Let them sit awhile and something will come to you.then you won't be able to sleep at night for all the ideas running around in your head.goggle mosaics,you'll see all kind of marvelous art pieces to inspire you..annie

Well, deja, if they REALLY bother you, just send 'em to me!! LOL!! Annie is right. After awhile you'll find yourself imagining all sorts of wonderful things that you can make with them.

Pat

I've got a 10x20 shed AND a 11x21 Craft room full of stuff I'm collecting! And yes the ideas are percolating, but at this rate I could be busy for 2yrs straight with projects I've brought home!!!lol! Yes I DO need therapy! My doc recommends fun in the sun in Mexico with some mosaic buddies!!heh heh!

Well, I get a pinch in the butt by this forum.........checking out other mosaic sites, etc..or wake up at 3Am with a dream.........need to keep a notepad by my bedsite................sometimes just looking at a magazine will get my mosaic juices flowing..but I'm sure this trip to Mexico will get me doing flips, flops and alkakazams..............

right now? looking at movement in art
... there's a contest going on and a whole beetlebits cutting system is 1st prize... man I want that bad...

looking at photos, paintings... anything to grasp the idea of movement... GOOGLE IMAGE is my favorite resource for research to study items that you want to figure out...

These forums where you get to see so many wonderful styles! mmmmmmmmmmmmm makes you learn to see everyday items in new ways! opens your mind's eye!

I usually go to flickr and look at mosaic photos from other members,and sometimes I'll just grab a piece of glass and stick it to something. Inspiration usually comes along as I work.

I'm a big fan of Google Image, also. I have saved soooo many pictures to my hard drive! I have a whole folder called "mosaic ideas" and then that's broke down in to sub-categories...flowers, birds, frames, etc.!
My biggest inpsiration has come from all these talented aritists here and other forums!

what other mosaic forums do you visit?

The people I see her inspire me, as well as the peoples images I view on Flickr.

Most times though I'll see a piece of glass, tile or china that will begin the brain spinning.

I take that piece, and work it into an idea, then it seems to flow over the whole mosaic.

I'm weird. lol

deja- cut/paste this google search...first one that comes up is it:

ray beetle bits contest

DEJA: While you're Googling, there are so many websites on mosaics, you'll be amazed. Just put "mosaics" or "mosaic artists", and you'll get inspired. In the meantime, start cutting and nipping your stash into small tiles.

Oh, sorry. I thought she was asking about the one with the BB contest. My bad.

I personally check in at Dave's Garden (the SG forum is not super busy, though), I found Stained Glassville recently from a post on the conv side (but even on a T1 line, the site loads slow for me, so I don't hang out there long), here (because it's BUSY- I'm all about busy/active forums), and the one I mentioned above.
Gardening is my other hobby, so I bounce around the forums here, some are duplicates of DG, but one or the other is usually busier...and dirt. I like the weird chatter in the compost forum.

I got OT from the OP...my inspiration usually comes from just looking around at anything. I recently did up an old acrylic biscotti container from inspiration from a Cheetos bag- grays, blues, and some red. It came out pretty cool. For my backsplash, I didn't have a CLUE how to start, so I stuck a few tiles down, that was boring, then I just happened to lay a curved piece down, and that made the light go on.

My inspiration usually is "color" based rather than pattern, but in the case of the backsplash, the semi-circle cut of that particular piece of china gave a little pattern to the piece as a whole.

My inspirations are usually theme-based. For example, the birdhouses I have done included themes like: spring garden, vegetable garden, bucolic farm scenes, Tuscany scenes, red peppers, etc. These themes came from plates I broke up. I also did one that turned out so well - the theme was transportation. The perch was a large heavy duty belt buckle shaped like a Harley Davidson motorcycle, parked at a bit of an angle so that the front end stuck out enough to suggest a perch; I also had cars, trains, planes, etc. that started out as brooches or pins, and I also had some plates that featured Route 66 diners, etc. I even did a dark Goth birdhouse once that had a pewter hand for a perch and clay Celtic runes for the roof. Then a few birdhouse were done strictly for the color combo, such as blue and yellow (Spode plates). I have plans for the future that include a birdhouse with an Egyptian theme, and I would like to do some birdhouses that feature birds as a theme; I have some plate rims that have beautiful birds on them, and then I have some small bird figurines that could perch on the roof. Not enough time in the day!

I find a lot just by googling weird words and look at their images on google. Sometimes when I go off into my fugue state (usually sitting and staring at nothing), I come up with some things.