drawing to a close

i spent last night hangin' out with my folks and watching the biggest loser. i've never seen the show before, but jason really wants us to apply.

but then the whole world is going to know i'm fat! (/sarcasm)

well the mosaic has been quite the learning process. i've been working in a roughtly counter clock-wise spiral progression from the lower right corner and back around, and I can see how early on i wasn't doing such a great job of fitting the pieces together, using too much adhesive, etc. but i got a lot better as the piece went on. and now i'm into one of the final stages, grouting.

grouting has never been my favorite process, and it's funny that it's GOT to be last. i am known for leaving unpleasant tasks until the last minute, say cleaning my house right before a party instead of doing it gradually over time. i don't know of anyone who LIKES to do unpleasant tasks first, but it is ironic that you can't HELP but do this one last.

i've got the coffee cups done, but i do have a pretty major gash on my left index finger. as i was grouting little streaks of orange-red kept showing up, i had cut my finger thru the rubber glove, and it was now seeping out into the grout. ish.

i had underestimated the amount of black grout i am going to need so i have to run up to home depot in forest lake or white bear to pick up some more. bummer! i don't want to over buy, but i don't want to have to make another supply run in the middle of the project.

8:30 PM-I have finished the grouting! It looks AWESOME, in my opinion.

i have sacrificed 4 fingertips to the slicey parts sticking up on the surface however, and my hands are stained black, too. But it's worth it!

Now, I just have to screw it to the wall at the coffee shop, cover up the screws, and re-grout the lines between the panels. Another 4 hours of work, and it'll be DONE!

strange....and progress on the mosaic

Well it's been UNSEASONABLY warm here in MN, like 40 degrees when it's normally supposed to be 10-15. Everything's thawing, but I know this is just temporary. There were tornados in Wisconsin yesterday. How bizarre.

I have to resign my lease for my current apartment on Thursday. My goal is to be in a new house next year in March. I hope it happens, there's a lot of financial crap that has to happen before that, though. I'm going to make it a goal this year to make MORE money off art. I made a new stuffed bear last night, then worked on a cat (which I wasn't liking, so I abandoned). I've been doing that a lot more lately, making one leg, then not making the second, making one arm, and then changing the design for the next. Gonna have to make some frankenstein animals for Halloween!

Along those lines, the mosaic mural is coming along well! Although, I'm not feeling this URGENT need to work on it. Today I'm not going into the college at all, my goal was to work on the mosaic all day, and in reality I've only done about 1.5 hours of work on it. First, I smoothed out/removed some tiles from the first large coffee cup, that were sticking up too far. Then I removed the handle off another one, that looked really out of place.

I've gotten to a point where I need to go get more adhesive, so it's a good stopping place, but I'm wondering if I need to re-think the number and size of the coffee cups I have.

Keep in mind, this is a 10 foot long, 6 foot high piece. Below is my plan, it has deviated slightly from this design. Each coffee cup has a border of color, the one in the upper left is totally blue and white. The paisleys in the background are going to be really fun, and I'm grouting them in black for more contrast. The steam rising from the coffee cups is going to be made from mirrored glass.

To see the progress, check out my Flickr.com account.

Goodwill Bounty

Ok these are some of the treasures from Goodwill on New Year's Day.

A slightly cracked Le Cruset teapot, half-off $3.99. The purse was 1/2 off $4.99, and I think the plate was 1/2 off of $1.00. Brilliant!

And here are some shots of my first wool felt pillow. I really like how it turned out. I am planning on making a second one with blue, white, and bits of red, to go with my couches and rug.

startin' off right

starting off 2008 pretty superbly, if i do say so myself. aside from my laptop being confiscated by the geek sqaud for 2-3 weeks, that is. my cold is almost gone, and it feels so good to be not SICK anymore. i cleaned/arranged/moved stuff/washed everything around my apartment yesterday. i think i might have people over this weekend as a motivator to get it TOTALLY clean and spiffy. we'll see.

a trip to goodwill yesterday yielded a wealth of treasures, all at 50% off! i had to pass up the gravity boots, (which, i've never seen in person. WOW) because i can't hang anything from my ceiling, me included.

photos coming tomorrow. i didn't think quick enough to take snaps before i left the house.

i'm starting work on the mosaic tomorrow too.

tonight, i plan on making a pillow to match the one i made last night. i used several sweaters in its construction, i may be offering them for sale in the future, but A LOT of work goes into one of those babies!