Past mosaic art pieces

This mosaic piece is called "Celebrate Kids". The students of Palm Valley Elementary School each drew a picture of a child performing a task or having fun etc. Each class chose one drawing, which was then turned into a mosaic and mounted onto the center "fountain" in the school courtyard. Above you can see the entire fountain and a couple close ups of individual fields. This was my first major mosaic public art piece, which I completed with the assistance of the PVES art teacher.

Latest Favorite Finds

Here are some pictures of my latest favorite finds.
I love the little cactus salt and pepper shakers. They are so fitting for Arizona, even though they are vintage and made in Japan.
The cigar boxes are wonderful, too. I will put shaving soap, a shaving brush, and if the size allows, even a shaving mug in them. That will make a great gift.
The beautiful saucer is made by Noritake. The ornate gold decoration is dimensional and the photos do not do the vividness of the shine justice.
I also found 2 Salem Streamline art deco sugar bowls without a lid. I will post pictures as soon as I get around to taking them.

Doug Wiley Dolphin Mugs

Here are 2 beautiful Doug Wiley dolphin mugs, that won't end up on Etsy, because they are made in 1999 and do not qualify for the vintage category. That does not really upset me though, because I was thinking about keeping them for myself anyway.
My wonderful neighbor and friend, Judy, found them while thrifting in California and brought them back for me.

New Year, new projects

Happy New Year. So far, it is not much different than the old one, same old, same old. I have decided to start on a new, smaller glass mosaic. I took some photos of flowers while I was on vacation in Germany last summer, and one of those flowers was my favorite kind : wild bush roses, that grow on the side of the road. This will be the first time I am going to use just grey tones to create a picture. It will be approximately 28" by 28". That should be an easier sell than the big tropical glass mosaic I finished a couple months ago. Now if I can just refrain from re-doing it over and over again because I imagine flaws no one else can ever see, this mosaic could be ready in a couple months. The picture above is the enlarged photograph, in a grey scale.
Hopefully my mosaic will look as good.

New Batches of Soap

I made 3 small batches of soap this week, which should be available in my Etsy store in a few weeks. One batch of real castile soap, (first try), made from 100% olive oil, one batch of lemongrass, dandelion root shaving soap and one of prickly pear, tea tree oil shaving soap. Unfortunately the prickly pear soap ended up looking a little rough as I did not tap the molds enough to prevent air bubbles from forming. It is still useable, but just a bit more "rustic" looking. I am looking forward to trying out the castile soap, as it is a basic, but extremely mild soap, that can even be used as a baby soap. Since I break out from just looking at the wrong product, I will be the perfect person to test this one, to find out how mild it really is. If I don't break out, the majority of the world's population shouldn't either! I will let you know if I am one giant walking rash or not, in a few weeks. Needless to say, should I end up red and itchy, this soap will not go up for sale!

A+ Elementary School Project

I like working with kids, so this project was quite fun. Palm Valley Elementary School, in Goodyear, Arizona was designated an A+ school. In celebration of this achievement, I was asked to create some mosaic artwork. The artwork consists of 3 mosaic panels. The two outer panels were created by the students, the center panel by me.
Each student at the school made a letter and this letter was then used to create words that describe what makes their school an A+ school. I then mounted the letters on 2 panels and grouted them. The center panel depicts Palm Valley Elementary School.

artist in residence projects

I have decided to post some of my past work. Including the artist in residence projects I have completed at a local elementary school.
Most of the work is mosaic art work, but I have also done some paintings.
I will post them one project at a time.

favorite find of the week

Found this vintage Doug Wiley whale tail mug last week. This will make a great mug for one of my shaving kits.

The Classics in Pieces

This is the last public art piece I have done. Three concrete tables covered in scenes from classic literature. It is also at the Avondale Civic Center Library.
The seats are painted in a color matching the mosaics and the city also purchased matching umbrellas.
Here is a link to an article about the project in the Arizona Republic:
Article

Public Art Pieces

I have decided to post some of my completed projects, since I have not finished my website and it doesn't look like it will be done in the near future. The mosaic above is a public art piece that is installed on the City of Avondale public library at the civic center. I worked with the children of Rancho Santa Fe Elementary School. The images depict places and buildings of Avondale's past and present.