Friday, June 29, 2012

~Fun & Funky Garden Art Series ~ Mosaic Project "Colors of the Rainbow"

~Fun & Funky Garden Art Series ~ Mosaic Project
 "Colors of the Rainbow"


Colored glass holds all the colors of the rainbow as it shines and shimmers in the sunlight. Imagine capturing all of that and filling your garden with  the colors in the prism..The idea for this project came because we had a table top type of fire pit  where all the tiles had fallen off over the years. I have always loved having fires in the fire pit, it is such a great way to share the evening with family and friends.. making smores and enjoying each other's company. As you all must know by now... my garden areas are more like "living areas" and I love to fill then with "pretties" which have been found , re-purposed and now re- loved!


 So this fun project began with purchasing supplies such as - glass beads/ shapes, tiles,broken pieces of glass regular beads, ceramic beads etc, glue for setting the glass beads/tiles/ceramics and un sanded grout.
  
~Supply List~
*Several pounds of Glass rounds/glass pieces/ceramic beads/shapes ( depending on the size of your project)
* 4 oz Tube WeldBond Glue for setting the items into place ( I have found this glue, which is waterproof,non toxic and a non irritant to be a superior product to use for this project!!)

~Steps~
1)Lightly sand the area to be designed so it is smooth.
2) Using a small glob of glue  cover the bottom of the glass beads then place glass where you want to start designing. 
3) Continue placing the glued glass pieces on the project until you have finished the project.
4) When fully dry ( my project took several days to completely dry and you know when it is fully dried when the white color in the glue turns to clear)
5) To finish your piece, the final step is to then grout all the glass pieces in place, filling in all the spaces around the glass.( Follow directions for you particular grout product) I chose un sanded  grout as to not scratch the glass ( grout comes in sanded and un sanded and  also assorted colors... I will just use a basic beige)






Soooooo I now was on a roll and decided to tackle this unsightly large wooden spool that was left at the house when we moved in. Someone previously had decided that 1,000 nails might be a good addition to the spool so my first task was taking out all the old bent nails. It was even sitting there to be burned in a big bon fire soon because it did have some issues..but after i did the fire pit I thought how beautiful it would look to be turned into a table next to the hammock and finished in glass beads!
Here is the sad looking spool

I have begun with a free flow design

I am now filling in the empty spaces and still wanting to keep the" movement"


Add caption



It was fun to add some interesting items to it as well.. keeping the eye busy and moving!


I must admit I ended up making alot more trips to the store than I had wanted to! First I bought out the last 2 tubes of WeldBond at Michael's then had to make a trip to Joanne's  several days later when I ran out of glue since I bought the last couple of tubes at Michael 's! Come to find out Joanne's really doesn't carry mosaic supplies but did have a tube of glue on clearance that I was able to use. I also went to get more glass beads at the dollar store ( Trust me... for all that you will need, go to the dollar store to save you money!!) So last night I went to Micheal's to see if they had gotten in anymore WeldBond and they did, but it was in smaller tubes in another area. So I bought 2 of those and today thought I would finish it off.... well guess what.. I now have ran out of the glass beads!!!! So first thing tomorrow I will hit the dollar Store,get some more and finish up that beauty! Finished pictures of both ( the fire pit needs to still be grouted but I was going to do them both together)  will be posted next week!!! So fill your garden area with rainbows of color with glass mosaic pieces!! Have fun and enjoy!!
In Love & Light
Sherri

37 comments:

  1. Love these projects ! I need to find something to do this on to use on the lanai !! Thank you Sherri !!

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  2. these look great! Really love the transformed fire pit especially :) Do you have an ACE hardware near you? I think they carry large bottles.

    Michaels seems to phasing out lots of products - I can't get Zig archival glue from my local one anymore

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  3. this is just great! I will put this on pinterest. :)

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  4. It's an ocean mandala, so beautiful!

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  5. you could put a small umbrella in the hole in the table too. love these projects!!

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  6. I would love to do a side table like the one you have above. I have to mention, your font choice makes it really hard on the eyes to read. As a web developer, I dont recommend scripty fonts like this.

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    1. Yes, I LOVE these mosaic projects but the font is very difficult to read. Maybe just use a beautiful script for larger headlines? But thank you for sharing your creativity and expertise. This tutorial gives me courage to get started myself. And next time order online at Amazon, and check first at the Dollar Store like you said!

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  7. This is so beautiful....the round table...simple technique...loved it...thanx for posting...:)..

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  8. Where's the finished picture? What color grout did you use?

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    1. Yes, I would like to know if it was "finished" and what color grout did you use? Thanks so much for this beautiful tutorial!

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  9. Hola soy de Chile es realmente hermoso lo que haces ,te felicito.

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  10. I love the movement and charm of the last piece. Very beautiful and enchanting stuff.

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  11. Thanks for sharing your beautiful art . That’s a awesome article you posted. I found the post very useful as well as interesting. I will come back to read some more.
    mosaic products

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  12. now that it is 2015 is the old wooden spindle still holding up through the seasons. I would like to create one for my back yard, but we have harsh winters, and very hot summers.

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    Replies
    1. Would this not warp and cause the design to come loose.

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  13. Wow lovely, how many dollar store bags of glass did you end up using? Just curious

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  14. Wow lovely, how many dollar store bags of glass did you end up using? Just curious

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  15. Wow lovely, how many dollar store bags of glass did you end up using? Just curious

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  16. LOL.. IM not even sure Kat~ but it was cheap:)

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  17. This is the first time i am reading your post and admire that you posted article which gives users lot of information regarding particular topic thanks for this share.
    Mosaic shop

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  18. Have you tried using the 6000 glue? What do you like about the Weld glue compared to the famous 6000?

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  19. Like your upcycled art. Love your color choices

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  20. I'd really love to see the finished product of your wooden spool woth glass beads...love it love it love it...

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  21. I was just sitting here wondering what I could do with my small spindle that a friend gave me and I was looking on Pinterest to see if anyone knew how to do mosaic art on wood for outside!! Thank you for showing me it can be done!! I actually think a tube of outdoor construction adhesive would have probably been the cheaper route but since I've never done mosaic art before I really don't know!! I am however going to try that instead of a dozen tubes of welbond!! Can't wait to get started!!

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  22. I love this table top. I have a lot of glass beads about that color but I am curious where you got the glass rectangles. Can you possibly tell me where to get some? I am having a hard time looking online for them

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  23. Beautiful. Did you use any kind of sealer on the wood beforehand?

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  24. did you use grout on any project and if so what kind?
    love your projects!

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  25. Thank You!! Im making a wooden planter and trying to fill in parts of it with upcycled broken glass peices from an old landfill and after 2 days of searching for diy help and getting no answers; this article answered all my questions!!! You are very good at explaining what your doing. thank you again!!

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  26. Hola,soy de Argentina,me gustaría que me digas que tipo de componentes debe tener el pegamento así lo busco en mi país,gracias

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  27. Love the simplicity of the project! Oh and the font is wonderful. I hope you don't change a thing :)

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  28. I like the font too but still can't read it! Hope to see the finished pieces posted. Thanks for the design ideas!.

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  29. wonderful & beautiful. Thank you for sharing. I've got a table top I/m working on right now and I'm so excited/

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  30. I highly recommend checking out second hand shops for craft items like beads or even furniture to repurpose. In particular the bags they often fill with small items that generally have a theme. I've seen huge bags of glass beads for much less than dollar store pricing.
    Thank you for inspiring me to work on a garden table I've wondered about!

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  31. Estoy haciendo algo bien parecido y me está quedando super! Gracias por la idea

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