Mosaic Monday/ New Personal Projects

Leg Milagro Mosaic Work In progress
© rebecca collins

Detail

I have a couple of new mosaic projects started. Above is personal piece with china doll legs for friends that are either having, have had, or will have leg/foot related surgery. There is also a general prayer or wish for safe travels this fall for myself and my mosaic sisters as we journey to Italy to study mosaics there. This is a 2 inch deep cradle board and the sides have hand written wishes or prayers & hopes for these people. They are identified by nicknames such as the Chicken Lady, the Sky walker and so on. The doll legs are not glued down yet. The written words are very subtle, almost vanishing below the glass, but they are there and they do mean a lot to me.  I have never been one to enjoy saying my prayers out loud in a group so the fact that the words are almost hidden sort of suits my own spirituality. The right side still needs a lot of work and it will have tiles about the same size as the green to the left, but it will be all in grey hues with a tiny shot of pink. This project is for a show I will be in later this fall with Katrina Doran and Apryl Begay. The show ( Tres Milagros) is all about Milagros and we are going to try to have around 14 projects each in order to fill up the gallery space. We have a lot of work to do and many projects planned out in our heads, including a book about the show.

And now ....for something totally new .... drum roll please:)
I am also starting on my first 3-d piece! Below is a shot of my robot form. He still needs arms. He is going to be a robot walking a robot doggy. He is about 18 inches tall I think. He will be covered in paint, glass, rubber washers ... whatever sort of goodies I can find to stick on him. The hole in his tummy is for an old vacume tube like they had in TV's and radios in the old days. He is Styrofoam covered in white thinset.  I have been avoiding 3-d work for ages.  My friend and mentor Katrina Doran is the queen of 3-d form making.  For the past 4 years I have watched and even video taped her large 3-d endevours for the State Fair... I have been more than happy to sit on the sidelines and record these huge ambitious works by her and her students. I have not been ready until now to try anything at all in 3-d myself. Katrina has been great to not try and push me in that direction and to just wait to see if I end up choosing it. Well ... I think I am ready ... this little fellow is pretty small, but  if he works out .... who knows? Maybe huge 3-d robot mosaics will take over my yard some day.... that would be nice.

Robot Form