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Luna moth wip

concretenprimroses
12 years ago

Last summer a beautiful large (even for them) Luna moth spent the day on the telephone pole outside our house. the children down the street all came to look at it. It flew away in the night. It made quite an impression on me. I got some green tiles and immediately thought of it. I printed a sg pattern from the internet for the shape and proportion but not the "cuts" because I knew that i wanted to use what I had and cut very little.

Yesterday I sealed this pot with masonry sealer. I use it as a pedestal/ plantstand on my screen porch. I'm going to put the outline of the moth on the pot using carbon paper, as a guide. Hopefully I'll get the moth thinset on tonight.

I may mosaic a saucer to go on top of the pot. I haven't decided yet.

TFL Kathy

Comments (24)

  • texaswild
    12 years ago

    Gonna be gorgeous. Love the color, and LOVE the shape of that pot.

  • silvamae
    12 years ago

    The shape of that pot is Perfect for the moth. It's going to be beautiful!

  • Calamity_J
    12 years ago

    Nice glass! Love the colors! Oh> do the saucer idea! It sounds perfect!

  • oldcrafty
    12 years ago

    Very nice. Love the colors. I think a saucer would top it off nicely. Can hardly wait to see more.

  • Imsunflwr1
    12 years ago

    I love Luna Moths. They're incredibly beautiful and such a rare sight. This is going to be fantastic!

  • concretenprimroses
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Well here is the current state of it!
    The big pale leaves are meant to be to the big tree that the luna moth is on. The little green leaves belong to a little birch tree on the other side from the moth.

    and here is the other side. I want a silvery green grout for the moth, and a bit darker for theleaves. Any suggestions? I'm thinking grey for the rest.

    My dh has been cleaning out the cellar which is nice and cool on this hot day. That is where the pics were taken on a big work table. And here are the shelves right next to the table that I get for my mosaic stuff!

    I'm so excited to have a good place to work.

    tfl
    Kathy

  • downeastwaves
    12 years ago

    is that sea glass for the tail? how dow you keep the grout from the texture on it?"

  • concretenprimroses
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    the tail is sea glass. I haven't grouted yet so I don't know. I got some thinset on it and it just wiped off, so I hope the grout will too. Its not very textured actually.
    Kathy

  • texaswild
    12 years ago

    You can either pre-seal the sea glass, or use a sealer afterwards. I use clear nail polish to make it shiny. Very nice project. Love the pot. Congrats to your DH for setting up your work area. EVERY one should have a work space, and right now, I wish I had a cellar. Sounds cool.

  • downeastwaves
    12 years ago

    Good idea on the clear nail polish, the grout really gets stuck in the pits of an old piece of seaglass. Next time I'm sealing BEFORE I grout! nail polish sounds like an easy way.

  • concretenprimroses
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Our house is from the 1920s and the cellar was not intended to ever be "finished off". The front of the house actually sits on rock ledge that juts in and makes a shelf. So it will never be beautiful like some of you-alls work rooms, but it is a good work space. Warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
    Lots of older homes have dirt floors. We have concrete, thank goodness for cleanliness. Yesterday when it was 95 outside it was 70 in the cellar. Its cooler today, yay!
    Kathy

  • loribee2
    12 years ago

    Such a pretty piece! I have no idea with a Lunar Moth is (I don't think we get them here on the west coast), but your pot is going to be adorable. Can't wait to see the finished product.

  • concretenprimroses
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Here is the luna moth that was on our phone pole all one day last June. It is bigger than my hand and very beautiful.


    I saw it first backing out of the driveway inthe car and I thought one of the little girls down the street had made some little green umbrellas out of paper and stuck one on th pole.

  • loribee2
    12 years ago

    Oh boy, those are really pretty! And now I'm sure we don't get those on the west coast. Without a lot of humidity, our bugs are pretty dull here.

  • Calamity_J
    12 years ago

    Good Job so far Kathy! What an amazing creature...so big! WOW!

  • concretenprimroses
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    I've made some more progress, but not much as you can see.
    {{gwi:160970}}
    {{gwi:160972}}

    I'm going to do a big push after this weekend and will post pics in about a week. I've decided to put a bowl on top rather than a saucer because I can make the bowl look like the tree is branching out. Just need to find the right size bowl.
    The reason I'm so slow is that I decided to clean out my glass and made 40 plate flowers that all need hangers and 3 totems. So that's been taking my time up but I'm going to try to finish with most of them this weekend.
    I've posted about it on the Junk forum, link below if you are interested. I had a hard time using the plates with the "lace" edge because I've seen them beautifully mosaicked in the middle. But maybe I can't do everything.
    Kathy

    Here is a link that might be useful: My new plate flower project on Garden Junk

  • loribee2
    12 years ago

    I think it's coming along beautifully!

  • concretenprimroses
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Got my tints-all yesterday. I'm itching to work on this but I've gotta get the plate flowers off my porch!
    Kathy

  • Calamity_J
    12 years ago

    LOL! I forgot to mention how nice it is that you have a playroom!!!heh heh! I had a huge stash of glass totem stuff...like 6 boxes! and gave them up last year when I thought I might be moving(from a hourder to get rid of everything!) I am finding myself slowly getting another pile again....it's a sickness!!!ha!

  • concretenprimroses
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    I know. The whole point of my making them last weekend was to get rid of stuff to make room for mosaic. And didn't I just buy some pretty little plates for more flowers.
    Geesh.
    Kathy

  • nanatricia
    12 years ago

    I love both your plates and you moth .Cool!!!!

  • lisa_4
    12 years ago

    beautiful moth! can't wait to see it completed! please post pictures!

  • concretenprimroses
    Original Author
    12 years ago

    Thanks. I've worked on it some, but its become rather tedious. I'm really getting a lesson in working with thinset though! I'm just filling in the back ground which I'm trying to do (more or less) in staggered rows, opus tessalatum I'm just learned its called. What a pain. I now have a slight idea of what the mosaic student who had to fill in the background of the masters design in ancient Rome felt like.
    Next week once the craft show is over I'm going to work on it every day - just make up a tiny amount of thinset and use it up every morning before work. Yah!
    Kathy

  • Calamity_J
    12 years ago

    Small yogurt containers work good for that!;-)

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