The egg is in it's new temporary home, at Artisan Stained Glass ( http://artisanglass.us ) It would not have fit into my home studio, so I'm grateful for the workspace. It also gives people the opportunity to stop in and check up on my progress!
The 6' egg structure is delivered.
The egg is made of a styrofoam core, reinforced by rebar, and attached to a steel base. The "shell" is made of a thinset-type material over fiberglass mesh. It's solid as a rock, and weighs about 250# before the mosaic is added. An egg of this size has about 80 square feet of surface area.
Nautilus shell is cut out of iridescent stained glass. This will now be fired in a kiln, and slumped slightly to follow the curve of the egg.
The egg's title is "Ocean(egg)raphy. My client has gone with an underwater theme, and there will be many fun elements - shells, undersea creatures, and water elements. This is the first - a nautilus shell with swoops of current around it. First step: drawing the outlines, and painting the swoops, soon to be covered with tempered glass.
Tempered glass in place! The pigments have been protected by a spray-on UV protector to keep the paints from fading in the sun.
The beginnings of a drop of water into a pool. I've handmade the nuggets by fusing several transparent shades of green and blue glass in a kiln. I've added a bit of dichroic glass for sparkle, and also a fun newly-available element: glow-in-the-dark frit! They'll glow gently in the night!
One of the water drops completed. Most of the backgrounds will be done in various types of mirror to reflect the surrounding landscape and blue sky.
Lots of glow-in-the-dark bubbles. It's going to be the slightest bit tricky to fill in the backgrounds, but I really like the look.
Close up of one of the drops of water. I cut out the splash on a Taurus 3 ring saw.
Finally, I'm filling in a bit of the background. I really couldn't wait to start on this because it's the main area that will be made of mirror, and I wanted to see how it would look.
Close up of some of the watery waves. I'm using plain mirror, Spectrum Silvercoats, and various shades of stained glass.
As of mid-October, I've covered about 12 square feet. "Only" 68 or so to go!! In all fairness, though, the early stages go most slowly, as I had to order massive quantities of supplies, wait for them to arrive, get the design penciled in, plan the placement of the focal points, fuse a whole lotta bubbles and a nautilus, etc. The rest should move along at a faster pace.
A Leafy Sea Dragon (...or...really cool sea creature) to add to the underwater theme.
Close up of the waves.
Another closeup of tempered glass areas.
Finished a bit more, still WAAYYYY more to go!
Starfish, surrounded by a bit of mirror glass. The starfish is made of some very cool 2" tiles I got from Artful Crafter.
The Leafy Sea Dragon in place. Not sure I like the bubble around him done in mirror. I may redo it today.
Leafy Sea Dragon has been redone with swirly white glass behind him. I like how he stands out a bit better now. When he's grouted it will look better, and he should stand out nicely.
I'm quite happy with the seaweed my friend and helper Jim suggested.
Making more progress!!
keeping the momentum going
This is a big day! I've turned the egg around to expose it's naked backside, and have begun work on a "fountain" element. Depending on your monitor, you may be able to see it penciled in.
Partially complete - I like how the swirls around the fountain are looking.
Fountain 98% finished. I'll add a few more bits of shading today before starting in on the backgrounds.
Closeup of the fountain.
This was a big day - the mosaic now completely encircles the egg!
All dressed up for the holidays. I had to take a month off for a holiday show commitment.
Another view, with the fountain area completed.
A "GOLDfish"! Thanks to Jim Penak for recommending the perfect thing for my collection of Orsoni gold that I wanted to use somewhere on the egg. Couldn't be a better choice, and I'm delighted with how it turned out. The fins and tail are transparent silvery fusable glass with metallic acrylic paints shining through.
Glow-in-the-dark Jellyfish. I'll get a picture soon "in the dark" so you all can see. I fused glow-frit to green glass at Helios Kiln Glass Studio, and added some cool glow-in-the-dark tile that Maryland Mosaics has for tentacles. Dark grout will fill in between the sections on the body of the jellyfish to accentuate the glow.
Finally had the courage to climb up high and start working on the top! This design is a symbol for water. Possibly will be visible on google earth, or by space travelers??? The egg is certainly big enough!
More background water flow added.
Getting REALLY close to done. I'm saving the bottom and top for later, because they're the hardest!!!!
Close up of the GOLDfish. The blue background will look better once it gets some grout in it, but I wanted a nice contrast behind the gold. An Asian lady came into the shop last week and said to have proper fung shui, I needed a pair of goldfish instead of just one. So...of course I'm adding another. I certainly don't want to mess with bad fung shui, do I? Check back soon!
The jellyfish have turned out SO cool! Here's a photo of them after dark.
January 16, 2009 - progress so far - view 1
January 16, 2009 - progress so far - view 2 (with completed GOLDfish)
January 16, 2009 - progress so far - view 3
January 16, 2009 - progress so far - view 4
January 23, 2009 - finished red coral and much of the background waves.
Closer-up of red coral and GOLDfish.
Finished view of the top of the egg, with opus circumactum.
February 5, 2009 - the last piece being glued on. I'd been on the floor all day gluing the last of the ocean waves, and I have to say, was a little bit giddy!
Finished view #1
Finished view #2
Finished view #3
Finished view #4
February 6 - day 1 of the grouting process. Areas that will have Spectralock "Dazzle" have been taped off. Most of the fountain and surrounding area were grouted with Midnight Black Spectralock grout.
Closeup of grouted area
Another closeup of grouted area
You can see here the areas that haven't been grouted, and the changes the grout makes in the look of the mosaic.
Another view of a grouted section next to an ungrouted area.
February 13, 2009 - Grouting is finished! Finished egg - view #1
Finished egg - view #2
Finished egg - view #3
Finished egg - view #4
Completed view of nautilus shell with Spectralock Silver Dazzle grout. The veins in the shell and the surrounding pastel swirls were grouted with glow-in-the-dark grout, and give off a pleasing pale blue glow when the lights are out! We haven't been able to capture a good photo of it yet.
Detail: Jellyfish with grouting completed. The black Spectralock provides a great contrast to the glowing jellyfish
Detail: completed GOLDfish with dazzle fins and tail.
Detail: swirl pattern near top of egg.
The nautilus shell in evening light.
My husband's Bossa Nova trio played at the egg unveiling party.
Egg #1 ready for the party!
EGGstravaganza at Artisan Stained Glass - we had over 100 people come through to celebrate the completion.
I think the eggs will look great from a distance outdoors! It's sometimes quite tricky to plan and anticipate the big picture, but I think it's successful! Egg #1 looks great!
Outdoor closeup of the GOLDfish.
Egg #1 outdoors, ready for delivery. I LOVE how it looks outdoors with the sky reflected in the mirror!
Outdoor closeup of the Leafy Sea Dragon.
Fountain view, outdoors!
Delivery day for egg #2
Both eggs, on delivery day.
The egg is wrapped for transport. It would most definitely be a traffic hazard if it was not covered. Besides the inevitable curious souls who just have to stare at a big mosaic egg driving down the highway, it would probably blind at least a few of them.
All secured and ready to roll!
Egg #1 is ready for the EGGstravaganza party.
Sample Board for the base structure - tile and stone, with a touch of glass.
This is the base structure for the eggs to sit on. It's made from gunnite, a lightweight cement. The eggs will screw into the bolt at the top of the structures. The mechanics to make them rotate are hidden in the base. We all think they look a bit like croissants.
Closer up of one of the base structures.
View from the center of the oval area. The surrounding grounds will be landscaped.
View from further up on the hill. The house is located behind the camera, so this is the view they will see when looking out the windows.
The design for the bases is sketched in. Simple swirls to reflect the design of the eggs.
design view #2
Design view #3 I will bring a crew of over 20 mosaic artists out to work on the tile and grouting over a long weekend.
The best-laid plans don't always work out. We were rained out on Saturday. The weekend ended up turning into about 10 days.
We went ahead with our planned party on Sunday. It was supposed to be a Saturday evening celebration, but it was rained out. Trio Bossa Nova played music for us, and we had a cookout around the pool.
A lovely site for our picnic.
Tamara's brother Tim cooked a delicious BBQ lunch for us all. Especially wonderful, because we didn't have to cook it ourselves!
Mosaic work in progress.
Finished and ready for grouting!
Close up of back of base. The door hides the motors that will rotate the eggs once they're installed atop the bases.
Stone crab by Jim.
I'm very happy with the look of the bases, and think they will be a nice, gentle counterpoint to the eggs. They look good in the outdoor environment too.
Base #1 is grouted, on day 10. Bravo grouters!!
Base #2 is grouted and finished. We should have taken down the tents, they were destroyed in the thunderstorm that followed.
Thunder clouds descending again. We got most of the site cleaned up and organized before the rain and lightning came. There is still some touch up grouting to do, more cleanup, then sealing after we've had a few dry days.
Egg #2 is underway now! Here we have King Neptune's triton in 24K Gold Smalti, with a scallop shell featuring a fused glass "pearl".
Closeup of the triton. The diamond shape in the middle is made with a plate of 24K Gold Smalti.
Octopus tentacles with kilnformed glass reaching up from the depths.
Glow-in-the-dark Bioluminescent Plankton weaving it's way around the egg.
The rest of the Bioluminescent Plankton. This should be very impressive when the lights are out!
A school of Neon Tetras. The neon stripes are made with the VERY COOL 24K Gold Acid Green from Trend.
A ribbon of blue mirror glass making it's way around the egg.
More of the blue mirror. This egg has a lot more drama and color, being the "Dark Egg". This blue wave will become part of a swirling tempest soon.
Lime green and purple mirror added today.
I like the way the plankton, tetras and waves all flow together.
Beginnings of the tempest storm swirling waves. Lots of mirror, swirls and splashes planned.
Tempest mostly finished. I have a little more silver/granite mirror to add. I've also finished the gold "water symbol" at the very top. This is identical to the one on the first egg.
August 15, 2009: Lots more done! I'm finished with the middle area now: about 60-70% complete now! Here's a view of the side with a flying fish, and swooping ribbons of waves.
Another view with swirl, plankton and neon tetra. The plankton are glow-in-the-dark, and look GREAT with lights off. I haven't been able to get a good photo yet, but hopefully soon!
Plankton continue, frothy silver waves begin, leading toward...
..tempest swirls. Should look great when eggs are rotating once they're installed.
Closeup of some of the frothy waves.
Closeup of flying fish. I'm VERY happy with how this fish turned out - I love how the wings look, and happy with the mirror "scales" on his body. He has a 24K red-gold eye.
09-08-09: Top is finished! Starry night - lots of glow-in-the-dark stars.
09-08-09: another view of top, including lighthouse.
09-08-09: other side of egg, with starry night sky finished. Only about 25% left! Will begin coral reef on bottom of egg tomorrow.
9/15/2009: finally settled in on the floor to finish the bottom portion of the egg. This is about 3 more days of work.
Fused glass jellyfish being added. The orange dots on the bodies and the tentacles glow in the dark.
Red coral added. Very similar to the one on the first egg. I completed this on mesh and then adhered the whole piece at once.
A closeup of jellyfish. I need a better camera than my iPhone to get a good photo of the glow in the dark.
I'm delighted to be so close to finishing! How exciting!
my signature in glass - tricky cuts done on a ring saw!
9/15/2009 - close to complete!
9/17/2009: view 1
9/17/2009: view 2
9/17/2009: view 3 The 4th side (lower area) is still in progress - some more coral to add and an angler fish to position. Once they're in place, I just have to continue the waves in the background, and it will be ready to grout!
Angler fish with glowing lure finished.
Bonaire Flower Coral made with handmade vitrigraph stringer (thanks to David Chidgey for the donated glass!) and Mexican Smalti "drops".
The glamorous and comfortable life of a mosaic artist. There was NO other way to mosaic the bottom areas of the egg. After this I was bruised, sore, and a bit dizzy from all the upside-down poses! The mechanics creeper helped a LOT though - it would have been worse without it!
The last piece is ready to be placed: I made a special piece: a "Heart of Gold" made with 24K Italian gold.
The last piece is on! I'm ecstatic! (I'll think about grouting later, after a glass of wine to celebrate!)
September 25, 2009: Finished view #1
Closeup of golden wave: 24K gold, Van Gogh glass, gold mirror, iridescent tile, and other goodies included.
Finished egg, ready for the reception.
Another side...
Finished view of one of the lower areas, which will be quite visible when in place on the base. Elkhorn Coral, Bonaire Flower Coral, Angler fish, Octopus tentacles. All reception photos by Barbara Slough
Dianne, happy to be finished!
Flying fish closeup, with Silver Dazzle Grout.
Happy reflection!
Linda (owner of the fantastic Artisan Stained Glass Studio) reads some of the limericks and jokes people have written.
Linda, Eliot at the party. We're about to turn down the lights to see some of the glow in the dark elements.
View through the window of the shop.
24K Gold triton, with Gold Dazzle Grout
Tempered glass area - I love the way the texture works with the glass and mirror.
Closeup of a jellyfish, and my signature, created in glass with a ring saw.
Starry night with swirls. Grouted in Silver and Gold Dazzle, with glow in the dark stars
Top of the swirling tempest.
A school of neon tetras
Red coral. I love how it looks against the rich dark colors in the background.
Bioluminescent plankton, glowing in the dark!
Jacob O. at the reception.
An antique glass button, donated for the egg by good friend Stephanie Angel.
Fused glass jellyfish with glow in the dark orange dots.
swirl with silver dazzle (oops, sideways!)
Closeup of tempered glass.
Some last-minute touchups before traveling.
Bases are nearly ready for the eggs. Decomposed granite has been added. They will be adding colored sand over this. A very pretty pink terra cotta color!
A view of the bases from the other side! The setting is beautiful.
Rolling the egg down the sidewalk for delivery.
Not something you see walking down the sidewalk every day.
Ready and waiting for pickup!
Our ride is here!
The boom and pulley system on the trailer make pickup easy.
Shrouded....
...and wrapped.
To assure that it's not a traffic hazard.
Ready to go!
At the site, egg #1 is already there and waiting.
As is a HUGE crane!
This is apparently the only way to install 6' eggs. I held my breath the entire time!!
Wow.
Each egg had to be lowered precisely onto it's bolt. The crane operator did a fantastic job.
First egg in place, ready to do it again.
This process was such a sight to behold.
Eggs in place! Here's the view from near the top of the hill.
They look just gorgeous outside in the sun!
The Dark Egg in place.
The Light Egg in place.
Ocean(EGG)raphy installed! October 6, 2009
