It is Saturday late in the afternoon and I taught a mosaic class today, with the large onion on the end of the work table looming over a handful of students. A living example of what is possible in the realm of mosaic art. Walking into the studio and seeing the onion come together, where you can visualize the final product is pretty nifty!

The big decision of the week was the veins in the onion. Ron and Floyd settled on a yellow that is complementary to the bronze color of the "skin" of the onion. I am loading two pictures for you to see it close up. Keep in mind that the white of the "frame" of the onion will go away when grout is applied. More about grout later. The three of us are so tired of cutting and snipping and gluing that there was little discussion about the color of the veins, it just happened.

Someone visiting the studio asked if we would build another one, if someone asked us and all three of us looked at each other and said yes, but it would cost a fortune. This one is for the "art" of it. But, it is quite elegant and if it ends up in a public location with lots of people being able to visit it, we will be happy.

Grout. Nancy, the mosaic teacher, has been nagging about grout for weeks. Neither Ron nor Floyd wanted to discuss until we were closer to the end. . .not something Nancy, the planner, particularly appreciates. But, as we near the end grout is looming and so experimentation is underway.

The first step was to check commercial non-sand grout at Home Depot. Close and we can use in a pinch, but none of us really like it. We decided that we want the grout to be as close in color to the tiles as possible. So, using fabric dyes to tint white grout, we will commence making practice tiles to get the right effect. As I key this in Floyd is gluing up practice tiles for us to experiment with color. Grout has the capacity to make or break a project, so this is a biggy! And the clock is ticking.

We got help this week from Nancy's friend Lori C. who glued, and glued and glued, when she wasn't fixing my errant Web page that I had screwed up. We sure can use the help. We all need massages of neck and upper back and I am developing a callus from snipping the tiny tiles, over and over. Made 340 this morning while mosaic students were working on projects.

You can write questions and comments. They are always welcome.

The onion moves along at the speed of a turtle. Deadlines are looming and we are about 2/3 of the way to having the first step complete! The latest glitch is the mirror spray. . .ah, the joys of living in a small town. (The back of each 3/4 inch tile is sprayed with mirroring spray, so when you come close to the onion you can see your reflection--hence "Sweet Reflections.") No one had it, so it had to be special ordered by a local paint store. We ramped through six cans we had in short order, necessitating the second special order. Floyd ordered more and the person went out of town, neglected to order and it takes six to seven days to get a special order. Hmmmm! Not happy campers.

But, leave it to "Mr. Good-in-a-Crisis." He found a "brilliant" silver spray that works just as well. We tried it out and we couldn't tell the difference and I think the mirror quality is better. So, Home Depot will sell out its supply of the new spray in the morning while we play catch up. Ron used up all the tiles today and was doing some fill in stuff, but we really are becalmed.

Floyd had one can of the new stuff, the experimental one, and he set to washing the glass and then spraying. Glass has to be really, really clean before spraying. You need several layers of spray for the stuff to really work and not just rub off. The pictures show Floyd standing on top of his head washing large sheets of glass and then outside he goes to do the spraying. It really smells terrible. Check out "Mr. Look-at-me-stand-on-my head."

Floyd and Nancy spent the morning working on the onion. First is cutting tiles that are 3/4" which is an incredibly boring and tedious task. It is complicated by the fact that the back of the glass has a coating of "mirror" spray and rubs off as you work and comes off the glass if you are not careful. By the time I was done cutting about 500 tiles I was covered in silver mirror spray. I need a radio in the studio with some spirited music or chat when I am cutting.

The next step is using hot glue to adhere the tiles to the onion. You can see Ron hard at work gluing the tiles to the onion. It goes pretty fast. The layout looks like a brick walk way, rather than rows, but working on something round presents it own challenges. When it was my turn to glue I spent most of my time picking up little tiles off the floor. Floyd and I took a turn at doing each of the jobs, tiling is lots more fun than cutting and Floyd managed to cut himself during his stint at the tiling making job.

I am ready to talk about grout and the two fellas are stonewalling me that grout is not a topic for discussion until the tiles are glued and they can make an informed decision. Squint your eyes and you get an idea of what a dark grout would do for the onion. A lighter grout would make it look like it does now, because of the white color of the fiber glass. Any opinions on grout color, I need reinforcements.

Nancy is back in the office, but barely. She is operating on two cylinders, not her usual eight. But the pictures Floyd took are great and the glass the fellas selected is yummy and with grout, will be a stunning project. So, hot glue gun and tiny tiles and we are off to the races.

The onion project is moving right along. We have had some bumps in the road, however. First finding the right glass. Floyd and Ron finally took off for points west. They ran off to Tacoma to our regular glass supplier at Big M glass. He is a wholesaler and had been trying to help long distance, but it was clear the fellas needed to look at glass themselves. Nancy stayed home. The reason is one of the road bumps.

Floyd did a raft of substitute teaching and got those "school kid" cooties. He spent most of May battling the cold and then an inner ear condition that screwed up his balance. This malady is one Nancy has had since her early 20s. Floyd has always been a terrific "nurse" when Nancy was sick with the balance problem, but now he really gets it! Nancy held down the fort as best possible, but got the cold and is still laid up with the inner ear stuff. Thank goodness for wireless and the internet.

This has slowed work on the onion, but Ron is forging on. Floyd has build the onion its own little wagon so we can move it around (pictures in a day or two) and Ron has worked on the top and is beginning the mosaic process (ditto on the pictures). We have a deadline looming and Nancy is excessively crabby, due to an inability to help.