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Mosaic Birdbath
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Posted by FlowrPowr 5 OH (My Page) on Sun, Apr 24, 05 at 21:56
This is my latest mosaic project. I have made 3 birdbaths so far. I also do stained glass, so the mosaics are a good way to use up my scrap glass. Hope you enjoy.
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Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Mosaic Birdbath
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| absolutely gorgeous! I'm so impressed. I've always wanted to do this myself! Thanks for sharing. |
RE: Mosaic Birdbath
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RE: Mosaic Birdbath
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| In a word...WOW! Where in Ohio are you? I'm in Sylvania, next to Toledo. Everyone's doing mosaic birdbaths. How do you all keep them clean? ~Sandy~ |
RE: Mosaic Birdbath
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| Soooooo pretty! I really like the little flower shape tiles.You are not a winger like me. This took alot of fore thought. Very nice!!! |
RE: Mosaic Birdbath
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RE: Mosaic Birdbath
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| Thanks for the input everyone. I have a lot of fun making them. I intended to sell them, but I don't know if I can. My hubby says I'm not allowed to sell the frog. That seems to be the one everyone likes the most. Here is a picture of all 3 birdbaths together. Usetobecapecodr, hi neighbor! I'm in Oregon, suburb to Toledo! I'm am always glad to meet another local Gardenwebbie! As far as keeping them clean, I put about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of bleach in them and fill them with water. I usually do this on the driveway, so the bleach doesn't kill the grass. I cover it with a board, so no cat's/dog's/birds get into it. Then is let it sit for a couple of hours. That seems to get rid of the algae really well. It also works for concrete birdbaths.
Sara, I really like those little tiles too. I bought them at Michaels, but I am pretty sure most craft stores carry mosais supplies now. I do tend to have a personality that thinks thinks through. Once I get into doing a project, I get really focused on it. I guess I get all caught up in the details. The family doesn't really need to eat dinner, do they?! :) |
RE: Mosaic Birdbath
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- Posted by Leisu Boston, MA (My Page) on
Thu, Apr 28, 05 at 10:15
| Beautiful! Where do you get the base for them??? |
RE: Mosaic Birdbath
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| FlowrPowr~ Why you're practically down the street! How nice! What greenhouse do you work in? I use bleach to clean all my birdbaths. I had my husband cut short lengths of copper pipe to put in them a couple of weeks ago. I read on this forum that copper helps keep them clean. I sure hope it works. Lavender bundles work well, but last year either the birds or the squirrels kept taking them! Can't imagine what they did with them. Never found a trace of them anywhere! I figure the copper pipe won't go far! *LOL* If copper supposedly works so well...why not incorporate copper leaves or something in the design? Hmmmmmmmmm... ~Sandy~ |
RE: Mosaic Birdbath
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| Your work is WONDERFUL! Where did you get the stained glass frog? Did you cut it yourself or find it pre-cut? The Koi are beautiful as well. The orange & white one looks like my biggest koi (Ginger). |
RE: Mosaic Birdbath
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Leisu, the bases are just standard gazing ball bases. I got a really good deal on them, $3.50 a piece, so I bought six of them. I knew I would have a use for them one day!
The tops are made out of several clay saucers epoxied together. It seems to work pretty well.
Sandy, We are close neighbors. I also teach stained glass at Ole Tyme Glass on Alexis road. That's kind of your neck of the woods, so maybe you are familiar with it. The nursery I work at it Bench Farms, on Rt. 2, or Navarre. If you are into gardening, it would be worth a trip out, we have a great selection, and many hard to find plants. My only problem is I end up spending most of my paycheck. Some weeks I think I owe work, instead of them owing me! :)
Garden Trollip, I cut the frog out myself. I have all the stained glass supplies, and I was careful putting the frog together. I cut and ground the frog and all of the leaves, because I wanted them to have very clean lines.
The koi is one of my favorites, I like the contrast. After I finished it my Daughter told me we need to get some Koi. So I did a little research, they can be pricey little things, can't they? |
RE: Mosaic Birdbath
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My Koi are all mutts, but I love em :) All were bought when they were about 3 inches long @ $10.00 a piece, some are 3 feet now. They can run into the thousands tho. Whenever they see the back door open they all race to that end of the pond.
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RE: Mosaic Birdbath
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These are fabulous!!! I have some questions if you dont mind. The tops only look like one saucer. Not sure what you mean by several.
What kind of paint do you use for the base? Are they plastic, or clay??
Do you use regular grout? Do you seal it in any way? I absolutely LOVE these!!! And $3.50 a base!?!? Whereever did you find those?? How lucky!! |
RE: Mosaic Birdbath
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Garden Trollip, I love your Koi. It's neat that they all come to greet you when they see you. I think that is what my Daughter thought would be fun to have them. They seem to be so friendly.
Dewdrop, there are 3 saucers alltogether. I will provide a link to a picture of one from the side, maybe you can get a better idea.
The paint I use for the base is exterior craft paint. I first give the saucers and the base a good base coat. Then I paint two coats of paint, followed by 2 coats of exterior sealer. For the grout, I use sanded grout mixed with acrylic admix. I also custom colored the grout in the fish and flower bowls. That is super easy to do, you just mix them with craft paints until it's the color you want. A word of advice when you are mixing custom grout colors, make sure you mix up enough to finish the project. I almost ran out on the flowers, and I don't think I could have matched that color if I would have had to mix up more. Then I seal the grout with tilelab sealer.
The bases were bought for 50% off at a place where they sold concrete statuary. To my dissapointment, they have gone out of business. I should have bought more of them when I had the chance. We sell the same bases at the nursery I work at for $14.95! |
Here is a link that might be useful: Saucers
RE: Mosaic Birdbath
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| FlowrPowr, I was looking at your pix . How Beautiful. You are so talented! Would you tell me what the mosaic balls are made of??? Did you use a styrofoam ball in the center??? Thanks, SunriseFairy |
RE: Mosaic Birdbath
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| Hi Flowrpowr! This is my first time ever peeking into this forum. Oh dear...I *too* am in love with your frog one. It has a real Arts & Crafts style to it that is right up my alley....I *want* it! ....So when are you going to start doing mail order???? :-) Fantastic! Thanks for sharing!
Eileen |
RE: Mosaic Birdbath
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Sunrisefairy, glad you liked the balls. I had planned putting them on top of some trellis posts, but never got that far with them. I just sit them out in the garden. I didn't use styrofoam in the middle, although I have heard that you can. They are made out of solid concrete, and the are definitley heavy. I poured concrete into the round globes they make for light covers. I think I'm going to try to make some with holes in the middle, so I can use them in fountains.
Eileen, glad you popped in for a visit. I don't know about starting mail order, they are so heavy, I couldn't imagine what shipping would be! :) I am considering taking them up to work and trying to sell them there. Unfortunately, they are kind of hard to part with! I guess I don't make a very good sales person, do I? |
RE: Mosaic Birdbath
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| LOL Flowrpowr...well if I could create those - I think I would have a hard time parting with them too! :-) But they sure are beautiful and I don't think you will have *any* problem selling them at your work...I'm sure you will be very successful - if you can bring yourself to let one go. LOL! Yea, I guess shipping would be very expensive...still - I *would* love to have that frog one...I love everything about it and the colors are fantastic too! Too bad I don't live in Ohio! :-( Thanks again for sharing your beautiful pics! Eileen |
RE: Mosaic Birdbath
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| Flower power those are really beautiful. I especially like the blue one. I have a question. I saw the link of how you put the three saucers together and how you use the gazing ball as a base...my question is this, do you have anything connecting the top to the bottom or does the top just sit on the stand? |
RE: Mosaic Birdbath
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Nice work, FlowrPower! I have a question about the gazing balls. You say you used light globes for the and filled them with cement...and is the glass still around them or did you break it after the cement set? The reason you filled them is to make them sturdier? I have several globes waiting to be done and I was just going to apply the mosaic and grout, which would make them lighter but also more fragile. What's your opinion on that approach?
Also: what adhesive did you use on the birdbaths? I have done glass mosaic for indoors and have used clear bath and kitchen caulk. But would that work for a bird bath though, being filled with water? Thanks for any advice. |
RE: Mosaic Birdbath
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Sorry about the delay responding to the last couple of posts. I don't pop in this forum much, I'm usually over at the perennial forum! :)
msscarlet, there is nothing connecting the top to the bottom. The bottom saucer is turned upside down, so it fits over the stand.
Mosaic, I picked up the idea for making a round concrete ball in the tufa forum. Once I had a round concrete ball, I didn't know what to do with it, so I mosaiced it! I would be afraid to mosaic over the globes. If you dropped it, it would probably shatter, and all that work would be for nothing.
For the adhesive I used, it was thinset mortar with admix added to it. |
RE: Mosaic Birdbath
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- Posted by mspam z9a FL-Hernando (My Page) on
Thu, Jul 14, 05 at 11:00
Awesome, truly artistic work!
Pam |
RE: Mosaic Birdbath
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| Truly Amazing, FlowrPowr! You make a great artist and a greater teacher too...how I wish I lived any closer than I do now... Keep up creating those beauties and sharing with us all... Thank you, |
RE: Mosaic Birdbath
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| Thanks, I looked up info under sphere making instructions. I'll try that this weekend. (fill glass globes with concrete and later stick in plastic bag and tap with hammer) I get my glass light globes at a thrift store for 50 cents, so that's no big expense. |
RE: Mosaic Birdbath
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| They are absolutely beautiful works of art!!! Thaks for sharing. |
RE: Mosaic Birdbath
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Wow, Stunning, simply stunning!
You are one very talented lady! |
RE: Mosaic Birdbath
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- Posted by srsk Western Canada (My Page) on
Thu, Oct 6, 05 at 0:32
| Dear FlowrPowr Your bird baths are beautiful. This is actually the first time I have been to this site. I had searched the web for ideas in tiling and painting a concrete bird bath. I was thinking of creating one for my two terrific bosses who love their gardens. I wanted to personalize the bird bath and just tile the inside of the bowl then paint and actually hand paint important words to them in alternate fonts. I do not want to make the bird bath itself as i am limited for time however, I could use a couple tips if you don't mind. First question I have is about your floral bath. Is that a plate in the centre that you broke and tiled into the piece.? I read your correspondence with Garden Trollip and just want to confirm that the exterior craft paint will work and adhere to the concrete. Any help you can give me would be great......getting started. |
RE: Mosaic Birdbath
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| I wonder why i cannot see the pic of the birdbaths- there is a small box and an red x in the middle? |
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