Garage sales haven’t been prolific so far this spring, but what I’ve picked up has made up for the quantity in kick ass quality.
Like this vintage violin with inlaid mother of pearl flowers!
Just in case I’d hit the jackpot (don’t we always have that lingering hope when out junking?) I popped into a music store that specializes in string instruments to be sure it was “craft quality.” I was reassured that it was old and beautiful, but in need of too much repair to be marketable, so I began digging through my jewelry supplies to find any shell, mother of pearl, or abalone bead that I had.
Our mosaic club now meets 3 days a week, and I drop by when I can and often bring other crafts, or just inventory that needs tagging to hang out and visit friends. But I rarely do any glasswork. I just like the company. The group is varied, people come when they can, we could have two, or fifteen there.
At first, I thought I might collage the instrument, but realized it was an ideal candidate for some gluing and grouting instead. I covered the neck with tiny, textured black tiles, then placed my shell pieces into flower blossoms onto it.
Next was the tricky part, I cut those green leaves myself!
I’m not much of a glass cutter. Actually, I’m not at all. The great thing about our mosaic club is that there are shelves and shelves, generously overflowing with precut, tiny squares of glass available in any color, sorted and ready to work with. Wow, huh? What a treasure chest!
Makes me wonder why I do not create more, since the hard part is done. And my pal, Shan is a professional glass artist, she offers to cut anything I need, I just do not want to take advantage of her.
Not only is there precut squares of glass to use (like the white ones I’ve started to apply). There are containers of scrap glass. That’s where I found the shades of green to make leaves that coordinate with the abalone leaves I’d added in the center.
The plan is to add a few more green vines, then fill in the background with the iridescent white squares. In tight spots, I’ll have to snip some of those in half to make slivers or triangles to fill in better. Then, I’ll grout it all in either dark gray or black. The sides will be decopauged with sheet music, and I’ll leave the back as is, it has a lovely inlaid wood design on it. The back is so pretty that I should probably display the finished piece on a stand instead of hanging on the wall, so people can see the inlay.
Hmmm…… looking at these photos, makes me want to pull off the squares around the scrolly holes and line the edges of it with tiny pearls first. Then do white squares around that as I fill in the background. What do you think? Ooh, or itty bitty, shiny black beads not pearls?