It wasn't long before I was haunting the local glass shops, drooling over pieces of glass that I really couldn't afford and had no idea what to do with! I ordered a variety of glass online, along with a cutting mat and a glass cutter. I stacked the glass away, set up my cutting mat and added oil to the glass cutter. Once everything was set up in my workroom, I closed the door and walked away! Do you see a pattern here?
I was too scared to handle the glass, I was worried I would cut myself (which I did, many times) and had no idea if I would ever be able to cut out the shapes I needed for my work. Eventually, after reading up on cutting glass, I went back into my workroom and gave it a try. I cut a 12" square of blue glass into strips and then each strip into squares. In theory each square should have been the same size as the next, and they weren't; but it didn't matter to me as I was on my way!
I was unstoppable, I loved creating art and making something so rich in color and texture. I received several commissions and enjoyed the process of designing a piece, selecting the colors with my client and seeing the entire mosaic come together. It was exciting, satisfying and frustrating all at the same time.
But throughout my mosaic journey there was one thing I really didn't like about creating mosaics, and that was grouting. I disliked the actual process, mixing up the grout and being careful not to breath in the dust. I disliked the clean up, working out how to get rid of excess grout because you cannot just wash it away down the sink! And to top it all, I often disliked how the finished piece looked once the grout was applied.
Which made me start to look for alternatives to glass.
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