Jane, that finish is nice isn't it? I was so pleased. I got that using my square mini trowel/float. I'm learning how to work the crete so that the cream rises and smooths out as you float it. tricky but I'm learning.

Great looking, I'm impressed!!

Maria

GEESH - girlie, that's smooth. You don't even NEED the skin coat afterwards. You could teach Riana a thing or two. She puts on a real thin coat of grout for the skin coat, but yours looks so finished already. You, little girl, are a PRO. I'm so anxious to see this mosaiced, I can't stand it.

NT, this looks GREAT! I LOVE your mushroom; I can't wait to try one.

NT- That mushroom is GREAT!! Cant wait to see it finished! BTW-my boyfriend ( being a concrete guy)would SO fall in love with you for saying things like "getting the cream to the top" and "using a float" LOL! Great job on the finish!!

I admire you ladies for doing this kind of work. Totally from scratch mosaics are the art at its most expressive. IMHO.

What is the concrete mix you use?
(I'm really curious about this)

Wow, that is going to be fabulous . . . .

Simply amazing.
Looks like your a natural at concrete sculpting.
Linlee

Thank you all for the flattery! You make a gal feel great!!!!

Lilpeaches, that's too funny - tell your BF that you're hanging with mudders now!!! LOL

Bama, that's 1 part portland cement and 2 parts fine sand.

Tonight I mixed up terra cotta colored cement to coat the stem which won't be mosaiked, then I used the leftover to just skin coat the inner cap incase that were to be visible... to elves, fairies and toads???? LOL Then I sprayed foam into the stem to fill the void and "connect" the core to the outer stem (thought it would be stronger to do so) this shot is BEFORE it expanded into it's interesting form (childish snicker) and the stem is wrapped in saran wrap.

{{!gwi}}

I look for that color to lighten significantly as the cement whitens

oooh, I'm just loving this. Thanks for all the pictures. You are doing a fantastic job.

Oh wow, that is going to be so cool

Maria

well, I think the crete portion of this project is complete. I'm going to put off any thought on the mosaic till I see the final tone of the stem.

{{!gwi}}

Yep - you could teach the workshop at Haciendo Mosaico and teach Riana LOTS. That is absolutely a PERFECT mushroom. Doncha just love creating from scratch?! Terrific job, girlie.

I love this and am interested on how to do this. I searched "Rianna" and found no results

Hi Brendak! sorry, I think cause I spelled it with 2 Ns and it should be 1. anyhoo I found Slow's description of the workshop... here's the link

Here is a link that might be useful: the recipe

Oh, NICE..that is just fantastic. What a great job you did. Love it!!

Great mushroom!!

Hey what does DH think of this one??

Maria

Wow! What a great job you are doing! I love that method, to be able to make anything you want! That is just the coolest mushroom, can't wait to see what you do with it. Thanks for showing us how it's done from start to finish, the pics are great! How tall is it?

Hey NT, great shroom! You sure have thrown a hankerin' on me for doin' some of that crete work.
How long does it have to dry before you can start the mosaic?

how in the world do you DO that???

with your schedule and everything, to just pick up and make something so precise and wonderful?

it's funny how things evolve, from one thing to another.
while reading this, I went into the 'recipe' part of the post and from there, to slow's mentioning about the website of Teesha Moore and from there, I saw that for the first time.
heck, she only lives less than an hour from me!
and she makes some of the most playful, colorful, whimsical things I've ever seen...
I'd love to drive up and see all she's got going on!

thankyou for mentioning her site and
congratulations to you NT, on your project..it's going to be outstanding!

Becky .(*_*).

Shrty, Dh has not acknowledged it yet.

Bama, I don't think curing time is all that crucial before mosaiking. I believe our PV attendees said they didn't wait at all.

Sea, this one has lingered around here for quite a while. Just been poking away at it on weekends.

NT- tell DH you found some day-glo glass for it.

I guess not saying anything is progress!!

Maria

finally found some inspiration for the shroom. so here's a little progress

DOH!
{{!gwi}}

Great mushroom. You are a pro. I really like your inspiration as well. Can't wait to see it completed.

Kewl!
I was wondering what was happening with this 'shroom.

See?Every mushrooms need glass blobs. :-)Looks good !

Maria

Oooooooooo - that's gonna be a real dilly of a 'shroom. Sun must've been really bright - can barely tell if that's white glass around the edge????

I don't see a pic NT. There's just lots of blank space.

I can see the pic and I like what I see, it is turning out to be cool...are you going to go psychedelic (I know the spelling is wrong but don't know how to spell it!!!) and add tons of colors?

Sunshine, I don't know why it didn't load for you?

Chickee, nope I wanted to get away from the cliche', so no flowers or psychadelic colors. Art nouveau is what I'm trying for. And cheapness is making it a 2 color scheme

I can see it today!! Very nice. You are so patient with this process.

OHHH, I sooo wanna do one now!!! This is just inspiring me to peices, and here I sit with all the material 30ft away....(can you tell it's day 24 of Jane Hell???)

GO NT, GO NT, GO NT!!

I'm a likin' that fungus!!

NT - am absolutely loving this. You're doing a fantastic job, as usual. Can hardly wait for the next picture!!

a little more progress... tell me again why I chose to do a repeating pattern.... ugh

{{!gwi}}

Great pattern nice! This will be fun to watch.

Hazie

Oooh, really nice! Can't wait to see it done!! As much as you have going on, I'm impressed with your progress lady!

Thanks to both of you. I know I'm going to like this when it's done. Those tiny pieces flowing in a pattern is very attractive to me but GEEZ - actually doing it is taking me a lifetime and YAAAAWWWWNNNN - I can relate to Slow's SC experience, omg am I done yet? LOL.

OHHH

Oh, forget my question on the 3-D stars thread. Here's my answer. I KNOW what you mean about keeping between the lines on something, but this is very neat, clean and very original. Your talent is amazing.

A repeating WHITE pattern. Not very exciting. It is going to be SO Pretty when it's done!! hang in there, looks great!!

Maria

Keep going it's looking great, can't wait to see more progress on this,
Cindy

What other color are you going to use besides white???

Have you posted pictures of this since the stage shown in here? If so, do you remember the thread name? I'm looking at pictures tonight:)

pretty sure that was the last pic I added, It's gone no where since then really. All I've done is finish that white wave pattern around the edge. Temps are now regularly too cold for thinset now and I'll probably not get anything else on it till spring.

But that could mean different colors might happen to magically arrive before I start again. Right now, I think I'll need more of the white to do the ginkgo leaves as it is. then I worry that 2 sheets of the orangish swirlly glass might not be enough for infill

I forget about the cold affecting lots of peeps. We don't have much of that down here:)

Dang it! I guess thats a good excuse. I wanted to push you to finish it! LOL