some red ones on a very complicated base (“bases” are what mosaicists call anything they glue mosaic materials on), grouted it, the color scratched right off, then I tried to match the color w/ about 5 different colors of red paint, to no avail.
So…you say, “how do you know if you have the crappy glass gems or the good ones?!” GREAT question! That was MY thought, too! So…here’s the answer; I got all crazy and frustrated at the “failure” of those gems (took one bag back to Michael’s and made ‘em give me my money back!) and was super worried that I would put a bunch of time and effort into more pieces only to have the gems’ color “fail” again and ruin my piece. So, one recent night, I decided to conduct an experiment; I would take one of every, single glass gem I owned and do a “grouting” test on it, and see which ones ‘survived’ and which ones didn’t!
As you can see from the photo in the post above this, it is a “before” picture of all my different glass gems, with grout blobbed on them. I waited for the grout to dry, then rubbed & rubbed each one to see if the color would come off (NO; it WASN’T fun AT ALL, but I was determined to get my answer and make sure I had good materials). The next picture is of all the gems that “survived” the grouting process intact. (BTW; includes all those purchased at a Dollar Tree!) Finally, the last photo is of those that FAILED miserably, of which you can see most are red! Now, I don’t know what it is that makes the red gems seem to “fail” more than the other colors (maybe someone who knows will post…?), but, they sure do seem to be the ones to be wary of. As you can see from the 2nd photo, there were some red that made it through well, just not the majority.
Another thing I tried, (of course, AFTER I went through the hell of grouting every one!) was taking my sanding block to each one to see if the color would come off. That method proved to be a much easier, more efficient, less timely way of finding out which ones were bad; the color either scraped off, or it didn’t. In my extensive “research”, I didn’t seem to notice many commonalities in why the red ones “failed” or not; ie; did the clearer-looking red tend to scratch off more often than the opaque ones. Transparency level didn’t seem to matter. So…in conclusion, I guess I would say, that I will be very careful when buying glass gems from now on, ESPECIALLY the red ones, and I may just be so crazy so as to have a sanding block with me that I try to get to one inside its mesh bag before I purchase a bad batch and take them home and then have to go return them (because that’s just the way I am!) and explain why they don’t “work” for me while the salesperson looks at me like I’m a lunatic.
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
My Stuff's UP on etsy!
Ever heard of etsy.com? It's a great site that features ONLY handmade and/or antique/vintage items and supplies. Well, guess what? This 'lil TileMosaicGirl finally got her stuff up on there! If you're interested in checking it out, go to: http://tilemosaicgirl.etsy.com/
If you like my stuff, please choose "Add Seller to Favorites" and/or "Add Item to Favorites" at the lower right corner of the shop page. I promise to add new stuff just as soon as I can get made and up there! You can also use the site to order custom-made pieces from me; see something you liked, but want a different color, theme, or pattern? Let me know and I can make it for you!
What're you gonna write about on yer blog?
…I’ve been asked this question many times recently as I’ve told people I was planning to write on a blog regularly as part of my new life as “TileMosaicGirl”. Well, what AM I gonna write about?! Lemme tell ya:
•“Do’s” and “Don’ts” for making Mosaics (boy; have I been collectin’ a few of THOSE lately!!)
•Great places/resources to find the best buys on the best stuff to put ON mosaics (I am a MAJOR deal-finder, let me tell ya!)
•All the “How To’s” of making tile, glass, and mixed media mosaics
•Answers to, “What CAN or CAN’T you do a mosaic on?” (like, “Is it okay to mosaic my cat?” or “Does it matter what kind of table I use to do a mosaic on?”) Also LOTS of discussion and sharing about what DOES and DOESN’T seem to be a pretty workable base to put mosaic on.
•Where to find classes in your area if you want to learn more about mosaics (I’ve got a few GREAT ones for you in Denver, of course!)
•“Cutting vs. Not Cutting”; what kinds of mosaic work do you want to do? Do you like the cutting of tile and glass, or do you hate it? Can you really get around it?
•What kinds of adhesives or glues or mortar or concrete or super glue or mastic or thinset or tile adhesive or whatchamacallit should I use for THIS mosaic piece I’m working on???
•Great books, videos, audiocourses, etc. on mosaics; what’s great and maybe what’s not-so-recommended
•My life as a working artist; what’s it really like? Will I go crazy or just be blissed out every single day? How is it balancing DOING artwork with doing the BUSINESS-y stuff?
•Mosaic art and other events of note; local, regional, national; what’s happening out there; what is there that might be really cool and fun?
•Ideas from YOU, the readers, about what you’d like me to write about; either from comments from my posts or messages from you to me; let me know what you’d like to know about. If I don’t have an answer, I’ll tell ya AND I’ll do my best to FIND the answer!
So…please do come back often, choose to “follow’ this blog, and hit the “Tumble” button to share a post with some friends; it’s definitely “the more the merrier” here!
Krystie Rose
tilemosaicgirl@gmail.com
•“Do’s” and “Don’ts” for making Mosaics (boy; have I been collectin’ a few of THOSE lately!!)
•Great places/resources to find the best buys on the best stuff to put ON mosaics (I am a MAJOR deal-finder, let me tell ya!)
•All the “How To’s” of making tile, glass, and mixed media mosaics
•Answers to, “What CAN or CAN’T you do a mosaic on?” (like, “Is it okay to mosaic my cat?” or “Does it matter what kind of table I use to do a mosaic on?”) Also LOTS of discussion and sharing about what DOES and DOESN’T seem to be a pretty workable base to put mosaic on.
•Where to find classes in your area if you want to learn more about mosaics (I’ve got a few GREAT ones for you in Denver, of course!)
•“Cutting vs. Not Cutting”; what kinds of mosaic work do you want to do? Do you like the cutting of tile and glass, or do you hate it? Can you really get around it?
•What kinds of adhesives or glues or mortar or concrete or super glue or mastic or thinset or tile adhesive or whatchamacallit should I use for THIS mosaic piece I’m working on???
•Great books, videos, audiocourses, etc. on mosaics; what’s great and maybe what’s not-so-recommended
•My life as a working artist; what’s it really like? Will I go crazy or just be blissed out every single day? How is it balancing DOING artwork with doing the BUSINESS-y stuff?
•Mosaic art and other events of note; local, regional, national; what’s happening out there; what is there that might be really cool and fun?
•Ideas from YOU, the readers, about what you’d like me to write about; either from comments from my posts or messages from you to me; let me know what you’d like to know about. If I don’t have an answer, I’ll tell ya AND I’ll do my best to FIND the answer!
So…please do come back often, choose to “follow’ this blog, and hit the “Tumble” button to share a post with some friends; it’s definitely “the more the merrier” here!
Krystie Rose
tilemosaicgirl@gmail.com
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