Making Mosaics

-

One of my favorite things is making decorating found objects with broken china to make mosaics. I have a rule: I'll only break a beautiful plate if it is already chipped.


I've managed to amass quite a collection of pieces of broken antique and vintage plates!

My favorite thing to mosaic is silver platters; my second favorite thing to decorate is birdhouses. I use regular tile adhesive and grout, available from Lowe's home improvement stores. I seal it with grout sealer I bought at Hobby Lobby.

Here are some of my creations so far!


I gifted this platter to my dear great aunt for Christmas this year! I purchased the focal tile (the large round one in the middle) from someone on eBay last year.


This project began with an old chair someone else stenciled. I added a bird house, a nest, more painted accents, some rusty hardware and, of course, the china mosaic! It sits on my front porch in warm weather, and I keep a geranium in the pot (pictured are fake flowers.)


This little wooden 'basket' is mosaic'd on both side panels (only one is seen here); I loved using the coral, orange and green shades of one china pattern and filling it with the buff-colored grout. I left the wood as shabby as it was when it came to me. It makes a great holder for anything; ideally, a tall, glass-encased candle.



This little caddy was inspired by my blue and white, shabby chic bedroom and master bath decor!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Baby Jesus Candy Cane Christmas Ornament How-To

-
Image
Here's a tutorial to make sweet baby Jesus ornaments: Materials: 3/4" round wooden balls blue felt like-sized small wooden stars flesh-colored acrylic paint yellow acrylic paint black permanent marker small button as star decor raffia natural excelsior "moss" silver thread or coordinating yarn candy cane You'll also need glue or a hot glue gun, paint brush and scissors Begin by painting the wooden balls with flesh-colored paint and the stars with yellow paint. When dry, draw two sleeping eyes on the ball. Meanwhile, cut small pieces of felt and make little rolls to represent the baby's body; tie with a tiny piece of raffia. Next, glue the wooden ball onto the top of the body roll of felt; if you wish, you can also cut a small wedge of felt to glue over like a little swaddled hood on the baby's head, but I think it looks cute without it as well. Glue the l
Read more

Flagler College in St. Augustine: the Tiffany connection

-
Image
We visited this wonderful building that began its life in 1888 as a lavish hotel built by Henry Flagler, one of the founders of Standard Oil, and now houses Flagler College . It is such a beautiful old building and in it we saw: these fabulous Tiffany chandeliers... on a spectacular painted and embossed ceiling in one of the hotel's drawing rooms.   I apologize for the quality of the indoor photos -- it was quite dark in the building. I had to laugh at these painted cherubs on the ceiling... and the way their ribbony robes encircle the chandelier mount! This large clock over the mantle is special because it's a Thomas Edison clock and because it is made from one piece of rare onyx.  We were told that Edison's "signature" on his clocks is the use of the incorrect Roman numeral "4". But the most spectacular feature of the building is that Louis Comfort Tiffany himself made the stained glass windows. Most of Tiffany's windows a
Read more

O Christmas tree, jeweled Christmas tree...

-
Image
Earlier in the season Rebecca and I went to a craft fair at a local high school, and there was one booth with the CUTEST little jeweled, framed Christmas trees! The gal was nice enough to let me photograph them.  Sorry it's kind of blurry, but it was dark in that high school gym! I know it's an older kind of craft (from the '60s and '70s) but she made them sweet -- not gaudy at all.  We were both SO inspired. So, last week we made it happen.  I brought a bunch of my old, broken vintage jewelry, some velvet, glue,  old frames, and we sat in her dining room and made a forest of little trees! It was so simple: first, we took a vintage frame and covered the backing with velvet.  We just glued it on. Then, we took our time arranging bits and pieces of jewels into a Christmas tree shape. When we were happy with the arrangement, we committed and glued the jewels down!  I love this avocado green velvet! And then we did it again.  We had so much fun playing
Read more