After working on the 'Magpie's Mirror' I created two more mirrors that were commission pieces and then started to consider my next work of art. I wanted to make something for my good friend Cabby who lives in Loveland. We rarely have the chance to actually get together but our love of art and mosaics, and email, means we are able to maintain our friendship. Cabby and her husband have a lovely ranch house (that's a bungalow to my UK friends) it's very cosy and warm and has a kind of cabin feel to the decor. I wanted to make a gift for Cabby and decided a brown bear would be perfect. I already had brown beads and beautiful shiny green bugle beads for the back ground. Instead of working on a wooden substrate I decided to place the mosaic directly onto the glass front of a small picture frame. I taped a drawing of a brown bear to the underside of the glass and set to work.
The body of the bear came together very quickly, which I was grateful for as working with such small beads was very tiring on the eyes! While making the bear I realised the most important parts of the mosaic would be his eyes, nose and ears. The nose and eye went in very quickly and I could see the bear really coming to life, but his ears posed SO many problems for me! I was using just one rectangular bead for each ear and trying to get them in the correct position was actually pretty tricky. Just a fraction of an inch too far back looked weird, too far forward they looked like strange bumps on the bear's head!
I completed the rest of the mosaic, adding in grass and tiny red flowers to the background before I added the ears. I placed them this way, then that way, and finally got them in the right position and glued them into place. Once everything was dried I cleaned the glass and placed it back in the frame. I was very happy with the bear, he looked so friendly and the beads worked so well for his shape. The colors sparkled and shone, it was incredibly satisfying to have him finished!
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