FAN FREAKING TASTIC!

I haven't posted a response thus far but been watching your progress. You are AWSOME!!! That is probably one of the most beautiful creations I've seen. I can't believe how you started from scratch.. made the couch and the design is wonderful.

Yep, it's beautiful. Hope the weather clears up for you SOON!

WoW!! It's coming along beautifully, you should move that baby inside!

WOW! That is the neatest bench I've ever seen! PJ

Yay! A new picture!!! WOW! I was wowed by the peacocks, and now I am double wowed by the added sun! This is soooo
beautiful! Hope the weather turns nice for ya! Thanks for the update!

Cait, Everybodies said it, but WOW!! It's just amazing!!! I'm gearing up to do some brick work here so I'll be posting some pics for ya!

Another WOW, Cait.

That is simply divine, fantastic, lovely, gorgeous, and on and on. Great perfect job. I love it and you must be so proud,...!!!
HOpe it clears up soon, i want my next installament picture!!!!

This bench is just the ultimate in beautiful. Wowee, girl. We are all so blown away. I know how frustrating it must be for you to have to wait for weather. But from my side, it's fun to look every day WAITING for an update photo....and it's not over YET.....and that's so FUN! You're doing an awesome job. We can hardly wait til the next installment. I hope for your sake the weather clears soon and you can have the joy of seeing this develop and become it's final beautiful self. Waiting here in California, and checking every day on your progress.....
Daisy

Cait, that is just so beautiful. A throne for a Queen! I love those peacocks !
Love it ALL and can't wait to see it completed !!

Thank you all for cheering me on like you do. Ya'll sure do know how to make a gal feel GREAT!!
And your wishes for better weather worked! Today was, for a good part of the day, sunny and I was able to finish the sun and start putting in the sky.
So here's today's update:

As a little extra bonus I've added a pic of the path opposite the mosaic bench in Our Lady Gardyn. The recent rains have really done the garden here a lot of good and everything is flowering. For those who don't know about Our Lady Gardyn it's a garden I started developing about a year and a half ago. It amazes me how quickly these plants grew in just that small amount of time.
ENJOY!

Look how your garden has gorwn!!

The bench is just awesome!

It's the perfect spot for meditation ! LOVE it !

This is so gorgeous and interesting at the same time. Your garden is beautiful! PJ

It's coming right along beautifully! And your garden is amazing! What a lovely work area, here's to continued good weather. Thanks for the update....keep 'em coming!

WOW!!! Your garden has grown sooo fast!!! I love the colors you are using for your bench, it's all coming together perfectly! I've been trying to plan some projects while DH is away, and it seems like I get sidetracked by so many things that I didn't count on when I planned these projects...Ranchero Side-tracko! Camp Calamity!ha! Hopefully I will have a nice place like yours when I'm done! Way too much to do before I get to my throne!!!

Wow! you have come so far!!!
I saw your art at the bowl exchange, and am amazed at where you are now! You are jammin babe!!!too cool!
Hope I can make such strides! You are kickin' butt there girl. whoohoo!! wish I had pics to share. Just never took any! Love your work, You are really kicking it up!

Oh, how wonderful, CAIT. You REALLY progressed in the fast lane on the bench. I know you hate to leave it for your winter, but it'll be so wonderful to get back to it in the spring. Your path is so inviting. Having handled a few bricks and borders around here lately, I so admire your excellent workmanship. You're a true artist.

That bench is the coolest thing EVER. It would look so good in my yard. LOL

I can't wait to see the finished product.

Well, I've got to say, I ALWAYS open your thread before almost any other to see if there are update photos. You KNOW we all love this. Mosaic on! It's wonderful, wonderful!

Wow... THANKS!!! I must admit knowing how much ya'll are enjoying the project drives me to do as much as I can when the weather allows. And for the past 2 days it's been SUNNY here! And today was even WARM and sunny. It was so wonderful to work on the bench and not have my fingers go numb from the cold after an hour.

Daisy that is sooo sweet of you to say! One update pic coming up! Hope you like.....
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I decided to use lighter blue tiles around the peacock so it shows up better. The tone of the other blue is too close to the tone of the peacock tiles. Unfortunately, I only have one tile of this color and it breaks very crumbley. And although you can't tell in the pic, the tiles under the lotus are a pale sea green.

I'll be making a paisley design on the seat, maybe the arms, too. I really haven't gotten that far with my design ideas to think about what I'll do on the arms. I'm starting to formulate ideas for the 'skirt' of the bench but don't have any concrete ideas, yet.

Slow, when it got too cold yesterday to kneel still (that sounds weird but I can't 'sit still' when I mosaic, got to kneel) while working on the bench I decided to finish Merlin Way, the path that leads to this area. Brick work is much more energetic and gets the blood pumping.
Here's a pic of Merlin Way. Now I just gotta grout it then make the sign!

Enjoy!
PS Rain is forecasted for the next 4 days so I'm not sure when I'll be able to work on it again. Maybe we'll get rain, maybe we won't. They almost never get the forecast right here so I'm hoping for a few more sunny days.

Cait! Sheesh!!! Dorothy may not wanna go to OZ, but I do!!! Just like I have said before, I'd pitch my tent there anyday!!!(Me and my Little dogs!) Lotto? hmmm....I'm trying to help jumpstart another forum, oddlyenough mosaics, and will be posting about my Throne over there. I have forgotten, do you mortar your path? Another rainy day here, so will finish my door...

Jane darlin', you're welcome here anytime! HA Where's this new website... I wouldn't mind having a peek. I've checked out Carl's place but I'll be danged if I know how to navigate around it. LOL I like the simple forum here and get lost over there.
So what kind of styrofoam did you get for your throne? Will you be carving it? And where the HECK is the pic of your finished peacock??!! I can't find it!!
Ok, and yes, I mortar the bricks down. Nothing's level here (even though I do try to make it as level as possible) so I wouldn't trust just laying them on a sand base. Also, bricks on sand are usually gapless - you don't 'grout' in between them.
Looking forward to your door. You'll be finished today? Whooowee... you work fast!! Maybe you should come down here and help me out with this bench!!

Yay, an Oz update! Looking good! That paisly is gonna be yummy on the seat!
I'm envious of your brick path, wish I had the talent to do something like that and the will to do the work!
Here's hoping your forecast is wrong and you get some more dry days!

Oh Cait. Love watching your progress on this. And what a path. Would love to walk through your gardens.

Beautiful,wish I could see it in person..tell me about the ribbon looking piece in the sun,I can't tell what that is???It's beautiful I just can't see it real well.Love all your paths...

WOW! That is more than spectacular, more than amazing! I can't seem to come up with the right word to describe it. It's just simply beautiful! All the work, all the detail...wow! wow! wow!

Be Safe, Rach

Oh Cait!! IT is so fabulous!!! YOu are going to love and enjoy this bench for the rest of your life and then some!! So beautiful. And I love the light blue tiles, does bring out those wonderful peacock's...

And your garden pathways.. oh how I want to do something like that. Do you have access to a big bunch of bricks?? Your's look timeless and so inviting.

way to go girl. keep those pix coming. when you are done with those projects, you should post an open house on the forum and we can all come and look at everything Oh please..

Thanks gals! And guess what... it's SUNNY!! So I won't spend to much time on here yacking so I can get out there and continue working.

Crack, the 'ribbon' says AUM. In devanagari script the '3' makes the 'a' sound, the swirly attached to the side makes the 'oo' sound, and over that would be a line but I used a half moon, and the dot over the line is the 'mmm' sound. A swami in India taught me that. Most people pronounce it OM but that's wrong, it's actually 3 sounds A-U-M. And that's your Sanskrit lesson for the day! hehe

Merm - 2 years ago Jane scored a ton of bricks for next to nothing and I was sooo jealous (not really) that I HAD to have some of my own. So on ebay I found an excellent bargain and actually won the bid scoring about 3,000 bricks at a little more than 3 cents a brick. I've made raised veg beds and these paths with them and still have quit a few bricks left. Where the bench sits is actually a small area of my garden - only around 26' by 164' to the side and back of my house. I have 3/8ths of an acre of land so there's still a heck of a lot of space left to play. But this area is my secret garden so it gets the most attention. At least it will be a secret garden once the hedging plants grow enough to actually be a hedge. ;-)

As always - love your path, and the bench is looking really good.

It's totally amazing...and gets more so each time I look at it. Keep the up dates comming.

Any update on the progress of this bench? I have been away for awhile and couldn't find anything when I did a search.

Come on Cait it has been forever, we need to see what you have done. PLESE

CAIT, are you still out there?? Dying to see what you've been doing. . .
Ann

I agree, always too long between Cait visits!

I am so glad this thread resurfaced. I somehow missed it.
Such wonderful work. I don't completely understand the pattern transfer part (I tend to have to hands on to get it).
I sure hope she gets in here with more pics.

Wow, PEE ME OFF why don't you???lol! Your bench is amazing, beautiful, superbe, magnifique, totally hot!!! I love everything about it, the design, colours, style everything. Congradulations!

I would sure love to see the finished bench!!! I bet it is gorgeous!!!! Please let us see!!!! Cathy

WOW!! Decided to mosey on over this side and couldn't believe I saw this thread resurface!!

OK, I don't know if you all you guys are aware, but February we had really bad fires here and I was running away like twice a week for several weeks.

If you want to read about my horrid experience go here.

Since then I've been like a crazy lady clearing all the long grass, dead bushes, and weeds from my property; keeping my property safe from fires has become my priority.

BUT, I finally started work on my bench again today!! It got too dark to take pics but after I work on it some more tomorrow I will post pics so you can see how far (or how not far, hehe) I progressed.

So you can see that I have not been totally idle when it comes to mosaicing, here are a couple of pots I've done. I don't think I posted them here; I know I did on GJ.
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Enjoy!
Cait

Oh Cait! I am certainly glad you are safe. What a horrid experience. Welcome back. Your pots are beautiful and so exact. You certainly haven't lost your touch. I am dying to see the bench, you are my inspiration...keep up the good work.

OMG! I feel sooo bad. Here I am begging for bench pictures and I had totally forgotten what you must be going through. I am so glad that you are ok. I love the pots but can't wait to see your bench.
Take care.
Ann

Aw, thanks Flag and Gibs. I'm just happy the fires are finished. I pray this never happens again. I barely slept from worry.

OK, I said I'd add an updated pic today so here it is:

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I'm having my doubts about the sunflower plates I'm using. Looks awfully busy and there doesn't look to be enough contrast. My plate stash is pitiful so I may go shopping for colorful tiles that may help this bench to POP a bit.

Enjoy!
Cait

OHMYGOODNESS, CAIT!!!!! Out-of-sight-beautiful. I so love this bench - the shape, of course, is my favorite shape. LOVE ALL OF IT, but especially the front bottom section. I like the sunflower all over design. Not to busy for l'il busy bee me. I felt the same about lack of contrast on my outside sink pedestal, and decided to outline the ivy leaves in small black tiles, and it helped immensely. You could do the same w/your arches and around those wonderful paisley designs to make them stand out better. I don't envy you w/the positions you have to get into to work on this, but you're young, and I'm sure it doesn't hurt you as it would me. Beautiful project, CAIT. Glad you dodged the fire bullet.

Hey Cait, So glad you are safe from the fires. The volcano is reeking havoc here. But we're taking in stride. Go with the flow as it's said around here.
It snowed last night so that will help settle the ash. This could go on for months!!! I just hope it stops before summer so we can really enjoy the SUMMER! Sure looking forward to seeing that gorgeous bench. And your other works are BEAUTIFUL!!!!!! later, Cathy

WOW! You have really done a wonderful job in just getting back to this. I too like the busy sunflower plates, looks just like the background on a couch. I am in love...I want to do one...thinking....thinking....about where I could put one...

OOOOOHHHHH I adore the sunflower plates! the whole thing is magical!

Cait, Thanks for the pics!! It is amazing!!! No it will be fine when it's grouted. It is not to busy!!! The grout will define it all!!! Oh what a wonderful piece of ART!!! Please post final pics. We will all be soooo disappointed if we do not get to see the fianl product!!!! Thanks, Cathy

Cait what a wonderful couch here. All the colors and designs are so rich. BEAUTEEEEEEFUL.

Kathy

Thanks guys!! Slow, I checked out your sink pedestal and will use the same idea. Thanks for that. I worked on the bench a bit today but mostly played around with tiles trying to get the design right. HAHA Here we have Slowmedown and I think I should be called Speedmeup!!! ROFL!!

Awesome! I just love this bench! I'm with everyone else. Think the sunflowers look fine.
Have a good one!
Ann