Stained glass Mountain Mosaic shelf

Back to the mosaic idea for this post!  Yes, mosaics are a favorite of mine.  As is the saying "Variety is the spice of life!"  Pieces of this and pieces of that, put together with an individual's touch make up the days and years of our lives.  As a child I would spend hours sewing together fabrics that I had collected.  Later it would be photos of our daughters added to photo albums.  Then it was steps in a running race, bike races in a stage race, mountains to be peak-bagged to accomplish a goal.  All the parts summed up to the whole.

Being older must have hardened me because my favorite mediums are now stained glass, metals and stone!

This project was to create a storage area in our small toilet room.  Firstly a nice niche was already available since the room is located under the stairs.

Finding this photo online, gave me an idea!

Being in the Adirondacks, a profile of the Great Range would be the perfect detail for the long narrow space at the base of the shelf.

Once again I dug out my box of stained glass and set about picking some colors to suit the mountains and sky.

It wasn't long before I cut out a pattern on paper to make the pieces in glass.  Using a grinder I ground the edges of the glass smooth after cutting them with a glass cutter.  Gluing the glass to the wall took a bit of patience to ensure that they wouldn't slide...but before long, this shelf had a face!  Or actually many faces - the faces of The Great Range : (from right to left)  Marcy, Haystack, Basin, Saddleback, Gothics, Armstrong, and The Wolf Jaws! Big Slide sneaked into the foreground for good measure...

I chose colors that were more subtle than the original photo so that there would be details to look at as time went by.  Below are some of the details.

I guess that gives a new meaning to the mountains over head!

Firewood Storage Indoors!

This project is a bit more practical than the last two that involved sticking lots and lots of broken pottery to a wall to create an artful image!

We needed an indoor place to store our firewood.  It had to be separate from the room but I wanted it to add to the character of the space.  This does the trick.  I have collected some odd things over the years.  Riding my bike or running or doing survey work has given me the opportunity to find some interesting materials to use for this project.  Stone, wrought iron and more stone!  One day as I was surveying near a dead end street, I saw someone had dumped a load of marble scraps in the ditch.  Recruiting my husband, who cheerfully helps me gather all the "stuff I find on the side of the road", we loaded up the trailer to bring home my new treasures!

These slabs of marble have been leaning against our garage for a loooong long time.  It was great to put them to use!

The marble was used to protect the wall from being dented and scarred by the firewood.

Next I was able to use some of the massive blue stone pieces that I bought in a collection of other stones and building materials on Craig's List.

The blue stone made a solid footing and boundary for the side of the storage area.

This wrought iron railing is a gem that I have always wanted to find a purpose for!

Being that this project was Carl's idea it was easy to rally him into putting all the pieces in place.

We had a beautiful wooden box that my father had made sometime ago out of oak flooring that I used to stock the kindling stash!

Neatly we could store our firewood close to the wood stove without creating an ugly, unwanted space in our family room!

The big mosaic picture!

To follow up on the pics that I wanted to post with the Dragonfly mosaic post.....  This is a landscape mosaic made with glass beads, porcelain and ceramic tiles, lots of broken pottery and a few pieces of mirrors and marbles.

This mosaic is in a stairwell and thereby hard to photograph.  I did the best to get some overall coverage, but it really is ok to focus on the details since it is difficult to take in 8 feet by 17 feet.  As there really isn't a good vantage point to absorb the entire picture, I will not tire looking at it as I pass! :-)

A close up of the autumn foliage!

The Mighty Oak with a couple of leaning white birch is in a forest of evergreen boughs and a variety of different maples' leaves alongside a roaring brook.  He stands beside a flowering bush planter that is perched on the stone wall soaking up the colors of Autumn.

The base of the Mighty Oak stands beside a whirling pool of sparkling water!

A bit closer look at the planter seated on the stonewall beside the creeping rose bushes.

One of my favorite details is the swirls and curls of the water as it waves and twinkles beside walled off forest.

Perspective makes a big difference when viewing a mosaic.  I tried to show that by choosing some pictures that were from a distance and a few close ups.