Ep. 138 EAR TO MANE ON THE ST. MARK MOSAIC & FINDING THE RIGHT BACKGROUND FOR THE MOSAIC SUNFLOWER!

Ep. 138 EAR TO MANE ON THE ST. MARK MOSAIC & FINDING THE RIGHT BACKGROUND FOR THE MOSAIC SUNFLOWER!

The St. Mark Mosaic is a commission for a local church. St. Mark is the second of the four evangelists and his symbol is a winged lion with a halo. The sunflower is one of a series of three mosaics I am making to exhibit and sell in juried shows.

Starting with St. Mark, I show the different colors coming up.
0:47 I start working on the forehead in amber streaky glass and soft brown for the creases and upper forehead. I am using stained glass on mesh with Laticrete 254 Platinum as my adhesive. This mosaic will be mounted on an exterior wall on the second level, so I am using some bold outlining to help it read from a distance.
3:03 Shifting to the mosaic sunflower, I show how one piece slipped out of place while in transit. To remove the piece of glass, I spritz it with water and wait for the Weldbond adhesive to reconstitute and turn white. It is important to wear eye protection when prying off glass as it can chip or fly unpredictably. Spritz, blot, wait, pry, remove, blot, reglue, place, FIXED!
4:24 I talk background strategy and decide on some of the sizes and colors to use. I will be using bigger pieces for the leaves in a lighter gorgeous green. The bottom will be darker and the top will be a beautiful blue sky as I LOVE the play of blue and yellow.
5:05 Cutting and gluing commences. Glass is marked with a dry erase marker as an easy reference for nipping. I nip the glass. Then I nip nip nip it. After that, I nip it some more. Finally it fits and I can glue it in.
8:11 Using the reference photo, I cut out the top background that I will be changing to sky and place it over several sample pieces of blue glass. Surprisingly, I end up liking the medium blue streaky Oceanside glass. To add to the contrast between the foliage and the sky, I am using very small squares and rectangles. This will give the sky plenty of movement as well. I have to take out a few perfectly cut pieces because I was in the zone and missed a few leaves I wanted to add to the gap between the petals.
11:09 Back at work on St. Mark, with pre-cut ear pieces at the ready, I lay a bed of thinset and spread with a mini crowbar. Then I transfer the ear pieces one by one into place. It was a bit of a challenge as I had cut too much off the corner of my piping bag and the thinset was coming out fast and furious. To regain control of my thinset, I transfer it to a fresh bag with a smaller corner cut off. My control of the thinset is back and I'm back too! I commence with the mane above the ear. Then below the ear. Next the spike of fur on the top of the head. I snuck the chin in there at some point off camera. Then I work a little more on the left side before calling it quits.
14:42 One last look at my progress on the mosaic sunflower background. Then another look at St. Mark.
That's Putting It Together Ep. 138. Thanks for watching! See you next time.

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