Ep. 101 1/2 BONUS: MAKING A SIMPLE CUSTOM MOSAIC ROSE BOUQUET!

Ep. 101 1/2 BONUS: MAKING A SIMPLE CUSTOM MOSAIC ROSE BOUQUET!

I introduce you to a special lady who is celebrating her 90th birthday this year! Then I show how to build a simple rose, starting with a darker center in a rounded shape and adding red stained-glass petals. Some are curved to fit and some overlap a bit. Lots of glass nipping ensues. I opt for six roses in the composition as my dear Aunt Dorothy has six children. I use a variety of opaque and translucent glasses to create interest and proceed to build a rose WITHOUT GLUING! When I reach the outer petals, I opt for lighter red hues.
TIP: DO NOT BRUSH GLASS SHARDS OFF YOUR WORK SURFACE WITH YOUR HAND!!!
Next, I apply clear contact paper and trim the excess. Then I use my studio wisk broom to tidy up the shards. Each rose took 10-20 minutes to build and tape.
Then the magic happens: I bring in the other pre-made roses and start composing and adhering the pieces to my 8"x10" substrate. The simple method of building mosaic flowers was inspired by the work of Sue Smith Mosaics. You can watch her videos here:    / suesmithglassmosaics  
Note: I found the contact paper a bit of a nuisance and tried to remove it before the Weldbond had set up and found it best to wait just a bit longer so the pieces don't lift.
Minor adjustments were made, mainly to the stems and leaves as I nipped them to fit. It was definitely the fastest method I have ever used for making a mosaic!
The next day I came in with 50/50 Weldbond/water in a syringe and did a Weldbond wash to prevent grout bleed under the translucent glasses. Once this had seeped under and dried, I was ready to grout!
Using Spectralock I pre-mixed grout following the instructions inside the bucket. It is LOVELY to not mix and wait for the grout to slake! The trickiest part was wiping off without wiping it off the background areas. Once the grout had cured, I was ready to paint using craft acrylic paints. This technique of using pre-mixed grout for the background and painting was inspired by the work of Laura McKellar. You can see her work on Instagram:   / lauramckellarmosaics  
I ended up painting the edges, and VOILA! a relatively quick, custom, glass mosaic project is finished! I think it would make a beautiful Mother's Day gift as well!

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