I’ve moved!

Well, I finally took the plunge and bought my own internet domain. It’s kind of exciting, but I’ll be the first to admit that the learning curve has been steep and the site is still very much a work in progress.

Anyway, to stay up to date with all the goings on here at Red Squirrel Mosaics, please visit http://redsquirrelmosaics.com/

Hurry on over, because you’ve already missed a few posts. Quick! And while you’re at it, don’t forget to update your RSS readers.

Inspired!

Today I attended a workshop all about how to turn your hobby into a job. It was organized by the fabulous gals from Les Ateliers and facilitated by the brains behind Ottawa’s The Craft Co-op .

It was really inspiring to hear from so many talented and driven people who are actually “living the dream”. I came away with a renewed sense of motivation and a whole bunch of ideas for how to push Red Squirrel Mosaics forward. So stay tuned for some exciting changes around here!

I was pretty jazzed about the workshop, so I mentioned it on Facebook and two really great friends posted some wonderfully supportive comments. Sometimes it really helps knowing there are people out there who believe in you!

“sometimes a dream is all it takes!“

“Hasn’t everyone known for ages that you need to turn your hobby into a job?! Hope the workshop goes well! I can’t wait for the mosaic shop opening!!!“

 

My divided attention

I’d been meaning to watch The Cove for ages, but I didn’t think I could handle it if I gave it my full attention. You see, I’m the kind of girl who cries more in movies when animals die than when people do (generally speaking). So to give a movie dedicated to the slaughter of dolphins my complete and undivided attention, well, that was going to be a stretch if I didn’t want to turn into a blubbering mess. The solution: watch the movie while mosaicking. And this is the result:

If memory serves…

Do you ever put something somewhere and think to yourself, “I’ll never forget where I put this,” and then two weeks later find yourself tearing your house apart because, of course, you’ve forgotten your super special, unforgettable hiding spot? Yah. I did that with my stash of tealights.

As soon as the grout on these little tealight holders cured, I wanted to see how they looked with candles. But where were my tealights? A frantic search ensued. I checked all the logical places (storage box with other candles, craft drawer) and then all the illogical places (stash of mosaic supplies, freezer, under the kitchen sink). Nothing.

Months later, when the overwhelming desire to see how these little puppies looked all lit up had long passed, I came across my tealights. They were in the box where we stash all the Christmas presents we find throughout the year. Yep, clearly a logical place to also store tealights.

If you like them, they’re for sale!

Not just a one-trick pony

Just a quick note to let you all know that I’m not just a one-trick pony (the one trick being mosaics). A few months ago my partner and I decided to start up a blog to chronicle our adventures in curbside scavenging and upcycling. It sat idle for almost a year, but it has now been resurrected and we’re trying to post stuff to it more regularly.

So, without further ado, I give you … <drumroll please> …

Poubelle Chic!

Decluttering

When I first saw this plate at the thrift store, I knew immediately that it had the potential to be a stunning mosaic. I slapped a few coats of varnish on it, but once I saw it all shiny and cleaned up, I just couldn’t bring myself to cover it in bits of glass and grout. It looked so lovely naked. So I set it out on our coffee table and there it stayed for quite a few months.

Then spring rolled around and I was overcome with the urge to [attempt to] declutter our 1-bedroom apartment. In one swift movement, I grabbed the plate, marched it into my new little mosaic nook, got out my bins of glass, and went to work. It actually didn’t take as long as I anticipated to get the pieces glued down, but once I was done I realized I had run out of grout.

So one weekend, after dropping Dexter off at the groomer’s, I found myself with four hours to kill. The perfect opportunity to pop over to the hardware store. Do you know how long it took me to get there and back (by bus)? About 2 hours. Wanna know how much of that time was actually spent in the store? Roughly 15 minutes. Yah. Saturday bus service in Ottawa is not super efficient, to say the least. Anyway, I got my grout (and listened to quite a few podcasts of The Current in the process) and was finally able to put the finishing touches on this bad boy.

Skype while you mosaic

I made this mirror waaaaay back in the fall, just after my partner moved to California to start a new job. It was a big adjustment, living alone again. I found that I had a lot of time on my hands, so I threw myself into making mosaics. This was one of the first ones I did after we started living apart, and also one of the first ones I did while we kept each other company over Skype. It was kind of nice, just knowing she was there. We chatted a bit, but mostly we just stayed on the line while we each did our own work (cutting and gluing for me, planning classes and marking for her). All I can say is thank goodness for Skype and for the distraction of being crafty (oh, and for the company of our super cute dog), because I think I might have gone nuts otherwise.

For volcanologists and vegetarians…

This is another one of those old steak plates that I picked up at the thrift store. They’re kind of nice projects because they’re quick to do, and they’re also easy to grout. They’re also versatile – they could be hung on the wall or propped up on a shelf, or set on a table.

I think this particular piece looks a little like a crack in the earth, with lava bubbling underneath the surface. Someone else, perhaps swayed by the plate’s past, thinks it looks like a bloody steak. I prefer my interpretation, obviously, and I’m sure vegetarian mosaic lovers everywhere will agree with me.

It’s all in the eye of the beholder

When I made this mirror, I kind of pictured a river or something in my head. But when I showed the finished piece to my partner, the first thing she said was that it reminded her of the colours on the Guatemalan flag. Funny how people can see such wildly different things in such a simple design, eh?

As usual, this piece is available for sale in my Etsy shop if you’re interested.

A little bird told me…

The birds! They’re everywhere! Do you find that lately? It feels like birds are popping up on t-shirts, baby shower invites, bedsheets, and microblogging websites. And now they can be found in my mosaics too!

This cute little fella was inspired by the recent bird fad, and you’ll probably never guess what I used as the base for this piece, so I’ll just come right out and tell you: an old steak plate that I found at the thrift store! I got my daddy to rout it out for me, and then I sealed it with polyurethane. One of these days, when I have a studio, I would like to own a router. I have big plans for my future router, yes I do…

Anyhow, this little guy is available through my Etsy shop, you know, if you’re interested.