Crazy Mosaic Lamps!

I have a thing for weird lighting; perhaps one day I'll do a round up and show all the lights I've made or upgraded in one post! But first I'll have to finish the big white blank one I have in the downstairs living room.

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I started out with some lamps that I bought from an op shop. I've been holding onto one for years with all intentions of mosaicing it, and so before I decided to get started I went and bought more so I could mosaic a bunch of them at once. 

I mosaiced them using Weldbond, which is an all purpose glue that can be used for ceramics and glass. I had to prop the lamp at the right angle so that the tiles would not slide off, and mosaic in sections at a time. I'd mosaic a small section, wander off and go do some other jobs, then return and turn the lamp base and mosaic some more. The beauty of working on more than one at a time meant I could work on another whilst one was setting.

I applied white grout after the mosaicing was complete, and then once dry, painted it with watered down acrylic paints.

Miss 9 suggested I paint the grout in rainbow colours. Good idea, Miss 9!

The shades were covered in squares of fabric using Mod Podge. I painted the Mod Podge on first, then placed the fabric on and painted the Mod Podge over the top. I used a bit of water to dilute it slightly. I then added pom-pom trim, and other fancy trim to the top of the shades using clear craft glue. 

When working with mosaic, I think circles and flower shapes look effective, as well as wavy lines and blocks of colour. I also think mixing up materials works well too, like tesserae tiles with ceramic, plus fancy glass pebbles, and pretty ceramic shapes. You can see some little stars and petal shapes I've incorporated into the bases. You don't always have to use tiles specifically for mosaic, you can look at garden pebbles, and I've even used some decorative fish tank stones as well.

I just love how they turned out! I love all the craziness and colour!

I think they'd look good en masse on top of a set of drawers, because why stop with one crazy lamp!?

Jules :)

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Pambula 2018

It was a long time coming (two years approximately!) but we finally got ourselves off on a much needed holiday to Pambula NSW.

I loved every minute of it, and probably ate way too much, but hey... holidays, right!?

Normally I take a few days to wind down and be able to relax, but this time I was all over the relaxing thing from the moment we got there. We ate simply; so no fancy time-consuming meals in the kitchen, Jim did most of the cooking, which left plenty of time for relaxing, swimming, exploring, reading and stitching. I choose to take a cross stitch with me, rather than work on something of my own. I just really wanted to switch off and not have to think! It was so enjoyable working on this cross stitch, I stitched away for hours and never got tired of it. I kind of feel guilty if I work on something like this at home thinking I should really be working on my own art projects.

It always amazes me how much time in the day there is when you live with just what you need, in a small cabin that takes 5 minutes to sweep out. So much more time can be devoted to living.

The girls first time fishing

I did take my sketchbook and paints as well as the cross stitch, and I'm so glad I did as the interesting beach finds and different shapes I saw really got my inspiration flowing. I probably come back from these trips with way too many photos of different seaweeds and plant life. A few times I sat on the beach and painted in my sketchbook whilst the kids played in the waves.

I think I would need a year of thoroughly exploring the inspiration that the seaweed and ocean treasures gave me. One week just wasn't enough to capture it!

I found this old end of a tin, and thought it looked like ready-made framed art :)

Some beach inspired painting

The requisite mermaid sand sculpture

I can't forget mentioning the wildlife, which, next to swimming, the kids were most excited about. We visited a wildlife sanctuary, and there was plenty of wildlife around us too, such as kangaroos, goannas, lorikeets & stingrays.

Check out the eagle in the background!

At Potoroo Palace Merimbula NSW

Breaks are so important to reset and rejuvenate. But they never are long enough! :)

Exploring the fishing town Eden NSW

Early morning sunrise on Pambula Beach

Hope you enjoyed our photos! Already thinking about the next holiday, hopefully it's not another 2 years away.

Jules :)