Wow what a project...it's gonna look so cool when done. I really like the big sphere totem as well.

Ooh, it looks more like a royal throne than a bench! I can't wait to see it finished. You continually amaze me with the types of projects you aren't afraid to tackle. Definitely a source of great inspiration!

Thanks you two. Worked on it all day, and am happy w/what I've done so far. CRAFTY. that sphere totem is made up of round terra cotta pots - face to face. The spacers are concrete molded in a jello mold - face to face. It's several yrs. old. I should mosaic it, but have too many other projects planned. LORI: What is there to fear? Whatcha working on lately - status of Mr. Sea?????

Oh, I see now. IMS is the poster's name. I figured it was just another piece of internet jargon that I am unaware of.

I think it's gonna be anohter SLOW wonderment!! Can't wait to see it finished

LOL, ERNIE - yeah, I'm lazy and use as few letters as I can get away with. Thanks, CATH: We might get some much needed rain today, so I may not get to work all day today. It's calling me, though.

Well I think it's adoreable, I think the crookedness just gives it grest character. This will look wonderful mosaiced. Slow you are inspiring me to get my lone project done, I've been procrastinating over finishing a bird bath for months. You put me to shame with your speediness, :)
Cindy

Thanks for asking, SLOW. I'm almost done with the mosaic on the body of Mr. Sea. He is very slow going, and my back starts getting to me after a few hours, so I don't get much done in any given week. But I'm really looking forward to being able to move on. I've got so many concrete forms--stepping stones, bird bath, flower, butterflies--ready to mosaic. I'm aching to move on to something new.

As for big things, you really are inspiring me to maybe tackle a garden bench or something of the like. Now that you all got me over the hump on using armature, you were right. The possibilities are endless!

Thanks, y'all. KLINGER - Wanna see your birdbath. Do you use the lath/concrete technique often? W/be ready to take a progress picture maybe this evening. The rain stopped and I'm sneaking in a little mosaicing between showers. Have to take a back rest now - wish I didn't have to stop. LORI: Understand - very frustrating to want to work and can't. Glad you experimented w/the lath technique. I was talking w/one of the service people this morning - heating/a/c fall maintenance, and he said they actually build houses out west w/the lath. They put up the twoXfours, then foam in the middle, and lath on the outside and mortar. Imagine that. I remember Riana said they put it on as siding on one of her out buildings and stucco'd it. The possibilities are endless. I had rebar bent for a bench similar to my Cleo bench/planter that my student is making. She's making hers longer and w/two heads. I felt rebar is safe. W/post some progress pictures of her work - perhaps Friday. It's fun to teach something such as this to someone new. W/be interesting to see where she takes it.

The bench is wonderful. I would have thought the triangles on th front were a little crooked on purpose if you hadn't mentioned it! They seem totally right to me.
Kathy

Well if that isn't a nice thing to say, CONCRETE. I can always count on my GW friends to make me feel better about all my crooked work.

Bench mosaicing progress. Student comes today, so won't get to work on it much - waaaaaaaaaaaaah.
Bench Progress

What happens when one of your grandkids is enchanted with this and plops down in the seat?
I wonder if you shouldn't be designing for fantasy parks.
Loribee: I was wondering what became of Mr. Sea, too.

Don't know what you mean w/the first question. Anyone can sit on the seat. Yeah, right - design for fantasy parks. Too busy playing w/my toys to market my stuff. Doing it for my own pleasure and for no one else's.

SLOW!!! Klinger told me that you were posting another awesome creation...and is she ever right about that! I LOVE this! Did you say this is going in the back yard?!! I am getting off this computer RIGHT now and going to create something!!! THAT's How INSPIRED you have gotten me with this bench!!! It is Lovely, Quirky and Delightful...and it is not even finished yet!!!! WOW!

WOW is right I am loving this!!!!

Slow: I didn't think it would be strong enough with only diamond lath and mortar. There must be a wooden frame? I would love to make a bench, but don't have any wood talent.
You must have a huge collection of your work.

ERNIE: This doesn't take wood. The lath/mortar technique is awsome and very strong. There's nothing you can't build from it. I think you need to go to PV w/me in February to take Riana's workshop. If you check my albums, you'll see my Cleo the cat bench, walls I've built and several other things w/this technique. Puerto Vallarta is where CALAM, KLINGER and I met and took a workshop almost six yrs. ago. It changed my mosaicing life. Posting a link to the place to where I've returned every year after that first time. Not going to take a workshop this year - same as last - going just to spend the week w/Riana, and to mosaic something Sam, the owner, has asked me to work on.
Hacienda Mosaico

I LOVE IT!!! It's beautiful just like I knew it wud be!!! Wow SLOW~ !!!!

Thank y'all very much. Been working in the yard all morning, and after a little back rest, gonna get back to the bench for a few. Can't stand two days in a row w/a a mosaicing fix.

The Hacienda is so beautiful. The instructors are so amazing. This is something I will have to put on my someday to do list. Thanks for the link.

Do I hear another GardenWeb convention at Haciendo Mosacio coming up????heh heh!

I surely w/love to see some of the GW group there in February. Got a note from Sam yesterday. She's scored a mannequin and asked how many weeks I can stay to work on it. Wish I could stay longer than a week - am thinking about it. If I didn't have to board the Tobster, I'd stay two weeks. He's too old, has a bad back, and I don't think he'd travel well, or I could take him w/me and stay indefinitely.

You are truly amazing...I love your work! The bench will be awesome when you are finished.

Well thanks, FLDIRT. Wish it could be awesome, but I'm afraid it's turning out to be ordinary. Somehow my ideas for building have overtaken my inspiration for design in mosaics. Seems I'm sorta blank/empty, and it's been a struggle to mosaic. Hope to finish tiling today or tomorrow. It's turned so cold here, it's not pleasant to be outside.

nothing ordinary about your style. AWESOME

Thanks, NT. All y'all always make me feel so good about my work. I grew VERY weary yesterday - took the whooooooole day to grout. Yard men to move it into place on Wednesday. Sooooo glad to be finished w/this l'il sucker. Note my Margarita trivet all ready to receive a big one.
Bench Finished

Slow, that is amazing! Though I can't bring myself to call it a bench. It's a throne, worthy of a queen! Beautiful! And I LOL over the cup holder. Have you sat in it? Is it comfy?

I agree w/Lorie...Queen's throne for sure! Love the margarita/coffee holder!!! It's beautiful, just as I knew it wud be!!! Great job!!!

WOW I just saw your bench!! Each project is more amazing! I love it!!

HEY! You got balls!!! On your picket fence back!WOW! Didn't see that coming! LOVE how the grout just makes this POP! You deserve an IV hook up of Ritas for this one!lol! Am looking forward to the pic of it in place!

Thanks, y'all. LORI - didn't you notice that it's on a door on saw horses. No way was this 76 year old gonna climb up there and take a chance on crashing the door in. I'll sit on it when Juan and crew move it into place tomorrow. Yeah, CALAM: the balls came as an after thought. Thanks for your comments. I so appreciate your support and encouragement.

LOL Jane.

Slow,I think its really wonderful!

Thanks, NT. I sorta like it myself. Goofing off today - glad that one is finished.

That just turned out so cool Love it!!!!

Thanks, NANA. Today's moving it day.

WhooHoo! More Pics!!!!

Was too tired to take a picture last evening - got it placed around 6:00 pm, and had worked all day w/my student, who is making a whopper of a bench. I need to plant something that w/grow wide and tall to hide my neighbor's shed and junk. Only problem is, that part of my garden stays pretty powder dry. W/take a lot of amending the soil to get something to grow.
Finished and in Place

WOW!!!! Your bench is amazing! You truly are an inspiration.
I love the additon of the balls. What are they and how did you attach them?

Love it! I bet I could spend hours wandering around your yard. You do great work.

Klinger and I bought some grass that grows 6ft tall! Heck, you are such a great gardener and have such a great climate, you can grow anything and it would thrive and takeover!lol!Remember? I took pics of the Gardens AND the Garden Art?!lol!

That bench looks great and so creative. I love it!

Thanks, y'all. I've hardly had a minute to spare since getting it set into place. MOSAICREFLECTIONS: The balls are styrofoam. I gouged space for them to sit on the spiky tops, then wrapped them in the dry wall fiberglass tape. I ran a loooooooooong strip of the tape over them and down each side of the panels and mortared over it all b/f mosaicing over that. I'll plant Rhodies in back, and around the corner and a banana tree in front of Darrell's shed. It w/take all that awhile to fill in. I'll also put in a mosaiced tall panel here/there. I think the bench needs a large pot on the side w/the Margarita arm w/a tall grassy plant. This corner w/keep me busy for weeks and weeks. Getting cold here now, so work w/slow down outside. CALAM. I pulled out all my wonderful Zinnias and Periwinkles yesterday and Jeannie planted 367 Pansies and Dianthus. Gotta buy six more flats for me to plant. I'd already planted four flats around the big Mexican pot. Where's the IV 'rita?

Not a bench --a throne--set up and waiting for the prince to come.Got some good costumes for playing the court people?. No king around, will have to settl for Queen SLOW, who appears in a sparkling royal purple gown, carrying a beautiful scepter someone in the court made for her. She is regal , strolling the grounds of her own creation, listening to the ooos and aaaahs repeat themselves. THE court finally reaches the throne room and the Queen Herself takes posession of the magic throne which will only let Queen Slow settle gently in the royal seat.
Thus the story begins....

Oh, ERNIE: You are priceless. Thanks for my morning chuckle. That is a lovely story beginning - wish I were worthy. Are you a writer? Your page doesn't give any background. Bless you for the darlin' comment. Makes me feel good w/my first cup of coffee.

Slow, I want to make a bench (nothing on this grand of a scale, though). I'm wondering - were all your pieces really flat and the same thickness? Or did you have to deal with edges? I want to use plates and stuff. I will try to choose similar thickness for pieces but there are bound to be some edges and points. I use a dremel on small pieces but don't look forward to dremeling a bench! I know I could do a reverse method (never done that), but would rather go direct. I guess I could use a sharpening stone to take the edges off. Any thoughts? Or .. how did you choose to do it? Thanks!

Sorry for the delay in responding - been out of town for a week in Dallas, and b/f that, a trip to LA. Re thickness - I NEVER worry about that - I just look for color - every piece I make is VERY textured. I'm not a perfectionist at all - I find a color, cut it and slap it on.

Hi Slow. I like texture too, but I'm really wondering about sitting on it, and cutting someone's bottom!!! A little bumpy is okay by me, and I actually find it preferable. But I'm thinking safety here. I guess I should have said I am concerned about sharpness of those edges. Wondering how you handled that, or perhaps you didn't have a problem.

I feel no uncomfort when I sit. You could always provide a cushion when you sit, but once the grout is on it's pretty smooth.

okay, well i guess i just won't worry too much about it! it's a project "down the line", after some others! you know how that is. many things waiting to be mosaiced!