Owl

Feeling bored one day at home and the need to do some 'mosaicing', I rummaged in my kitchen cupboards and found this bamboo chopping board which has a loose handle and decided to do an Owl.  This is for my Mother-in-Law who collects owls in any shape or form.  

The start

I drew the outline on the board and had the owl sitting on a branch but later found out that I had no suitable tiles for the branch so went to Plan B and gave him legs!  Cutting the square tiles and forming circles was quite challenging but I think the result speaks for itself.

Progress

I now wish I had made the centre of the circle in the wing slightly larger to have more of an effect.  Another lesson learnt!

Ready for Grouting

 I covered the board around the owl in masking tape to protect it from the grout.  I had done a frog on a rock previously and didn't protect the rock and the frog had a white film around it . . .

Masked Owl!

Finished

Ready to take home back to Kenya for Polly!

Did you know that at group of Owls is called a 'Parliament of Owls'?

Guinea Fowl

Before we came to Bahrain we had pet guinea fowl wondering around the garden in Kenya, scratching around and making a racket - I really miss them!!!

The Start

Started of sticking dark grey tiles along with 'pearls' from a necklace which my mosaic teacher kindly broke up for me.

Head, beak and eyes

A lesson learnt on the way - while sticking beads USE LOTS OF GLUE so they don't come off when you are cleaning off the grout!

Background complete, now ready to grout

 I decided to do the grouting in black so the white of the pearls would show up ~ still not sure it was the right decision

Finished!

Another one for the verandah . . .

Mosaic Porthole

The porthole from the bathroom needed a border around it as it was covered in cement and looked very untidy so I had a circle cut out of plyboard to fit around the porthole.  Again, using tiles from the renovations - floor tiles and wall tiles.

The Start

Bits and Bobs

All the way around the circle I added pieces of souvenirs I had collected over the years . . .  Sand dollars from Malindi, Obsidian from Mt Longonot, seeds, a fossilized fish vertebra, old pennies and a rubber snake from the kids toy box!

Fossilized fish vertebra

Can you see the snake?

Starfish Shower Backing

The 'fundis' (masons) had made such a mess of the shower tiles by the taps so I made a Mosaic to cover up the mess.  First the plyboard was measured up against the shower to make sure the holes for the taps, etc were in the right place and then I set to work, again delving into the mountain of tiles . . .

Plyboard with holes set in the right place

Ready for Grouting

Ready for mounting

Close-up of Starfish

Camouflaged Chameleon

Now, back in Kenya with the mountain of tiles left over I started another Mosaic.  This time a Chameleon using the floor tiles and wall tiles.  First I drew the outline on some ply board and set to work ~ nipping away . . .

Outline with Nippers

Ready for grouting

Detail of Eye

Ready to be mounted on the Wall

Gorgeous Gecko

Geckos have always been a part of my life growing up in Kenya; always on the verandah in the evening as the sun goes down, catching the ever-annoying mosquitoes!  

I started with the eyes and then creating circles with cut glass tiles and small glass beads

Eyes and Nose

Creating circles

Ready for grouting

Once I had finished sticking the tiles on, it was ready for grouting . . .  As the temperature outside was hot, close to 45 deg C, Tina, my Mosaic Teacher wrapped the gecko in cling film so the grouting would not dry out too quickly and crack.

Protection

My Verandah Friend!

Seahorse

The Beginning

After grouting