Two projects are better than one

It’s for the birds

My first project this weekend was something I’ve been putting off for a couple of weeks because I’ve never done anything like it…mosaics. I would like to say I started off with a simple project but that just wouldn’t be me. I decided to turn a terracotta saucer into a birdbath, not too hard. It was my choice of materials that was not the best. I have five lovely ceramic decorative wall plates (for lack of a better description), one of which had fishes on it so I felt would be perfect for a bird bath. I broke the plate apart, grabbed the bags of mosaic pieces I received for my birthday, took a deep breathe and began.

I knew the difference in height would be a problem, but I thought, eh, I’ll just make the thinset deeper to level the pieces out…not my best decision…not my worst decision but definitely not my best. While the tactic worked, it did leave a kind of rolling hill effect due to my fight to not only level all of the pieces but to leave enough room at the top for adding grout. It was interesting exercise to say the least.

Another important item I’m learning about mosaics is that they take time, a lot of it. While the initial putting together phase was only a couple of hours, the thinset then had to set for a day before I could grout and the grout had to set for a few days before I could seal it and the sealant has to set for a couple of days before I can use the item I made. A few minutes here and there but quite a bit of waiting.

While I was waiting for one thing or another to set, I decided to make the hanging part of the birdbath. I pulled the floral wire from my craft room, the large beads and crystals I had purchased for last year’s bird bath (which shattered because I forgot to take it in for the winter), sat down and strung the lines which will hold up the birdbath. Unfortunately, this was when I realized I did not have anything cute to attach the lines to for actually hanging the bath from somewhere. Double sigh. In the meantime, while I go to garage sales and thrift stores to find the perfect hanger, I’ve made a wire hoop to do the job. I also decided I didn’t like how the crystals and terracotta looked together so I painted the bottom of the saucer a dark blue. I do have some concerns about whether or not the hanging portion will stay in place but I love how it looks so I’m going to keep an eye on it and my fingers crossed.

It’s not Mona Lisa but it’s not a complete hot mess either. It is acceptable for my first mosaic project and I think I will mosaic the small birdhouse gathering dust in the storage room next.

Let there be light!

Last fall I decided I wanted solar lanterns to hang by my garden gate but the ones I liked were expensive which left my favorite option, making it myself! I hunted through our storage shed for the candle lanterns my mother gave me during her downsizing to see what could be done. Our local grocery store, Smith’s, had solar lights with color crackled glass domes on sale so I bought five…just in case.

Let the destruction begin! While I removed the electrical wires, the glass dome, and ripped off the solar panel from each of the lights I bought, my wonderful husband drilled holes in the bottom of the lanterns. At this point, I thought I had this project so under control. I hot glued the lights in and the solar panels to the sides then put them outside as part the front yard Halloween decorations where they lived for about six weeks. Halloween past and I eventually had to put away the decorations, this is when I discovered I did not have this project as wrapped up with a bow as I had imagined.

The hot glue holding the solar panels to the lantern had not kept the pieces together and in one of the lanterns the globe had completely separated from the base as well. Sigh. Into my craft room everything went until I was ready to try again….which finally happened this past weekend…yeah, I’m a little slow sometimes. I cleaned up the lanterns and removed the hot glue still stuck to the metal, which was much more difficult than I anticipated as it had failed to hold my project together earlier!

Here I am at take two. For my second project this past weekend, I’ve put the lanterns back together using a two part epoxy which is supposed to bond metal to plastic, we’ll see how it holds up to Utah’s bipolar weather. At some point I want to remove the solar panels from their clunky plastic holder, cut a hole in the top and seal them creating a smoother finish. I need to gain a bit more confidence and experience with electricity and metalwork before attempting such a project so it may be a year or more before I try. In the meantime, I have light!