Scissorina

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September 8, 2007

Mo-Mo-Mo-Mo-Mosaic!

So, a couple of weeks ago, MH organized Mosaic Day for the Scissor Squad. A bunch of us congregated (why do I keep using that word? I guess I like it a lot this week... weird.) in Michelle's garage on a 95 degree Saturday afternoon to smash up plates with mallets and hammers and glue them to other stuff.

'Twas fun and educational! Mary will be posting about the get-together itself over at the Squad website. But, I'll use my blog to pour over my trials, tribulations and eventually my TRIUMPH over the art of mosaic.

My supplies included a variety of fabulous 70's dishes (yellows, browns, oranges mainly) I purchased in a big ol thrift shop and a fancy little round table I found at the same place!

It took me about 4.5 hours to smash my plates and mortar them to the top of my table.... wow! It was a lot more painstaking than I had expected. I shouldn't have been surprised, though - 50% of my "creative" little brain is under the tyrannical rule of an obsessive-compulsive, type A nutjob. (The other 50% has left a stoned hippie in charge... nothing gets done over there, but everyone is so happy!)

Given the mental energy exerted in placing all my plate pieces exaaaaactly where I wanted them to be (it was like a puzzle once I got started!), I decided to hold off on grouting the piece. This delighted SteveKam, who suggested we find some color coordinated grout to make the project really pop.

First stop - Lowe's! I bought a small container of what claimed to be grout and went home with a trunk full of tools borrowed from SteveKam for my grouting adventure.

Once I got started, I called my main squeeze to get some insight into what the correct consistency for this "grout" was supposed to be... "Seems a lot like wet sand to me..." I said to him. "Well, hmm... I guess that's about right.... The package did say it was sanded grout....", he responded. We discussed it a bit and decided I should go for it.

Here we see some progress shots....

Well, I was pretty thrilled when it was all over... I still felt something was a wee bit off since it really did just feel like wet sand between the cracks of my mosaic.... but, I sponged off the excess and decided to let it sit overnight. What did I awake to?

Sand. Dry sand. This was no mosaic. It was a beach party without the party.

SteveKam and I scratched our noggins... He concluded it must have been something with the grout - it must have needed an additional component... but he had never worked with grout like that before! (Of course... only I can break grout. Like.. did you think that was even possible? Lord.)

But, luckily, dry sand is a breeze to get rid of. We took the table outside and dumped it all out. A quick swab with a towel and the table was back to it's original pre-beach state.

Second stop - The Home Depot! Where we purchased some real sanded grout in a lovely tan-ish color.

Here we see my second attempt - this time in SteveKam's garage so I would have professional help in a snap, should something go awry... again.

Here she is all finished up and sitting pretty in my living room!

I plan on doing the same thing to the second tier of the table... but since I used all my dishes, I'll have to do some thrift store shopping before Round 2 can begin!

ps - keep those party ideas comin!

Posted by Sarah at September 8, 2007 11:53 AM
Posted to getting crafty | scissor squad unite!

Comments

Posted by: Jessica at September 8, 2007 1:33 PM

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