Hallway

Hallway Plant

The plant started off to be a cactus. But grew into a succulent combined of all the wonderful succulents my grandmother grew while I was a child.

She had a screened in porch and grew every kind of succulent there is.

Donkey tails, hen and chicken, string of pearls, mother-in-law tongue, teddy bear, snake, plus all cacti!

After the sea wall mosaic I now like a lot of variety in materials. I wanted to try and use as many different items in this plant mosaic too.

This plant has the much loved sliced agates, many polished stones along with rough semi-precious stones and tile. There is also a big piece of sea glass my oldest grandson picked up at the river.

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End of Hallway

The tile with the horses running and a coyote on it, was made by an artist. This tile is a Southwestern style tile. It is also surrounded by a combination of different tiles that I used to create a bigger design for this area.

I measured the space and used the coffee table to arrange this design.

Saving a picture on my cell phone helped me in transferring the design to the wall.

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Above A Door

Here is another corner showing the different patterns of two walls connecting.

What I like best about this type of mosaic is the variety. My eyes never get bored – in fact to me it is inspiring me on to create more mosaic work! I love variety in mosaics!

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Manger Scene

I love manger scenes! And the Southwestern  manger scene on this tile is a custom tile made be a signed artist.

Note: write down the information that is on the back of the tile before you place it on the wall so you don’t forget who made it or the year it was made!

To the right and left of the manager scene are little animal figurine rocks my husband found. We have a house full of these fascinating precious stones. I hope to think of other projects to use them on in the near future.

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Closet Close Up

This pattern was created to make your eyes follow a design. A design that is somewhat “Southwestern”. In using all different kinds of collected tiles and glass, you save a ton of money!

Mosaic patterns are very expensive and you will have a one of a kind of design when you create the full design!

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Houses

Here is almost the whole wall. You can see a horse cloud above the small house and tree.

We have many horse stories to share with our grandkids.

The houses are meant to resemble barns so they are rustic like log homes. A lot of times you can not find the exact stones to copy exactly what you are trying to create. Use what material you have and a connection will represent your idea.

The rocks at the bottom of the mosaic represent all the many kinds of rocks, stones, and fossils in our lives.

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Plant

The plant was in my head but not clear enough to start a mosaic. So, I started on the coffee table on a towel for a background.

I placed tile and moved tile and looked for new rocks on e-Bay when I would get stuck trying to figure out the plant’s shape.

I tried different designs and took pictures on my cell phone comparing pictures.

Your cell phone is a great tool and it’s surprising how you can see things differently on your phone.

Once you find a picture you like save the picture on your phone so you can refer back to it if needed.

Lots of people in the house will come move your stones trying to figure out what you are doing. You will be glad you don’t have to remember and have your cell phone picture.

In this picture the stones are actually on the wall I was covering.

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Light switch plate

Until I found this tile, which reminds me of a woven basket texture, I had no desire to mosaic the hall. I felt this was one of the only tiles that I  had ever seen that could go in a log house.

And of course, I like the country rustic switch plate, that goes so well with this tile. I feel the switch plate gives more dimension to the mosaic!

The tile also helped give variety. Too many pictures would be too much and this tile helps to give variation.

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Houses Up Close

Although this does not look like our house, this mosaic represents it.

We started with a smaller ranch style house and have added on three times over the years. It is now quite large and was purposely added to incase someone needed to move in with us later in life or we could make our home a bed and breakfast.

There is a hidden farm character in the big house. It resembles a chicken. Can you find it?

I felt like the houses were the best items to place around the thermostat. I’ve never had anyone seem to notice it was there.

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Tree Above House

The trees were so small when we moved to the farm 40 years ago. and now they are so large! We have lost many of them. This past Easter we lost one that actually broke my heart. The void where it grew will be there for a long time.

The very large tree in this picture is still around, for now. It grows at this angle, growing towards the sun. It is close to the house and I always look to see if it is growing straighter, but it still leans!

I hope it lives another 20 years.

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Above The Houses

A sliced agate is used in the sky in this mosaic, representing dark clouds. In a Texas sky the sun can be shinning one minute and stormy, pouring rain the next minute.

Unpredictable weather is a way of life in Texas and you learn to adjust, especially when building a DIY house.

My favorite clouds are the white fluffy clouds that resemble animals. Many dogs and coyotes were a part of life on the farm and I want to share these stories with my grandkids.

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Close Up

These sliced Agates are really cool and pretty. Usually people want to touch them. I like when they want to and consider when they do a “compliment”.

I only use sliced agates on a wall when you can’t see through them. If you can see through an agate I think it is best to use them on glass. Their shine is amazing with the light or sun shinning through them and clear glass is needed for this.

Also groups of three always work out well for balance and harmony.

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Flowers

Several kinds and sizes of tile were used to resemble flowers on the plant. Just try to place your stones equally and exactly on each side to create balance.

If you can’t place the stones equally, it is ok. Walls are so big you have to look at smaller areas individually anyway. Very few people will notice if their are a few things different on opposite sides.

Iridescent tile helped in creating what appears to be flowers because of all the color they contain.

Just have fun and remember until you grout you can always pull off the stones and start again.

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Up Close

It is fun to pick out all the different kinds of stones, rocks, glass, and tile in the mosaic.

Using the white oval tile over the leaves resembles flowers.

Swirls of tile and different angles create movement.

Also, you can add acrylic paint to the grout to add color.

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More Colors

After creating the plant and the stand it sits on, I then began using tile and stones on each side that resemble flowers.

Some of the designs just remind me of designs that resemble happiness. Happiness you might see in a greeting card.

What ever I did on one side, I tried to copy on the other side to create balance.

But, when a mosaic is big you almost have to look at it in sections.

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                          Balance

Starting with the green tile that has the arrows, I created a rectangle with my items.

Next I added the hummingbird tile and created a uniform pattern with my tile and rocks.

Last I added the longhorn tile and copied exactly the the hummingbird square.

Balance is the result of the repeated patterns.