My Mosaic Wall – My Sugar Glider

A lot of people still don’t know what a Sugar Glider is, which is probably a good thing. They’re adorable, snuggly, loyal, and more work than someone would expect for a tiny marsupial that weighs less five ounces. A lot of people buy them on impulse, like Ivy and I did, and then realize they’re not just an expensive, smart, hamster-sized creature that is content to live alone in a cage and chew things. A lot of them end of being neglected or rehomed. Ivy and I had one for eight years until she passed away. Mia, as we named her, had a lot of adventures with us. She was on Pets 101 on the Animal Planet with us, played escape artist and got lost several times in our old place, and spent about six hours a day on average sleeping in my shirt and sharing my lunch when I worked from home.

A few weeks ago I thought it would be fun to add a sloth to a bare spot I had on the wall. I looked at cartoon pics of a sloth and laid out a draft of it on a 12 inch square tile. I was pretty excited at how cute it was and expected this to be an easy project. I used bathroom white tile from the Habitat for Humanity Restore, gray floor tile from the same store, and various pieces of brown glass tile and black penny tiles from Home Depot. I’ve got some Dollar Tree broken plates for the leaves.

• 

• 

Unfortunately once I added it to the wall it looked terrible. But I wasn’t worried because once I add the grout everything usually falls into place. Except because there was so much white, it didn’t look at all like a sloth.

• 

So I painted the in between spots with black grout paint. It looked ridiculous. And worse, I discovered sloths didn’t have tails so I had to chip away the tail, much to the annoyance of the husky next door who DID NOT LIKE all that hammering and chiseling. This was the final, which I hated. I planned to go out the next day and chip the whole thing off the wall which I have never done before but I was not pleased with it, at all.

• 

• 

When I looked at it closely, I saw that it kind of reminded me of Mia, my old Sugar Glider. She was gray and hung upside down from things and resembled this bad attempt at a sloth. She passed away a few years ago and I had failed to memorialize her on the wall previously.

I picked up medium gray grout stain and mixed it with my grout. I chiseled away the nose and the sky where the big ears would need to go. I didn’t want to chip away the sky where the sloth tail had once been, and add the tail back. But Sugar Gliders have long tails. I placed the tail tile over the sky tile, to go give it a 3D look but more so because I didn’t want to start chipping away too much of the long-settled piece beside it.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Finally, my finished result! Still not great but a lot cuter than it was before and now I’ve got my little Mia to make me smile when I look at the wall.

• 

• 

Now that I’ve got the gray stain I may go back and work on the Easter Island heads again. If I do, I’ll add an update to the last entry.

Two weeks ago I started an oil painting class so I may be adding pictures of new art one of these days.

Until then, happy creatiing!

Tracy

My Mosaic Wall-Easter Island Heads

Most of my mosaic projects have been small and somewhat abstract. After finishing the hands around the world piece, I got ambitious and decided to put some Easter Island heads on the back wall. We’re doing the yard in Tiki decor and I thought this would be a fun touch. It took me a good two weeks to complete this. Keep in mind, I work full time and do volunteer work, and have life stuff, so this wasn’t a solid two weeks of non-stop work. It was just when I could find time. It was probably a good 20 hours though, all told.

I started with sketches to get an idea of shading, I went through a lot of plates from Dollar Tree and the 99 Cent Only Store. I also used a lot of Home Depot and Lowe’s gray floor tile. I used black penny tiles from Lowe’s as well. The hardest part of all of this, besides the sore neck and back and the heat, was that I had to keep going up and down the hill for supplies. I also do a lot of stepping back from a piece to see it from far away and I couldn’t do that without walking up and down the hill. Good thing I have stone steps built into the hill, courtesy of my daughter and future son-in-law.

• 

• 

• 

xxxxx

• 

• 

• 

• 

Robert and I are just to the left of the left head, for scale. There was a lot of good, gray color before I added the grout. Once I slathered in the white grout, it started to look washed out.

• 

• 

• 

Once it was fully grouted, I needed to scrub any leftover grout off the black pieces. I went to Home Depot and bought gray grout paint. The floor tile I used for the gray was porous so I had to scrub the gray grout paint off all the tile, piece by piece, with a toothbrush and wet cloth. It was really hot that day and it dried almost immediately. It was so light gray it was almost white so barely made a difference. It helped a little to bring the piece back to life though.

Next I painted around the eyes, forehead and mouth, and outlines with black grout paint. That made a big difference. When the sun went down a little, the contrast came back. A lot of the faded-out illusion was just the blinding sun. It’s pretty far from the backyard so here are closeups of the UFO and Robert and me. Why did I add a UFO you may ask? Why not.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Here’s our Tiki yard (in progress) at night with the heads (top right of photo) illuminated by our solar spotlight. All the lights you see are solar. We LOVE the solar lights!

• 

• 

Until my next post, stay creative!

Tracy

My Mosaic Wall – Mosaic Jerry

A few weeks ago, my former boss passed away unexpectedly. He was a bright sunny person all the years I knew him. After I got past the initial shock, I knew I had to honor him by adding him to my wall. Now when I go outside, I see his smiling face and remember all the good he did while he was here. He will be missed but will also have a place on my wall and in my heart.

• 

• 

• 

I used various types of tile here. His hair and eyes are black penny tiles from Lowes. His face, floor tile from Home Depot. His glasses were strips of glass tile which do not smash well. For those I had to drag my wet saw from the shed and carefully cut the glass in strips. All the white parts were donated tile from a friend who was cleaning her garage.

Overall, I think it looks enough like him to bring me joy when I see him up there.

• 

• 

• 

I think it’s fitting that he rests by the California flag, the Coronavirus 2020, and the Hope Sunset heart.

RIP Jerry

-Tracy

My Mosaic Wall – The California Flag

I’m at a crossroads with my wall. The area I can see from my patio is full. I now have to stand to my left to see all of it where the corner of the house is. To the left of the wall is a tree I don’t want to tile behind. I could tile up the wall on the hill, or against the back wall but I’m worried about water from when I water the plants. At this point I think I’ve decided I’ll continue the wall even if it’s beside the house and I can’t get a picture of it all at once. That’s what video is for.

For today though, I’m posting about my take on the California flag with its symbolic bear. One thing I learned pretty quickly into this project is that drawing bears is hard. Here are the first few steps I took. As you can see I wasn’t off to a promising start.

• 

• 

• 

With determination, this finally all came together. All told it took about two hours the first day, and about fifteen minutes the next day for the grouting. First picture is the end of day one with no grout. When the project was done, I used black grout paint to make the bear’s white of his eye smaller. I sprayed the whole thing with grout sealer the third day and hoped the paint would withstand the heavy rain (and even hail that looked like snow on the other side of town). It worked out fine. I used a variety of tiles this time, from Dollar Tree broken plates to donated tile from friends, Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Habitat for Humanity markdowns.

• 

• 

• 

Final pictures are of my trusty tile companion Granola. This was from another project but she’s always by my side and deserves a shout out.

• 

Thanks for visiting!

-Tracy

My Mosaic Wall – COVID-19 and Dr. Fauci

I couldn’t let the year go by without acknowledging the two things that took over and altered everyone’s live in 2020: COVID-19 and Dr. Fauci.

When COVID-19 started to become a household word in March 2020, like many people, we watched the nightly TV broadcast of President Trump and Dr. Fauci. There were other speakers like Dr. Birx and generals and other health experts, but Dr. Fauci became the man our country turned to for the truth about the status of COVID-19.

All our lives were turned upside down, and as we’ve wrestled with one restriction after another, one loss after another, the root of it has been this darn virus. Since my wall is an homage to everything in my life (that I can relay in tile) plus some other things that are just fun, like the dolphin, I had to give it and Dr. Fauci a spot on my wall.

I made his glasses from a Christmas tree hook since they’re abundant in our house right now. I used from silver penny mosaic tiles, some glass sparkly strips Home Depot, and some broken plates from Dollar Tree. I also used some square green mosaic tile I bought last year.

• 

• 

I added his mask and glasses after I grouted as they were an extra layer. I need to go back and fix his arm. It’s a tiny figure and at the time I didn’t notice his elbow. Still though I think it’s a good depiction of the virus and it’s communicator, trapped in a frame that I hope means it will be contained.

My Mosaic Wall- The Kids Next Door

We’ve lived in this house for six years. Over that time, the neighbors to our left have had several different family members and friends stay with them, and always a lot of activity. Though we have a six foot concrete wall, their yard is elevated on their side so it’s only three feet. This means that we have very little privacy, and over time the kids next door have made a habit of leaning on the wall, calling over to us, tossing things over the wall, etc.

About a year ago they bought a trampoline. The kids of varying ages use it almost constantly. Since the six-year-old boy is one of the biggest fans of our side of the fence, and continually wants to chat, and is always complimentary about the new items on the wall, I told him I’d put him and his cousin and the trampoline on the wall. We had a couple of weeks of very hot weather but once the heatwave broke, I began the project. First the sketch, then a couple of pictures of the project without grout. For the poles I used glass mosaic tile leftover from my kitchen project a few years ago. For the light blue, I used broken tile from Lowe’s. The little pieces were smashed plates from the Dollar Tree.

• 

• 

Finished project, which isn’t completely lifelike but certainly captures the essence.

• 

• 

Wall in progress with the new addition.

My Mosaic Wall- Birds and Other Things

I’ve started to fill in some of the empty spaces in the main block of where I’d intended to add art. I added two small birds which were inspired by something I saw on Pinterest or maybe Instagram. For these, I smashed up Dollar Tree plates and some clearance patterned tile from The Home Depot. They’re not all that exciting but filled in some gaps.

• 

• 

The next bird was bigger and a lot more involved. My daughter called and said she was rereading Jonathan Livingston Seagull so I was inspired to make him. He’s got a lot more gray than Jonathan but I think it turned out pretty well. When I was done, and it was grouted and dry, I added some pieces of seaglass and shells. I had planned to write something with broken tiles in the sky but instead made a heart-shaped sunset. This was made mostly with broken plates and ceramic tile.

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

The red and black birds left me with some small spaces to fill in. I added a smiley face and a little Tracy. I’m not that thin in real life but I may as well memorialize things with an idealistic slant.

Finally, the wall so far. I’ve run out of projects I’ve finished so the next one will be brand-new. The little kids next door are forever bouncing on their trampoline. I see their heads and bodies over the wall and they yell over and say hello. I told them I’ll put the trampoline and them on the wall next.

Friday we got a new puppy, Granola Barr, so I’m sure she will make her way up there soon enough too.

Have a creative week!

Tracy

My Mosaic Wall- The Mermaid

I found some shimmery blue tile at Lowe’s and thought it would be perfect to make a mermaid on the wall. This started off great. I also had some metallic bars, that to me looked like gold bars, and some penny tiles that looked like doubloons. Here was the original concept.

Because it was complex, I did a chalk outline on the wall first first.

 

 

 

 

 

Then I added in the tail. So far so good.

 

 

 

 

Even the ungrouted mermaid looked pretty good, I thought.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But thenI had a problem. The lavender tile was really hard to see in the surrounding blue sea. I made the unfortunate decision to paint the grout black. Lol, obviously this was a mistake. It looked like a black walrus with red hair.

 

So I had to go back and grout over it, with white grout. Eventually I repainted the joints in the arms so they were visible. I changed the eye color to blue and in retrospect I should have left them black. I noticed too that the treasure chest looked like a cardboard box.

The final result is below. I rounded the treasure chest, added  more to the bottom, and did the best I could with the little mermaid.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think it’s important to show how much you can mess things up in a project like this. When everything is seen together, you can get away with the small stuff.

Until next time, happy tiling!

-Tracy

My Mosaic Wall-The Pets

Though I didn’t add the pets to the wall all at once, eventually they all made their way. The first one I attempted was my Mini Schnauzer, Anna. I was excited because as I made her likeness on the wall, I was looking at an old picture of her on my phone. When I finished though, she looked more like a raccoon than a Schnauzer. As I’ve filled in the areas around her, she’s starting to look more like a dog. As of today, she’s 15 1/2 years old and still just as wonderful as when I got her at 4 months old.

• 

• 

The next pet attempt was Sasha, my 21 1/2 year old Siamese cat. This was shortly after I discovered grout paint, so I colored her face in. Somehow the mosaic ended up huge, compared to everything else. Since this is a creative endeavor, merely to keep my brain busy and cover the gray concrete, I decided to enjoy the giant Sasha mosaic.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Next came Mabel, who came out just about how she looked in real life. We only had Mabel for a short time. Two years ago I went outside for a walk and saw a woman with her on a leash. The woman said she’d found her running in the street and thought someone may have dumped her. I estimated her to be about ten years old, which a chip later confirmed. She was a pretty dog, well behaved, and very itchy. I said I’d take her in until we could find her owners, since the woman was going to have to bring her to a shelter. The owners never appeared. Mabel loved the other pets and instantly took charge as the pack leader, guiding them along the way as herding dogs do. She had a big personality and we loved her very much for the time we had her. About a year in, she developed heart disease. Despite lots of vet visits and, by the end, twelve pills a day, plus allergy shots, eventually her heart gave out. I’m happy that I see her image every day on the wall.

• 

• 

Next came Lily, our Yorkie. Like Anna, Lily came with me from Massachusetts. She passed away about a month before Mabel, also from heart failure. Lily had health issues for many years but she was so sweet. Losing two dogs so quickly was heartbreaking and I’m glad I added them to the wall when they were still with us. She was about 8 1/2 when she passed away.

• 

• 

Scruffy was the last mammal entry. We got Scruffy about five years ago when we innocently went to PetSmart to get cat food. It was Pet Adoption Day and Scruffy was with her foster sisters, in a small area in the center of the store. She was ten months old when we got her and had been rescued from a kill shelter. She’s a great dog but has really been affected by the loss of Mabel and Lily.

• 

• 

• 

• 

Tortuga was my boyfriend’s turtle long before I was in the picture. I know the mosaic looks nothing like him but turtles are hard to make. Tortuga came from a street fair when he was about the size of a silver dollar. He’s about twenty-five years old and the oldest pet.

I hope you enjoy a glimpse into my life, and seeing my pets.

Happy Tiling!

Tracy

My Mosaic Wall – Seasons and Flowers

Though my original tree was a bit of a mess, the next one I made is still one of my favorite pieces. For this I used a lot of broken plates from the 99 Cent Only Store. For the branches I used pieces of glass tile leftover from my kitchen renovation.

On the heels of that, I made a winter tree, which reminded me of New England winters that were such a wonderful part of my past. This was a combination of mosaic tiles from sheets (green and brown) and broken white tiles I bought in a sheet.

What I’ve noticed when creating this wall is how different items look once they’re surrounded by more tile. Later I broke dark blue dishes from the 99 Cent Only Store when I was creating a night sky and constellations, and added them around the tree.  For this I painted the grout with black grout paint and wiped away the extra.

For Valentine’s Day I made a heart. Nothing very impressive but you can at least tell what it is. You can see the chalk line, where I planned the size. Once I started working on it, I realize I’d never have enough red tile to make it that big. It ended up smaller but still plenty big enough. The picture below is before it was grouted.

The wall was coming along but there was so much ugly gray concrete left to cover. I’d made some palm trees which didn’t look great so I wanted to spruce those up as well (tree pun). This was done with a combination of craft stones, and various colored penny tiles I bought from Home Depot online because stores don’t carry them.

Where I live in Southern California there are a lot of fires. Though my house has been spared, and hopefully will continue to be safe because we live toward the center of town, not by the hills, there are a lot of burned trees around. After a fire, you see a lot of black trees. Often enough though, you will also see leaves growing out of them, and eventually, a lot of regrowth. I used river rocks from the Dollar Tree to represent all the burned trees that continue to sprout life.

And because I now live in the southwest, I felt compelled to make a cactus.

As always here is a picture of the grout and adhesive I use.

Here’s a current picture of the wall from August 3.

I hope you’re enjoying my tile journey.

-Tracy