Go Mosaic, Sand Mandalas and Making Matte Glass, I hope

I just had to post this picture of the mosaic that R made from the pieces of her Go game.


It isn't glued down, of course, so it is probably more correctly a Go mandala, like the sand mandalas often made and destroyed, usually by Tibetan Buddhist monks.

Also, this one wasn't destroyed by its creator, but, uh, messed up by me...but it had set out on the kitchen table for several days intact. I think that was pretty good. But R wasn't too thrilled when my sleeve drug across it.

Sand Mandala, Tibet 1993
photo by John Hill

Sand mandala created for the visit of the Dalai Lama 2008

from Wikipedia: Ritual destruction

The destruction of a sand mandala is also highly ceremonial. Even the deity syllables are removed in a specific order, along with the rest of the geometry until at last the mandala has been dismantled. The sand is collected in a jar which is then wrapped in silk and transported to a river (or any place with moving water), where it is released back into nature. For this reason, the materials keeping with the symbolism are never used twice.

Several months ago I was working on this mosaic and could never find the right pieces to fill in the background. I placed 2 orders for mosaic tiles that just wouldn't work. So, this morning I cut up some little pieces of white opaque to semi-opaque (it's a bit swirly) stained glass and put them in my daughter's long abandoned rock tumbler. I want all the glossy to go away. I can't wait to see what happens. If they won't work for this project, I'm sure I can use them for something else...just like all the other rejects I have stashed away somewhere in my studio.

(Mandala photos from Wikipedia articles "Mandala" and "Sand Mandala")

Works In Progress - Mosaic and Painting

This mosaic is what I have been working on lately, taking up space on my kitchen table. The inspiration and focal point is this lovely quartz stone that we found at a little rock shop in Glen Rose after we hiked around the bed of the Paluxy River in Dinosaur State Park.

Unfortunately, I realized that the unglazed ceramic tiles I had planned to use on most of the background just would not work. The tone was all wrong...yuck. Then, I found out that my local big tile supply store had closed, so I went searching on the internet, and now I am waiting for some more tiles, that may or may not work in this piece. I won't know 'til I see them.


So, this will continue to sit on the table a while longer. Happily, with the cooler weather we can eat outside on the deck, which I love best anyway. Hurray for approaching Fall.




I've been dreaming up paintings lately when I'm lying awake at night and my brain won't turn off.
So, yesterday I scrawled some lines in Caran d'Arche on 2 canvases and then coved them with acrylic medium and crumpled or folded tissue paper for texture and another layer of medium.

This is a real experiment for me, but I like how the textures came out.

In fact, I like how the larger panel looks right now with the texture lines running vertically, but I doubt any of the drawn/painted lines will be visible later as I have this envisioned (yes, from in bed at 4am) as an almost all deep red.

It's kind of fun to be thinking about painting again, I haven't done it in a long time.

Glass on glass mosaic

Just realized that I only posted one entry in the month of July. I am so behind.

A few weeks ago I completed and grouted this glass mosaic.

Mosaic being grouted in black

My 10 year old was surprised at my choice of grout color. She said, "I thought it would be lighter." But when I had the mosaic all cleaned and held it up to the sunlight, she "ahhhhed" in approval and understood the stained glass window effect.

I haven't installed it in its frame yet, and a finished picture will have to wait for Edward to return from Iowa with his digital camera. (I love my film camera, but it's just not practical for blogging.)

This contains Sici's waterglass and glimmer as well as art glass sheets. It was my first experiment with MAC glue, which I like for glass on glass, but haven't perfected my use of yet. I discovered that it works better for me to apply it to the tesserae with a small paintbrush (a cheap one, because it will end up in the trash; I went through 3).