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| Well, I must be the slowest person on this board, it has taken me forever to get to this point. I finally grouted the vase today. The grout was a very dark charcoal, but dried much lighter than I wanted, although the flash makes it look lighter still.
I do like it, though. I still have to wrap the handle; I bought a purple suede cord to use (I wrapped a bit of it to give you an idea of how it will look). Not sure how to attach the cording, I guess I use the Weldbond?
Next project is in the works, hopefully I can finish this one faster! 
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Follow-Up Postings:
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| It sure turned out pretty! Love how that orange just glows! Man, that is the lightest charcoal grout I've ever seen! You could do a color wash on it if you want it darker. I know what you mean about spacing...seems like all my first projects were nothing but grout, lol! Your fancy boot is looking good.... Great job! |
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- Posted by slowmedown (My Page) on Mon, Aug 11, 08 at 7:02
| How BEAUTIFUL is THAT??!!! Gorgeous, GC. I LOVE both pieces. Before I clicked on your urn, it appeared your swirls were tesserae. Nice design regardless of your spacing. Looks like on your boot you are practicing what you learned. Portends to be a beautiful project. |
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- Posted by theeggshelllady (My Page) on Mon, Aug 11, 08 at 8:45
| I really love the design. Good job! I think the cording is a neat idea for the handle. |
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- Posted by stjohnsgypsy (My Page) on Mon, Aug 11, 08 at 9:43
| Beautiful work.... |
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| Thanks, everyone, for the nice comments. Slow, the swirls are green vitreous glass, but the grout turned out so light that they now kind of blend in. I will probably color the grout, because I really want the swirls to stand out. Yes, I learned a lot on this project in addition to the spacing. First thing: tumble my glass first!!!! I tried grinding some of the points sticking out, but that didn't go so well. Nothing so jagged that it will cut you, but a lot of rough edges (the green glass is slightly higher than the purple.) Second, make sure you have enough glass in the colors you chose! I had to sit around waiting for each order to come in the mail so I could finish the thing! Lastly, don't be afraid of grouting. I was so scared to do it, and put it off for quite a while, but it went very well. |
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| wonderful 1st project! I'm betting if you color wash that grout darker it will look even better to you. grout line spacing on 3D projects is trickey because you think its tightly spaced till you grout and it stands out more! I have observed that darker grout makes the lines look smaller to me where as light grout tones tend to compete with the tesserae |
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| You did a wonderful job, and learned alot in the process. That is what it is all about. |
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- Posted by crafty_lady (My Page) on Mon, Aug 11, 08 at 18:41
| You did a great job and that shoe is so cute. Can't wait to see it grouted. |
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| Thanks, I'm glad you all like it. NT: Yes!!!, I was looking at it, thinking "wow, I don't remember leaving that much space" and wondering if I didn't clean the all the grout off to reveal the entire piece of glass. Question: When I colored the grout, I used the charcoal liquid concrete dye/colorant they sell at HD and Lowes; can I use that to go over the grout? I would assume I need to add some water to it first? Actually, the boot is just temporarily laid out, not glued down yet; I wanted to see how it would look. It is wood, so I have to seal it first. Debating if I want to do both sides, or just one side (it stands on a base). |
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- Posted by lovemosaics (My Page) on Mon, Aug 11, 08 at 22:09
| I love this! The swirls are so great. Love the shoe too! I always have to wait on orders too. Don't think I'll ever figure out how much I need. Beautiful work. |
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| Congratulations! What a great first piece! I can't believe you took on something with swirls. And it turned out great! You will always be able to say "This was my FIRST piece" and people will always "Oooo" and "Ahhh" over your talent! Enjoy! |
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- Posted by slowmedown (My Page) on Tue, Aug 12, 08 at 8:37
| GC: Yes, thin that colorant down a bit w/water and dye your grout. That's what I did on the mortar I used for grout while it was wet on "Shea's Tower". Mortar, once it is dry doesn't take the colorant well. However, I was using Delphi's powdered colorants then. Also, remember Tints-All has a website, and they have about 30 colors - comes in small tubes, and is very reasonable. One mosaic artist told me that TsA was the only colorant that w/hold up permanently outside. |
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- Posted by trancegemini_wa (My Page) on Tue, Aug 12, 08 at 11:27
| I cant believe this is your first project! I love it and the design is fantastic. I love the colours you used too. You should be really proud of this. |
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- Posted by mermaid4life (My Page) on Tue, Aug 12, 08 at 19:11
| GC, I can't believe that is your first project. I don't think the grout lines look to large, that is really a nice piece. I love the colors and the way you did the curls. Way to go, and yes, I was really worried to try my first grout, and it didn't turn out as hard ad I would have thought, well except for the 3d stuff. you did really well, and I really love the new boot. Looks so funky and fun. Love those tiles, what kind are the ones that have the swirls?? Keep them coming, you'll be a pro in no time .. |
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| Thank you all for being so kind! Slow, thanks for the advice, I figured I should water it down, it's very dark, almost black in the bottle! I kinda cheated with the swirls; I laid them out on contact paper first, then applied them in one swirl at a time to the vase. That being said, I did discover rather quickly that it wouldn't work due to the curved surface, so I had to nip the contact paper around each swirl---kind of like you would with a sewing pattern or a piece of bacon that keeps curling up! After many nips around the curves, I was able to lay them out in one piece. It may have been easier just to lay the pieces on one by one! Mermaid, the swirls are vitreous glass tiles. They are a bit grainier in appearance than stained glass, but add some texture I suppose. Grout does get stuck in the little crevices, though. Plus, when you nip them this small, you get a lot of pieces with curved bottoms, which was very frustrating to work with. I grouted another one tonight (new post); a box that I had done while I was letting the glue set up on this one, and I will dye the grout on this one tomorrow. Hopefully, that goes well! Judy |
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- Posted by lovemosaics (My Page) on Wed, Aug 13, 08 at 3:07
| I learned from the girls here, that you can use craft paint to paint the grout when it is finished. I seal it afterwards, and it works great! I don't do outside stuff anymore, so this is perfect for me! I tend to use mostly white grout now, and paint it, so I can paint the color I want. It also gives the grout a really nice look...not so sandy and washed out. That's actually how I found this forum! I was googling "coloring grout!" |
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| Well, I colored the grout, and it is much darker now. Almost black, actually. New lesson learned: grout dries lighter, dye dries darker!!! I like it, though, because now the green, and other colors, really pop out. Before, the green was lost in the light gray grout. So, I am happy. I'll post another pic when the handle is done. It's funny, while I was dying the grout, the colors really started popping, and suddenly I could see where, on the back of the vase, I had used one tile that was a different purple from the rest(I had two purples, only used one). I hadn't even notice it before!   |
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- Posted by slowmedown (My Page) on Wed, Aug 13, 08 at 13:49
| WELL I'LL BE DANGED. This couldn't have turned out better had you planned it. Girl!!!!!! That is one heck of a beautiful jug. See what NT was talking about - dark makes the grout lines look smaller. This is called SPECTACULAR. I can't BELIEVE what a change that dark grout made. You should be bustin' your buttons on this one. I can't say enough about how I LOVE this now. Teach me to mosaic, please. Gallery piece too. Just FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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| Gee, Slow, thank you so much :) You guys are right, the grout lines aren't as obvious now. My only concern is that the purple glass looks so much darker now, can't hardly tell it's purple (without bright light); but then again, it is a background color, and the other colors stand out all the more. Your post just made my day, I was so nervous about the change. Thank you. Judy |
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- Posted by lovemosaics (My Page) on Wed, Aug 13, 08 at 15:52
| Wow!! It's amazing how grout can change the whole piece, still amazed by that! I love it! it really brings out the colors. Great choice! It looks awesome!! |
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| WOW! I liked it before, but the darker grout really is striking! Just a beautiful, beautiful vase! Great job!! |
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- Posted by trancegemini_wa (My Page) on Thu, Aug 14, 08 at 10:41
| oh me too, I thought it was great before, but now with the darker grout the colours really do stand out. great work! |
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| great design, gc! the dark grout really pops those colors ! |
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- Posted by crafty_lady (My Page) on Fri, Aug 15, 08 at 10:18
| I like it with the darker grout, you did a great job. Can't wait to see it with the handle wrapped. |
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| Holy cow!! That's your first mosaic?? No way... you're a natural!! I LOVE it! That jug is gorgeous and your design suits it perfectly! And the darker grout really sets the design off. Absolutely wonderful job. Be proud of yourself! |
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