A MOSAIC PROJECT

I have had readers ask me about my process of making a mosaic project.  So I finally manged to take pictures of a piece while I was making it.

I am always on the lookout for inexpensive ceramic and terracotta pots to mosaic.  Plastic doesn't work because the glue and tiles don't adhere well enough to withstand expansion and contraction and the seal isn't tight enough to withstand moisture.  This is my experience.  Other, more educated mosaic people may have found a way...

for this project I used a ceramic pot I found on sale at the end of the summer season.  I didn't need to seal it because it was glazed.  For terracotta pots, I brush on a concrete sealer to help reduce moisture transmission through the clay. This is also a free form sort of design.  If I am doing a pattern, I will draw it on the pot before I start to add tile.

I buy my tile from lots of places.  The tile on this project was from a tile outlet that has since closed.  I get it at hardware stores, online sites and sometimes pre-cut from e-Bay.  For this whole tile, I am using my smack with a hammer technique!

 I lay the tile on a piece of cloth, cover the top and smack it with my hammer.  (Lay the tile face down and the hammer will not damage the finished front of the tile.)

I use a lot of my used jars to store tile and cleaned styrofoam meat trays to hold the tiles which I am working with them.  As you can also see, I use old tee shirts, dish towels, sponges and all kinds of stuff from around the house.  The one thing I didn't manage to get a picture of is my nipper tool.  I use that to cut the pieces I am using down to the size or shape that I need.

The red pieces I used were a pre-cut purchase.

My favorite glue is Weldbond.  I buy it online in the big jug and then refill the smaller bottles for ease of use.

Because you want a great seal between the tile and the thing you are applying it to, there needs to be adhesive on the pot and on the tile.  Another thing to keep in mind as the tiles are added to the piece is the fit.  It is fun to piece them together but you also need to make the pieces as flat to the surface as possible.  I am not so great at this, as you'll see in the finished piece, my tiles tend to poke up and the surface is uneven.  I am ok with it - but it really is not the ideal.

You also want to leave space between the tiles for the grout.  Some mosaic makers leave lots of space and have wide grout lines, I tend to like the pieces to be closer together.

When the tile has covered the surface, let it stand for a day to dry.  Then tape off the areas which you don't want to grout.  I have taped off the bottom pf the pot, but I want to get a good seal around the edge where the tile meets the pot at the bottom and top to help prevent moisture from getting up underneath.

I use grout from the hardware store.  It comes in white, beige, black, and gray.  I also use an acrylic admix to wet the grout.  it makes it stronger and more flexible that using plain water. The grout should have enough liquid to make it spreadable but not drippy. 

Oh, and use gloves for this, the grout is really tough on your hands!  Some people spread the grout using a tool, I am more hands on and scoop the grout onto the piece and then smoosh it down into the cracks.

After the entire surface is covered and all the cracks are filled in, the surface can be lightly wiped down.  After about 10 minutes, use a wet sponge to wipe the surface again, but not so much that it pulls the wet grout out from the cracks. 

I use a dish tub with several inches of water in it for this process.  You should not wash the grout down the drain in your house because it will dry and clog things up!  By using the dish tub of water, I can wash the gloves off, and used the sponge to wipe the pot down without using the sink.  After the grout has settled to the bottom of the tub, I can pour off the water and then wipe out the solids of the grout which remain and toss that in the trash.

After several hours you can wipe the surface again, What you are doing is taking the grout off the surface of the tiles, but leaving the cracks completely filled.  The next day the tape can be removed and all the surfaces wiped and smoothed.  I use a spray bottle of vinegar water to help loosen up any grout from the surfaces of the tiles and a rough cloth and a popsicle stick to scrape tough spots.

The last step is to seal the grout.  I use a spray on sealer from the hardware store. Let it sit for a day and then fill your pot!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

Book lovers necklace, found on Etsy.

CORPORATE EDUCATION NATION

I have listened in and read some of the information being shared at the NBC Education Nation Summit.  They say it is NBC News' "initiative to engage the country in a solutions-focused conversation about the state of education in America."

After reading an article on the "Corporate Education Reform Movement" I wondered who the sponsors were of the NBC program - with the exception of the University of Phoenix which has some questionable practices and claims, they were mostly foundations with varying approaches and programs to aid education.

I was happy to see that the companies who produce data driven standardized tests and technology for the classroom were not in evidence - at least openly.  Why?  Here is a quote from Tom Watkins, one of the major "consultants" to those businesses:

Let's hope the fiscal crisis doesn't get better too soon  It'll slow down reform.

And why would that be?  Well, under the stress of budget cuts and the duress of more threatened, schools are turning to the products of these "Education Reform Corporations" in an attempt to make the changes demanded by the feds, the states and the politicians.  The schools can say "Look, we invested in all these tests and all these technology programs - see?  We reforming."

However, in their panic, they are ignoring the fact that the kids using the technology and taking the tests are not doing better.  There is no proof that the billions of dollars are improving basic learning.  But they sure are improving the bottom line of the companies which produce them.

So why is this the continued focus of political education reformers?  Follow the money. 

FRIDAY FAST ONES

1.)  Kirsty Alley is the latest celeb who can't win with those tabloids.  She was ridiculed and shamed when she gained weight.  Then she lost some on Jenny Craig but gained it back and they crowed over each pound - like they actually know her weight at any given moment.  She got serious enough about learning what worked for her that she started her own line of organic weight loss items and she has shed, she says, 100 pounds. 

She had a triumphant opportunity to walk the runway in a recent show for a designer showing off her new slimmer form.  And what do the tabloids now run as their headlines?  If you think there were compliments - forget it.  They are claiming she is bulimic and/or has gastric by-pass surgery.  She is shamed if she is fat and now they are trying to sham her when she slims down.  What a bunch of creeps - and so are the people who buy those rags.

2.)  Join the campaign Mrs. G has mounted on Facebook to support Ben & Jerry's and their Schweddy Balls ice cream!!

3.)  So who is making up the guest lists for the audiences at the Republican debates?  They booed a gay soldier last night, following their cheers for the number of inmates executed in Texas and the idea of letting uninsured people die without medical care.

At least when Carl Rove was picking the audiences for Bush, they kept out the rowdy rednecks.

4.)  I am no fan of Rick Perry and the fact that he has taken thousands of campaign dollars from the manufacturer of the HPV vaccine makes him rightly vulnerable to attack for self-dealing.  However, I support the use of the HPV vaccine wholeheartedly. 

A young woman I know contracted HPV and then cervical cancer when she was only 23.  Her former finance cheated on her and the result is that it's unlikely she will be able to carry a pregnancy.  There is no excuse for these tragic outcomes when there is a vaccine to save the next generation from this virus.

My daughters have been vaccinated and now I am urging my son to be vaccinated, too. (At the time the girls were vaccinated they were not allowing it for boys.) The physician I spoke with said that it is very important for young men to be vaccinated so they do not become carriers of the virus, plus there are other types of cancer which may be connected to the virus though more research must be done.  she also said that the vaccine works against other, similar viruses.

This seems like a no brainer to me.   It is silly to think giving them this vaccine when they are teens or pre-teens will somehow open the floodgates to early sexual activity.  They will become sexually active at some point in their lives and we should do our part to protect their health and the health of their partners.

I STILL MISS MY TOVA

 A while back I posted about my search for a new fragrance, which is yet to be found.   I wore a perfume called TOVA for  10 years and loved it. That phrase from Jerry Maguire "you complete me."  That was me and TOVA.   
Then QVC purchased the TOVA company and they reformulated the perfume.  Some say to make it more cheaply, some say the ingredients are no longer available.  All I know is that I have not heard a great outcry that other perfumes were changed - just TOVA, so the ingredients not available thing sounds like an excuse from QVC.

For a while I found a reputable seller on eBay who had acquired some of the original perfume and I paid double the price in order to have it - a squeeze on my budget at $80.00!   That seller ran out and I was not in a position to pay the ever inflating prices for more of the few remaining bottles, so I have gone perfumeless. 

Just on a whim I checked on eBay to see if there was any more available,  I found half used bottles sellers claim to have found in the back of the closet selling for $76.00 and $100.00.  The 3 new bottles that were up for auction were selling between $250. and $300.00!

It strikes me that QVC could go back to the original, quality formula and still make a boatload of money because there are so many of us out here at significant levels of desperation to get our favorite scent again.

Of course, since QVC claims they have not changed the formula at all, ever, in any way they might have to come up with some kind of new name for it.  But those of us who love the fragrance will accept a TOVA by any other name.

TEE VEE TIME

We have been debating about our cable TV bill, well, really, about our cable TV in general.  Because I work nights I don't see much TV during the week.  I DVR the shows I especially like and usually watch them after I get home until I am sleepy and go to bed. 

I don't watch all that much TV during the day - though I admit I watched the better part of an old favorite (An Unmarried Woman)  this afternoon before I went to work.  I sometimes like having the TV on when I am alone in the house and doing things in the kitchen.  I can turn the sound up really loud and hear it through the noise of housework.

What Tom really wants is to watch less TV.  He feels he is watching too much.  He is unsatisfied with the offerings, but he watches anyway.  When he broached the idea of reducing the channels, I thought "Not Showtime!"  That means Weeds, The Big C and Dexter.  Back to having to wait nearly a year for the seasons to come out on DVD!  He claims we can watch them on the computer sooner, but I have never had any luck with that.

When we looked at the channel line-up packages, we both agreed we couldn't go without Bravo, Lifetime and AMC.  That means Top Chef, Project Runway, Mad Men and Breaking Bad.   So that takes us up a tier and the cost is amazingly close to the cost we are paying now for all the channels.  That's how we ended up here.  Those cable people really know which channels we actually watch - they say we get 600 channels, but we only watch about 10 of them - they know what they are doing and  toss them in the more expensive package and then sweeten the deal with super cheap HBO, STARZ and Encore.

Oh no, if we drop HBO I'll miss Boardwalk Empire.  Damn. 

I am making the call tomorrow.  I may just have to drop it all down to basic and see how painful it is. 

Maybe basic plus Showtime...

WE DON'T HATE SEX, WE JUST HATE YOUR STUPID MOVIES

Hello?  Women over 25 loved an entire series about sex.

I was reading a Forbes article titled Women Over 25 Don't Like Sex.  That premise is based on the following exchange regarding a new movie called "What's Your Number?"

In the New Yorker piece, Faris and the film’s director, Mark Mylod, watch a scene from the film. In it, Faris’s character declares that she’s a “whore,” and wants someone who will “appreciate that” about her. During a test screening, the audience laughed at the line, but the director remained wary. “Younger women lap up the nudity and sexual humor,” he was quoted as saying. “Women over 25—some are worried by it.”

What most men and Hollywood don't get about women beyond college age is this:  we do not find humor in being called derogatory names.  We do not think being called, or having your characters call themselves, whore or slut or whatever "funny" thing your writers come up with laughable. 

Unlike some of your younger, less experienced audience, we know something about discrimination and don't appreciate the efforts to keep us "in our place" by making our sexual selves the butt of the joke.  And since when do you figure we don't enjoy  nudity?  Oh, maybe because it's pretty much only there to gratify the men in the audience... 

Don't write off women over 25 as being over sex - what we are over is male oriented, juvenile and I'll use the m word, misogynistic "entertainment."

HAPPY LABOR DAY

End of Summer Cake

WHY IS THIS STILL HAPPENING?

Apparently someone at JC Penny thought this was a "Fun Tee" for 7-16 year old girls!

They apparently got a lot of flak for it and  have removed it from their catalog. 

However this one is still there:

Do they not have women who work for Penny's?  Or men who have daughters?  Or someone who might, in 2011, for heaven's sake , see that this is a sexist and negative message to send?  Or is everyone out there in retail land out to make sure yet another generation of women grow up thinking their most important attribute is their looks and that intelligence and success is for men.

And all these tee shirts which have been pulled from the website?  Where do you suppose they are going to end up?  I suspect that they will be sold in a Third World Country where the women don't have anyone looking out for their best interests.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - PHOTOSHOP EDITION

FRIG?

Found at 22 Words