Confessions of a tile Smasher

SF Mission: Radical Badical Arts Scene

2012-02-13T12:36:00.000-08:00

The San Francisco Mission District is so awesome with all of it's brightly colored murals. I was there recently visiting a friend who lives right in the heart of the mission 1 block from this awesome ceramic mural:

This mural is on a wall of a small kids park that includes an ornately mosaicked dragon kids can climb on. It's tropical and made mostly of handmade ceramic tile. Beautiful!

New Abstract Tile Line up on Rebeltiles.com!

2012-02-13T11:30:00.000-08:00

Rebel Tiles has a new abstract tile line available!

They have In-Stock Abstract tiles and a whole slew of abstract tiles that you can order with a custom color in their Custom Abstract Skin Line.

Curses!

2012-02-13T11:20:00.000-08:00

I started exploring the Winter attitude that was overtaking me. Recession, depression, disinterest, malaise, and a general uninspired blah settled. And then I got it! The Cursory Mosaic line! I didn't get a lot of interest in these, which is perfect because they stem from overwhelming disinterest! But I still don't get it. These are groundbreaking! I'm sick of people always assuming mosaics are cute hobby based craft. I like toothy dragons and bears, obscenity, and revolution once in a while. Well, I hope I don't cut my own throat with these. There's a bunch more where these came from.

Fountain with mosaic inserts

2012-02-03T11:45:00.000-08:00

I didn't get any pics of this beast grouted because my camera battery died on grout day. I'll get another chance at final pics when I go down to Elk Grove to install a few more blue bubble mosaics in the ground there by where the fountain is going. The dragonflies in the below pic went on the top piece for the fountain which is like a round cap that the water will flow out and down from. The great thing about mosaicking onto mesh is you can mosaic at home and then install them all at once. The guys at the cement plant were surprised to see me finish all of the mosaics in just a few hours!
Handmade tile swoops and signature tiles in a variety of green glazes. I have a few custom signature tile designs for sale in my Etsy shop, Rebel Tiles

Buddha makeover!

2012-01-25T09:10:00.000-08:00

I've had this Buddha statue forever. It's been sitting on a plain gray cement paver getting pooped on by birds. Time for an upgrade! So I covered his/her paver in mosaic and gave him/her some necklaces. I also planted some Freesia bulbs in the surrounding dirt. I think Buddha is supposed to be male, but I kind of prefer androgyny here. Obviously, I'm not Buddhist if I think this way, but both of my parents have always had Buddha statues as a reminder to relax and enjoy life. That is my only reason for having a religious icon in my yard. Relax people!

SOPA is a bad idea. PIPA is even worse. Strike!

2012-01-17T22:15:00.000-08:00

http://sopastrike.com/

Settings>>Comments>>Stab

2011-12-04T17:44:00.000-08:00

I just figured out (when my friend told me) how to set up my blog so that I will get notified if someone posts a comment. Jeez, it's only been a blog for like 4 years (!!) Well now, if you comment, I will get an email and can comment back. How's that for modern action? I tried to find this feature many times before and because of this, I will say blogger is not user friendly (can't find the underline feature...)in this area. They have a comments section (useless) and a "settings" section under which you will find the other "comments" section where you will have to (again) put in your email. Shouldn't this be the default? Sheesh.

Xmas Mushroom Tile!

2011-12-04T16:01:00.001-08:00

Here's my new mushroom tile just in time for Christmas! You can find it on my Etsy store where I put all of the new or misfit tiles that you can't find at rebeltiles.com. Check it out in my Etsy store here: http://www.etsy.com/listing/87713348/festive-red-and-white-xmas-mushroom-tile

2011-10-27T16:08:00.000-07:00

The botanical mosaic mural at Magnolia Gift & Garden in Chico, CA! It's done! Come check it out and buy some beautiful plants and pottery while you're at it!

Tiles for Haiti!

2011-08-10T19:47:00.000-07:00

Individually wrapping these tiles ended up taking way too much time. There was 11 benches worth of a 40 word paragraphs all in Haitian kreyol (creole). That's 1,694 characters! After 4 benches worth of wrapping the words for hours, I switched to stacking the tiles and bubble wrapping the stacks. Cool things I learned: kominote=community, and tranbleman=earthquake. The benches Laurel True is making over there are beautiful! I'm sending warm healthy wishes to the wonderful people of Haiti ("Ayiti").

~River Themed Art Wall~

2011-07-20T17:56:00.000-07:00

A little odd location wise (behind a tree and electric utility pole) but beautiful nonetheless. This is also my chunkiest, most 3-D poke out mosaic I've ever done! Bottles, figurines, plates, cup handles and the like fill out the sedementary curving layers of this river themed abstract mosaic. Of course I just had to add glow in the dark stripes along the middle section as outlines.

New Video of my glow tiles!

2011-06-24T13:44:00.000-07:00

See my fun glow tiles in action! New video!

Dragon mosaic takes shape~

2011-05-17T12:04:00.000-07:00

I kinda-sorta volunteered myself and the unknowing Sarah when I kinda-sorta offered to do a staircase mosaic over at the Double Happiness Ranch. I was pretty much thinking of a hap-hazzard quick mosaic of all my scrap tiles I've collected too much of but Sarah was thinking on a much grander scale when she designed this glorious and elegant dragon! I'm glad she did, she's a great designer! I just need to learn to think before I speak, and to never volunteer other people without first consulting them! How rude! Clearly I need a code that means "I'm thinking quick and funky with no design that we can knock out in a day" nudge nudge, wink wink! Oh well, It's going to be much more fabulous than I ever imagined!

Glow in the dark skull finished!

2011-05-17T11:52:00.000-07:00

I'm glad to say I finished the giant glowing skull! It took me a few months to cover the foam skull first with thinset and mesh and then after a few layers of that hardened shell I slowly covered every inch of it with glow in the dark tile (and some standard stained glass and glass tile in the parts that didn't need to glow). This is going to be my big ticket item at the upcoming GLOW SHOW, a blacklight and glow in the dark themed art show that I'm participating in as well as curating. The show will be at the end of August at the RayRay Gallery in downtown Chico. I'm already learning so much about things that glow under blacklight! More soon!

Giant breast anyone?

2011-05-08T19:35:00.000-07:00

If anyone wants a giant mosaic breast, just let me know! They've got a pair of them up at the cement plant in Redding! Oh sure, they'll try to tell you that they're sea shells or some nonsense. I'm not buying it. Wouldn't they look great in front of a gynecologists office?

Polka dot kitchen pic!

2011-04-12T12:54:00.001-07:00

I finally got a picture of the polka dot kitchen that I made for my client in Texas! It was all done through the mail: He mailed me an idea of what he wanted and gave me measurements and then I made all the circle tiles and glued them to mesh and mailed them off to him. I'm so glad it turned out. How fun! I love polka-dots

World's Largest Mosaic? World Record in Hanoi!

2011-04-05T21:52:00.000-07:00

In Hanoi Vietnam, they have created a mosaic that spans 3.8 kilometers! You can read the full story here (and see a tiny glimpse of it): http://www.gomtrungnguyen.com/en/News/largest-ceramic-mosaic-to-be-unveiled/ Just when I think my stuff is so big...

Black Panther!

2011-03-31T11:07:00.000-07:00

Now she's done from head to foot! And for reals! Look at that tiled underside! Some day I'll get pics of it glowing in the dark (the teeth and folds)

Mosaic onto plaster part II

2011-03-31T11:01:00.001-07:00

Once your plaster shape, be it animal or thing, has dried with two or three layers of mesh and thinset, it is ready to be covered in tile in the mosaic style of your choice!

Mosaic onto plaster!

2011-03-31T10:51:00.000-07:00

First, you are going to want to prep the heck out of your plaster beast. Cover the thing from head to toe with thinset and fiberglass mesh. Let it dry overnight and again cover it from tail to head with thinset and fiberglass mesh. Even the underside! This can be very time consuming. I prep the underside because if you want this thing to survive outdoors, you need to protect the very thing it sits on. I even tile the bottom as you'll see later...

Legacy Park Mosaics Video

2011-03-18T10:46:00.000-07:00

When I first put this video up on youtube I was surprised when they told me that the video was banned in Germany because of my music choice. My other video has an obscure German punk band and it was fine, but having Henri Mancini? Banned in Germany? Oh well, this video is exclusively of the mosaics in Malibu's Legacy Park.

My new mosaic video! 3 minutes of eye candy!

2011-03-15T10:24:00.000-07:00

Finished the glow-in-the-dark shower mosaic!

2011-01-20T18:04:00.000-08:00

Here it is with the lights out...
And here's what it looks like during the day. Glow in the dark glass floats my boat. It makes me smile. Keep a look out for my glow in the dark mosaic exhibit later this year!

Awesome Lichtenstein mosaic!

2011-01-10T20:02:00.000-08:00

Down by the waterfront in Barcelona, there is this giant sculpture by pop artist Roy Lichtenstein. The gray cement base is taller than me!

Spain Rules!!!!

2011-01-03T17:17:00.000-08:00

I finally got to touch the mosaics at Park Guell up close!
Here I am at Casa Batllo, another amazing Gaudi creation. I always loved the split glazed pots that ride up the edge of the roof like a beaded necklace. They call it the dragons back.

I seem to remember having a headache the day we visited the Sagrada Familia. It still was really amazing and beautiful with giant cement trees and stained glass. The mosaics were so high up you couldn't reach them or really even see them.

More mosaic church shots

2010-12-16T22:33:00.000-08:00

Okay, it's still hard to tell from these photos, but that whole crusade ship scene and even red fabric behind the statue is all done in tiny mosaics. And the next picture shows a part of the ceiling and it's ENTIRELY done in tiny mosaic! This church (and amusement park) are a must see for mosaic fanatics.

Barcelona church mosaics!

2010-12-13T20:20:00.000-08:00

My husband and I went to Barcelona last November for our 10 year anniversary! We of course knew all about the Gaudi mosaics there, but what I didn't expect to find was an entire church covered in mosaics on top of the mountain within an amusement park. Tibidabo is an amazing old amusement park from the late 1800's. The above pic is one of the 6 or 7 mosaic covered niches on the first floor of the church. It's hard to tell they're even mosaic because they're so intricate!

Here is the entrance to the church with a large colorful arched mosaic over the door.

Here is part of the upstairs floor mosaic. It's funny, but we actually saw the entrance to the church and then walked up the long spiral steps outside to an overlook of the park. You can see all of Barcelona from up there and even the edge of the ocean. Then, without much thought, we decided to take a peek inside the church and so this was the first hint of greatness that we got. I had no idea that the amazing mosaics were actually downstairs!

It all starts with an idea...Circle Tile Backsplash!

2010-10-19T22:10:00.000-07:00

My client called me from Texas and said he wanted a polka dotted circle tile backsplash. He gave me the color ideas and I came up with this sample board:
Then we signed a contract and off I go, glazin' dots like I do...

Then I glue them to fiberglass mesh in panels and the backsplash starts to take shape!

I can only hope he sends me pictures of the finished job after it's installed. I'm going to be shipping these babies away for good (sniff, sob) But what a cool kitchen he'll have!

3 days later...Rainbow Trout complete!

2010-10-19T21:56:00.000-07:00

Okay, so they were non-consecutive days. First I got sick, then Sarah got sick...anyway, not important. What matters is the fish. She/he is done and ready to be put on display at the Universal Precast Example Garden. Let me know if you need one for your garden! Yes, they can be any color and yes, they're heavy. They've got a whole school of 'em up there ready to be tiled (nudge nudge, wink wink)!

Rainbow Trout: a work in progress

2010-10-19T21:46:00.000-07:00

They asked me to do a rainbow trout. Poof! It's on it's way upstream. Sarah and I were getting a little cocky though after those huge Malibu animals were done. This fish seemed like a one day project. Oops. Not quite.

Who did these sculptures???

2010-10-05T09:59:00.000-07:00

I've learned the hard way you've got to sign your work or no one will know you did it. My kids liked running from one piece to the next trying to find my name in Legacy Park where I mosaicked eight animal sculptures. I sell alphabet tiles online for those who want to sign their work too! Check out Rebel Tiles.com

Sculptures are great for photo opps!

2010-10-05T09:47:00.000-07:00

Opening Day at Legacy Park, the kids are going nuts for these sculptures! They dart along the trails trying to get to the next one faster than their siblings.

Sarah and I with the Red Tailed Hawk

The Entrance to Legacy Park

2010-10-05T09:38:00.000-07:00

The entrance to Malibu Legacy Park has a beautiful tile medallion done by Malibu Ceramic Works.

Malibu Legacy Park Grand Opening!

2010-10-05T09:20:00.000-07:00

October 2nd, 2010. Malibu Legacy Park was officially opened to the public with a face painting booth, snack table and ceremony. Kids frollicked along the crushed granite pathways to climb on the mosaic animals and get their pictures taken. I'm glad I got the chance to see the animal sculptures in their intended home, installed and ready for visitors! Each sculpture has an informational tile plaque beside it, and a bench seat covered in donor tiles. All of the flat tile work was done by Malibu Ceramic Works. I was honored to meet the owner, Bob Harris, and he gave us a private tour of his facility!

Burrow Owl!

2010-09-12T19:36:00.000-07:00

We were all a little worried that this one was going to end up looking like a baby chicken chick. This first photo shows the worry spot. It kind of looks like an egg with feet. However, once the eyebrow and other facial details went on and the grout went in, this thing was/is all owl. They'll be adding the concrete burrow on the back so it's a true burrow owl. Although all the speckling and spots made me think of spotted owls more than once. I had some larger pupil tiles made up for the eyes but they didn't fit the curve as well as these smaller ones did so it looks like he's been woken up during the day. Sarah did the tile work on the beak. She's amazingly detailed and patient. So here's the burrow owl coming it at lucky #7. One more beast to go!

El coyote! #6 out of 8 beautiful beasts

2010-09-12T19:12:00.000-07:00

I'm expecting this one to be the favorite of visitors. I just know so many people that love wolves that I think maybe it carries over to include coyotes also. But I keep meeting people that can't help but gripe about the coyotes that eat their neighborhoods pets. Mostly cats. Sigh. I just know this coyote makes me happy and up close that sea of earthtones has lots of blues and greens and even oranges hiding.

Big Lumpy Toad!

2010-09-12T18:24:00.000-07:00

Here's that big lumpy Western Toad. I named him Takashi. I doubt it will stick, but he looked sort of sumo style when we were tiling him. He may well be my favorite. He came in as number 5, and that's my lucky number.

Sending off my babies!

2010-09-12T18:19:00.000-07:00

And away they went to Malibu, California. They're going to be installed in a new park off the Pacific Coast Highway called Malibu Legacy Park. Feel free to send me pictures if you visit them!

Four Down! When You include the frog...

2010-09-12T18:12:00.000-07:00

So the frog went first, then the newt, then the hawk, and then the kingsnake. Now for some photos of the send off.

Looking a little George Washington like

2010-07-19T19:40:00.000-07:00

I'm waiting on a kiln load of black circle tiles for the head and face of the snake, so until then, he/she is looking like he/she is wearing a powdered wig. The smoothness of this sculpture is going to be a great feature, as Sarah and I keep rubbing it when we're getting irritated by whatever workplace stressor comes along. Mostly, it's the heat of the Norcal summer that erks us.

And now for something even bigger!

2010-07-19T19:24:00.000-07:00

Meet the newest addition to our oversized California native creatures collection. The mountain kingsnake! Bigger than the biggest anaconda, this thing will devour mundane public art in a single bite! And, it's gonna be smooth to the touch as we cover it with shiny pennyround tile. Much to my chagrin, we are now applying each tile individually, one by one, because if we try to add swatch by swatch it just looks bad. The surface curve does not agree with the tile on mesh approach. I think our hard work will pay off though. It looks better every day.

Best Recognize!

2010-07-19T19:09:00.000-07:00

Steve from Limey Tees hooked me up with these cool work shirts to flaunt my tile brand. Accept no subsitutes! Rebel Tiles are the best!
http://www.rebeltiles.com

For when it's more than 100 degrees out...

2010-07-19T18:59:00.000-07:00

I asked Gary if I could hook up some sort of mister thingie when it got hot and he said that he'd bring by a swamp cooler later. I assumed he meant one of those dinky ones that fit in a small window. Boy was I wrong! He pulled up his truck with this beast in the back and hooked it up. So now we're kinda spoiled... unless we step out of this things radius...then it's the rude awakening of Redding's summer temperatures.

Making hundreds of tiny dot tiles by hand

2010-07-18T22:40:00.000-07:00

I'm not normally the kind of person to be overwhelmed by a project's size. But making most of the tiles by hand? I'm starting to go a little crazy here.

Meet the new critters! Naomi Newt and Hank Hawk

2010-06-27T13:40:00.000-07:00

I'm sure they don't want cute names for them, but that's what we've been calling them around the shop. They're both nearing completion and coming next will be the Mountain Kingsnake. That one will be the largest of the animals, requiring a wide-load permit. Can't wait!

Bottle Cap Mosaic!

2010-06-27T13:31:00.000-07:00

My first ever bottle cap mosaic! Commissioned by the Wackness Bar, it was completed just in time for the World Cup!

Finishing the Frog~

2010-06-27T13:16:00.000-07:00

Here's the finished frog, save for the staining of the rock. Still waiting for the city to approve stain samples.

Finally starting the Malibu Legacy Park mosaics!

2010-05-18T22:31:00.000-07:00

I haven't said peep about this project for the longest time because I never knew if it was really going to happen. After months of negotiating, I finally have a sculpture to mosaic! This is the first of eight sculptures that will eventually be placed in the new Malibu Legacy Park in Malibu, California! None of the animals will weigh less than 5,000 pounds, and they will all be completely covered with my handmade mosaics. So here is my new workplace. A loud cement-fabrication-plant's open-air shed. It kind of sounds like a dentists office with all the high pitched drilling going on.

Degarmo's Done!

2010-05-18T22:24:00.000-07:00

The big beast of a bench at Degarmo Park is alas, finished. 2 shades of grout, and 24 panels of flora and fauna. Mostly fauna. Please visit this north Chico park and sit on a cloud. A cloud tile that is. Some are shaped like animals if you look closely.

Work on Degarmo Mosaic has started!

2010-04-20T15:12:00.001-07:00

Thank god Sarah is helping me on this beast.

First, I laid out the bird silhouettes and cloud tiles, then surrounded them with the hundreds of handmade circles. And I STILL don't have enough circles to finish! Now that it's raining, I'm home making more circles to finish the top. But we're more than half way done with the top at least...

Faded tiles replaced~

2010-04-20T15:06:00.000-07:00

When the sublimation tiles faded on the memorial bench, I was at a loss for how to fix the problem. Luckily, a local business donated some replacement tiles which are baked enamel on metal. The new tiles were thin and unusual, but had a bright and perfect representation of Anna's artwork on them. They look much better now. Thanks Josh for helping me take out the old ones and put in the new ones!

Donated to Catalyst!

2010-04-20T14:58:00.000-07:00

My bubbly 3-D planter, and the love bench with hands and hearts.

The installation was non-triumphant however, because they hadn't built the garden yet.

But here's what the top looked like before it was grouted.

Artists For Artists Raffle a success!

2010-04-06T20:51:00.001-07:00

Five Chico artists banded together to raise money for our friend and fellow artist Janice Porter who is battling breast cancer. We raffled off five paintings and my mosaic sphere and in the end reached our goal of raising $5,000.

Mayor Ann Schwab reads one of the winning tickets that a girl from the crowd has pulled.

David Sisk and his donated painting.

Debra Lucero of Friends of the Arts and I with my mosaic orb and Cynthia Schildhauer's painting in the background.

There's Janice on the far right for whom this fundraiser was dedicated. We love you Janice!

Trio of stepping stones

2010-04-06T20:38:00.000-07:00

Also for the Catalyst garden, these stepping stones should liven up the walk dontcha think?

Trompe L'oeil fools the eye!

2010-04-06T20:33:00.000-07:00

I made this for Justyn cuz he likes to rock it old school. You can almost hear the tape player wheels squeaking along and getting jammed on a bent ribbon of sound.

Space Orb 2!

2010-04-06T20:25:00.000-07:00

The first one had a basketball inside, but this one has a rejected hamster ball inside. We got it for the family rat who hated it on site. So I covered it with thinset and fiberglass mesh and after 2 thick hard coatings, I mosaicked it. The spikes are handmade cylinder tiles.

The Love Bench!

2010-04-06T20:21:00.000-07:00

The Love Bench is almost done. It's going in the garden at Catalyst, see below.

Love Bench

2010-04-06T19:49:00.000-07:00

This is the bench I've been working on for Catalyst domestic-violence-services. The have a new facility with a garden where they can grow vegetables and flowers. The bench will go there. I traced my kids hands into wet clay to make the hand tiles and I looked up various ways to say "Love" in different languages. In this pic is Spanish, Turkish, Japanese, Korean, French, Romanian, English and Italian.

One kiln-load

2010-01-28T09:27:00.000-08:00

999 more to go! I'm stocking up for a big project that lies ahead and I'm crossing my fingers they approve the designs!

First sun all year!!

2010-01-28T09:23:00.000-08:00

It takes forever to dry tile in the winter. The air is moist from rain and cold. Some of my tiles start to mold before they dry because of the humidity. When I saw sun on my steps out front I saw a narrow window of opportunity to dry my tiles faster!

Ready for glazing!

2010-01-28T09:20:00.000-08:00

Phlebotomist Stepping Stone

2010-01-15T09:40:00.000-08:00

I was asked to make a stepping stone for a recent graduate of phlebotomy school where you learn to take blood samples and such. Here is what I came up with!

Some of the pieces I showed at "New Works"

2010-01-15T09:34:00.000-08:00

3 More for Degarmo Park!

2009-12-10T09:11:00.000-08:00

Here are 3 more panels for the Degarmo Park bench/planter project. Three out of 24 panels that is. These are out of order, but they will wrap end to end around an oak tree planter that they have yet to build. I'm not looking forward to mosaicking in the snow.

25+ artists selling art near CSUC!

2009-12-03T09:02:00.000-08:00

Including me! I harassed the New Works people until they included me in this fine showing of local artists latest works. I have quite a few new ones in this exhibit including my "Monkeys" mosaic, "Tree Spike" mosaic and my "Winged Vagina" tile. Come see! It lasts all weekend.

Bench panels ready for install!

2009-11-16T08:39:00.000-08:00

Here are 3 of 24 panels ready to be installed in Chico's Degarmo Park. They are going to wrap around a circular bench seat/planter which has a baby oak tree growing in the center. The ones shown here are not in order, but once installed they will all run together as one. All of the wildlife, both flora and fauna, are handmade porcelain tile surrounded by broken commercial tile. The project is over one hundred square feet including the top of the bench seat which will be composed of hundreds of handmade sky blue circle tiles, clouds and bird silhouettes.

Auspicious Visitor!

2009-11-16T08:33:00.001-08:00

I've been negotiating a mosaic project in Malibu for several months now. It's a huge project involving eight large animal sculptures. One of the sculptures is a Western Toad. A few nights ago, I was headed out to my backyard studio to get something when I spotted this little guy on the patio. At first I thought he was a toy my kids had left on the ground. I've lived in this house for over seven years now, and never once has a toad stopped by. I figured it was good luck. I closed the deal within days of this visit.

For Ivy

2009-11-16T08:30:00.000-08:00

This is a tile I made for my friend of 18 years. I'm the bull, she's the alligator.

Bellflower Mosaics Installed! Yay!

2009-11-16T08:21:00.001-08:00

There are five panels in all, and it took only 2 days to install and grout them. See all of the pictures on my website:www.robinindar.com. This project can be found under the "Commercial Mosaics" section.

Best new festival food!

2009-10-02T09:01:00.000-07:00

Mango on a stick! Hands down, this beats all for best festival food. I can't believe I've never seen this before! They didn't even have to deep fry it! Thank you World Music Festival for opening my eyes.

Sold out of eyeballs!

2009-10-02T08:57:00.000-07:00

If you look close, you can see the little orange and black bowl that Gibby made in which I placed a bunch of porcelain eyeballs. They were a surprising hit that day, and I sold out of them! Don't worry, I'm making more.

World Music Fest entertains me!

2009-10-02T08:51:00.000-07:00

I was offered a nice shady place near the 'kids stage' so I heard a lot of hip hop and grunge while I got some work done on the Degarmo bench mosaic.

Finished the apple branch mosaic!

2009-10-02T08:45:00.000-07:00

The belle fleur apple branch mosaic is complete! I've cut it up and layered the pieces in a plastic tub for a later installation. Now onto the fifth mosaic in the Bellflower series: the actual bell flower. I went with a close up of a cluster of the pretty blue flowers on a rocky cliff. Pictures soon!

My work-space...not for the barefooted.

2009-09-02T13:58:00.000-07:00

This is the area I continually tell my kids is off limits to bare feet. This is also the area you can routinely see my kids running through in bare feet. As they walk or run through they usually say "I won't get cut! I'm fine!". I've cordoned it off with rows of folding chairs, an ice-chest and boxes of tiles. It's located on our back patio which has a tin roof to fend off the random rain storms that happen without warning in Chico-even if they only last 10 minutes or so, they could totally ruin a glue-on-mesh mosaic. If you're wondering, I use Starrett nippers and Weldbond glue on fiber-glass mesh.

Workin' on an apple branch...

2009-09-02T13:52:00.000-07:00

Here is a detail from the fourth panel out of five. It is of the belle fleur apple, a whole branch of them. I thought having an all-blue background was going to make this one faster to complete. I was wrong. It's actually quite detailed. I also thought this one might turn out a tad ho-hum but the colors are really popping on the apples, so I'm glad.

Train Depot Mosaic finished!

2009-09-02T13:45:00.000-07:00

This is number three in the Bellflower series (3 out of 5). I added the L.A. mountains in the background by request. I really like the colors in this one. All of the signs are handmade tiles so they're nice and legible, and I added a smattering of iridescent tiles in the sky for a little twinkle.

Happy Birthday Limey Steve!

2009-08-07T11:16:00.000-07:00

Steve is the awesome drummer of my band and he puts the limey in Limey Tee's, his tshirt/printing shop. His nice accent and love of fine English cheddar inspired me to make him this for his birthday.

Details, details...

2009-08-07T11:11:00.000-07:00

I hand made the clock face and the Bellflower sign. Did you know that writing the Roman numeral four has other options besides IV? I did a google image search for Roman numeral clocks and one person wrote "Roman numeral FAIL!" but apparently it's acceptable to write it IIII. Anyhow, I set the clock to read 11:11 which is my husbands and my anniversary. Awww...

Finished the clock tower mosaic!

2009-08-07T11:01:00.000-07:00

Two down, three to go! The Bellflower clock-tower may look easier than it was. My first thought was "all black with a colorful sunset, not a whole lot of detail," so I figured this one would go a little quicker than it did. There's actually quite a bit of nitty gritty detail here. And sunsets are just plain hard. The stained glass I used for the sunset is slightly thinner than the black porcelain tiles too so we'll have to pay attention to that during grouting.

Finished the downtown Bellflower mosaic!

2009-07-22T14:25:00.000-07:00

This is one of five panels I've been commissioned to do for the outside of a live-work loft in Bellflower, CA. I'm now working on the second one which is of the town's clock tower.

Storing your mesh mosaic for travel

2009-07-22T14:14:00.000-07:00

Get yourself one of those handy under-the-bed-sized plastic storage tubs or whatever will fit the pieces of mosaic the way you've sized them. Lay down some plastic sheeting in the tub cut to size, and gently lift your mosaic-on-mesh piece up to see that all of the pieces are in fact adhered. If any pieces come loose or were never actually glued, then simply lay the piece back down and glue the piece back on. When the glue is dry and all the pieces are secure, lift the mesh-mosaic sheet up, and gently place it in the plastic tub face up. Lay a sheet of plastic over that and continue to layer each sheet of tile with plastic in between. Believe it or not, I fit my entire 5' x 6' downtown mosaic into the tub shown here. I packed plastic bags into any free spaces, slapped the lid on, and I'm on to the next mosaic panel!

Labeling each mesh mosaic piece for later install

2009-07-22T14:09:00.001-07:00

Once I cut all of the mosaic into pieces, I labeled each one using 3" x 5" index cards and low-adhesive painters tape. I labeled them from left to right and top to bottom so the installer will have a clear idea of which piece goes where.

How to mosaic onto Mesh Part 4

2009-07-22T14:02:00.000-07:00

Once your mosaic is finished and the glue has dried, cut along the previously established guidelines (Sharpie lines) so that your mosaic is a bunch of large puzzle pieces. Each piece should lift easily off the plastic.

Mosaic on Mesh Downtown scene

2009-06-29T16:18:00.000-07:00

Here is another section of my downtown mosaic on mesh in progress

How to Mosaic onto Mesh Part III

2009-06-29T16:07:00.000-07:00

Here is a section featuring a woman shopping downtown. Once you have your image under plastic pulled tight, and mesh laid over that, then you can begin nipping tile and gluing it onto the mesh. I printed out 8" x 10" sections in color to refer to because in certain parts it's hard to see what's going on in black and white. I use Weldbond glue, fiberglass mesh, and frost-proof porcelain tiles and stained glass because this is going on a buildings exterior and you need to use exterior grade materials. I used a black Sharpie pen to outline on the mesh where I will be cutting the mesh into pieces. That way I know not to put a tile over the line so I can cut it out later. From what I hear, the pieces should not be larger than 18" or the weight of the tiles will pull the mesh down if you're adhering it to a vertical surface.

Mosaic Basketball is finished!

2009-06-29T16:02:00.000-07:00

Here is the finished garden sphere or gazing ball. You wouldn't know it's a basketball, but then again, I did end up using orange as the main color...It's surprisingly light after using so many solid cement bases. Hollow sphere's are nicer on the back should you choose to move it. Can you see the beer bottle caps in there? They usually fade in the sun and rain so I'm going to try coating them with clear nail polish to see if that protects them at all.

Always make your son feel included!

2009-06-15T13:24:00.000-07:00

Even if they like to walk around your mosaic in bare feet and distract you with a barrage of magic tricks and name that tune games, you can't help but love their presence. Here, Jackson is doing some avant-garde measuring...from here to...somewhere.

Handmade tiles for a mosaic

2009-06-15T13:16:00.000-07:00

Sometimes in a mosaic I want to maintain a realistic look and the tiny details might get lost if I resort to only using tiny tile pieces. When that is the case, I just make my own tiles. For the downtown scene that I'm currently working on, I've decided to make many of the small signs myself so the words are still legible from far away. For the Nubel Theater I made five individual letter tiles. Unfortunately in the first glaze firing they came out a little too orange so I'm adding another coat of a yellow orange mix on top. These glazes are different than the first try so they should be more golden.

How to Mosaic onto Mesh Part II

2009-06-15T13:10:00.000-07:00

Once your image is under plastic (wrapped tightly so there are no ripples) roll out a sheet of fiberglass mesh. I bought this 38" tall roll online. It's cheaper to buy in bulk, like most things. I had to lay out the mesh in three pieces so the whole image got covered. Make sure the mesh seams don't overlap and that they meet squarely. You'll find that you can see your image right through the mesh and so you can follow it as your guide. In the above photo, the mesh is covering the left 2/3rds of the image.

How to Mosaic onto Mesh

2009-06-15T13:05:00.000-07:00

First, you will want to enlarge your image to fit the size of the mosaic you want. I'm going to be creating a mosaic that is 5 feet wide and roughly 6 feet tall and arched at the top. My mosaic is going to be of a downtown scene. It's way more affordable to enlarge to this size in black and white and I'm really only using the image as a guide. Tape the enlargement down and cover it with clear plastic like so.

Mosaic Basketball!

2009-05-27T13:59:00.000-07:00

I love making mosaic garden spheres, but sometimes the base can be expensive and ridiculously heavy. I've done a few bowling balls, but the adhesive isn't always a correct match and can crack off and it's still going to be crazy heavy. Enter the old, relatively useless basketball found down by the river. I cover it with two layers of fiberglass mesh and thinset and then it's good to go! Here is my psycho creation before grouting. Pictures to come soon of the finished product. All of the half sphere bump-outs are handmade by myself and who doesn't love glittery orange glass?

Afraid of Worms?

2009-05-20T13:56:00.000-07:00

Don't be. Especially not the porcelain ones. I've made this crow and these earthworms for the Degarmo bench to be created later this year. I'm busy making and stockpiling all of these fun wildlife creatures in the meantime.

Butterfly tiles flying in

2009-05-19T13:52:00.000-07:00

Here are some of the new tiles I'm making for the planter seat in Degarmo Park. These, I think, are the most recognizable butterfly in NorCal: the monarch butterfly.

Bench beautifies school

2009-04-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

Finished the PV High memorial bench for Anna yesterday. It looks so good! I worked with several students and family members, making tiles and two mosaic doves. Then we had Limey Tee's (local screen-printer) make Anna's art into glass sublimation tiles. Sublimation tiles put the image underneath the glass and it's bonded with heat so it lasts forever and can't be scratched off. Now there are three different pieces of her art, full color, on the bench surrounded by mosaic. We made guitar tiles, word tiles, polka dots and stars. I think it was a rather healing process in which to grieve and make something beautiful from something so sad and tragic. The picture above is of Reta, the art teacher and me after we finished grouting.

Piece Meal Art Show

2009-01-20T20:24:00.000-08:00

My first solo art show in Chico! I've made so many new pieces for this show. It's pretty exciting to see a whole room of just my stuff. And they have great lighting and ambiance. My band is going to be playing an acoustic set at 6PM. I hope y'all can make it! You HAVE to see my mosaic pair of boots at least. The reception is Friday Feb 5th, 5-7 PM in the Humanities Center Gallery at CSU Chico. Email me for directions: robinindar@yahoo.com

Art Panel gets installed!

2008-11-26T12:36:00.000-08:00

Finally the art panel is up for everyone to take a good look. One hospital employee came by in scrubs and stopped to look. Then he says "I dunno. I just don't get abstract art". Back to work you! This will make a nice counter top someday, you'll see!

Open Studios Art tour 08

2008-10-17T12:31:00.000-07:00

Yes, another successful art tour. Lots of new visitors this year, as well as familiar die hards. Maybe they were coming for the live music? Well no one was drinking the cheap wine I had on hand so we threw a BBQ after party and it all disappeared rapidly. Here's Josh wooing the potential art buyers.

Gibby helps out with the overgrown lawn

2008-10-16T12:27:00.000-07:00

Open Studios Art tour was not bad this year. The weather was behaving and my kids were being extra helpful. Look, even Gibby decided to mow the lawn for me!

Hospital panel coming along nicely

2008-10-05T12:23:00.000-07:00

This is a 5' x 3' arched panel to be installed in a niche at Enloe Hospitals new parking structure. It will be facing outwards on a sidewalk for all to take a gander. It's part of a new program many hospitals are accepting, called Planetree in which art is included in plain sight of patients and visitors to aid in the healing process. Pretty cool..

Almost Done with the lava spill!

2008-08-11T12:19:00.000-07:00

I was going to title this entry "Eat your heart out Pele!" but as a lava goddess, Pele seems to have a lot of anger, and I really don't wanna be messing with any angry volcano gods right now. Here is the lava flow mosaic I've been working on for a couple of weeks now. The edges are lined with glow-in-the-dark glass with little chips throughout the lava to glow like hot embers (although electric blue). I'll be grouting tommorow. I'm happy to showcase my Rebel Tiles custom circles in this piece. Yay!