A little bit of glass, a little bit of concrete

I was finally able to break some glass and mix some concrete this week. It was great to get back to mosaics, but I discovered I had to deal with a pretty big re-learning curve for the process. It has definitely been too long since I've made a stone. But I worked through the cob webs and now have two stones drying in their molds. Here is my process:

Step 1: Hammer meets glass

Then the jigsaw puzzle begins
First blue...

...(Star was cut not broken)...

...then red...

then white...

Glass is covered with contact paper. Then it's time for the big flip...
I'm hoping most of the glass stays put as I flip the glass into the mold...

...a few pieces of glass were lost, but overall it was a successful move.

A little glue stick on the loose glass pieces, and we're back in business.

...and ready for the cement.

I had forgotten how much I dislike mixing cement by hand. (I feel a new craft toy purchase coming on--check back later for details)

The mixed cement was then put in the mold. Just a little at first, which was spread gently by hand to make sure no glass is shifted during the process.

A couple of shakes and pounds to knock out any air bubbles..

then a little wire is added for strength...

...which is then topped with the last of the cement...

A few more shakes and pounds, and we're done!

In a couple of days I'll post pictures of the completed stone.

Oh, and by the way--I also had a re-learning curve on mixing cement. I couldn't remember what amounts I needed. No clue about how much water to add to the cement. And I couldn't remember how much cement was needed to fill my mold. So what did I do? I winged it of course. I poured an opened bag of quikrete into my mixing pan and added water until the consistency looked right. I then made the stone by filling the mold.

If things had gone perfectly, I would have used almost all of the cement I made. But as I said, I winged it. So of course I had concrete left over. Quite a bit actually. I really should have taken some pictures of the concrete--but it didn't occur to me. What did occur to me was that I probably had enough cement to make another stone. Since I didn't have time to make another mosaic, I pulled out my brick making set, colored the lefter over cement and created the following:

Turns out I had the perfect amount of left over cement to fill this mold. Yay! Something finally goes right for me! (I think this stone looks like a cake...but maybe that's just because I'm getting hungry.)

I then looked at the blank canvas of cement and decided it needed some embellishments, so I added white stones and some letters...

Don't love it right now, but at least I didn't end up wasting all this great cement.I think this is still a work in progress.

We'll see what it's like after it cures, and if I feel compelled to play with it a little more...

but for now I am done.

Hopefully the Texas looks great and is ready for the fundraising auction it is being donated to.

Next will be my first major mosaic project where I cut all my own glass.

I'm so excited to learn this new skill!