WOW!!! Lady That is one PROFESSIONAL work of art!! You are going to get commissions when others see that GORGEOUS strawberry. I love the seeds, the tiles , everything

You did WONDERFUL!! You should sent that to Riana for sure!!

I bought two color tints on EBAY, they are called Colorants.. I just did a search on ebay and found some listed if you want to check

Glad you all like it :) I spent another hour plus tonight cutting up two more tiles. That's work! But kind of satisfying nonetheless.

BAMA suggested over at Carl's that the red I want to use will cause it to lose some of its mosaic quality, and I know she's right. So now I am rethinking it. I used some of the grout samples that CRACKPOTANNIE gave me, laid them into the grout lines, and I am really having second thoughts about the red grout. I think I'll probably be going gray after all. (Well, I've been "going gray" for a long time, just very slooooowly! ;) I like the looks of the black between the red, but not around the seeds. OR I have white. What do you all think?

Boy, I'm away for a while and see what I miss! Makes me think I should have come to join you all for the class. We drove 45 minutes to hear DS's band play 3 songs and then they left, so we had to leave too. He was going to want a ride home when they got back to the school. So I misse the class for something that turned out to be a lot less than I expected, but his section sounded great and earned a special recognition. That was great... but I digress.

I LOVE that strawberry! I would use black or grey grout myself. Reds are tricky things, and if it's not just right, it could be awful. The seeds would really pop against black, so if you want them softer, go with the grey. I think white would be great witht he red and yellow colors, but harsh and distracting for the design. Does that make sense?

Did I tell you I love that strawberry? ;-)

Er, I think charcoal/black all the way!(even around the seeds)

I second that thought Bama. The thinset that is still wet looks great against the red & the seeds better than the light gray.

So nice to be thinking of DH & the guilt free mosaics, LOL!

I think you will like having it in 2 separate pieces - cleaning it will be so much easier. You can clean, scrub & just lift & tilt the top to get the dirty water out. I have a cement leaf birdbath that weighs about 70-80 lbs & that's what I do. Very easy. And those birds sure get dirty!

Looking sooooooooo good Roni,it will be so wonderful at your place when people are buying berries.Can't wait to see this finished.Excellent job.How is moms angel coming along?

I agree w/BAMA/CAC - charcoal or black. BEAUTIFUL and what a piece for your berry business.

Yep like I said in the beginning charcoal,will make the red stand out more and really show the mosaic...good choice I think!

OK, decisions, decisions! I bounced it off DH, and after he recovered from the blow :) he voted for more of a gray than a black. Sooooo...gonna finish the red tonight, then decide what to do on the base (to mosaic or not to mosaic, and if to mosaic, what to use...?) then the grout then the top piece, with yet MORE decisions...but I DO have IDEAS!

I am so glad to have all of you to help me with this! Funny...it would have been different in the end without you, and no doubt it's better WITH you in the stands! THANKS!

Charcoal is my fav to use and with the red and seeds gonna POP!!! I kinda think mosaic the base but that will add to an already heavy piece. But mosaicing may also make it sturdier??? Heck, what do I know! ;-)

It's coming out FANTASTICAL and I can't wait for the next installment!!

Really like the idea of the charcoal grout, too. I'd be tempted to mosaic the base with something neutral relative to the setting - like a brown/tan if it's going in a bed of mulch. Just my 2 cents.....

Pat

Then make it a dark grey (which is what I pictured for grey anyway). Dirt and dust outdoors can make the grey darker or the balck lighter, so they may look much the same after time passes. Or am I just rationalizing for you?

I would mosaic the base -- either something sandy or medium neutral or possibly green to blend in if it will sit on grass or covered with leaves and like the leaves a real berry would sit against on the ground. If you have your placement picked, I'd tend to go with the one that will blend in the most.

It will likely sit in a grassy area. BUT I've begun thinking of maybe doing the base with PEBBLES...still cogitating on that...(Yeah, I know, how much heavier can I POSSIBLY make it??)

Now, to belabor the grout question...Here is the photo I have been working off of, which is from a brochure we have:

And just for juxtaposition, here is the project again:

WHAT IF...I use dark grey grout around the seeds to make them pop, and do the rest in white? I know some of you are, like, totally biased against white grout. But in the interest of semi-realism, based on the photo which shows how highlights show up on a strawberry, just WHAT IF I did it this way??? hmmm?

When I was painting in oil I was told that what I did was to over-emphasize - NOT be real - in order to make the statement I was trying to make. IMO you w/be making a big mistake if you use white. your white in the photo is a reflection of the light hitting the high points. This is a mosaic - not a replication of a photo. In order for your pieces to really show up, yes, white w/do it, but it wouldn't be as pretty as if you used dark grey. You could always put a little white on a spot, see how you like it, and if you don't, b/f it drys, wash/scurb it out. My two cents.

SLOW, you make a very good point which I hadn't thought of, and I value it a great deal! That is why I keep bouncing this stuff off you guys before I just dive in with my first idea, or second or third even!

I want this to be GOOD, and I will owe it to my friends here if I succeed. Thank you, again!

No helpful hints from the newbie here. I absolutly LOVE that strawberry and can't wait until I'm good enough to try something like it.PJ

Ok, I'll add a cent... something one of my art teachers said was to step back from your work and squint at it. I squinted at both the brochure pic and your mosaic pic and IMH estimation charcoal is the only way to go. Like Slow said, the white is the reflection and when you squint you can see the reflection off your mosaic as white. It's almost as if the charcoal will become the shadow side of the white reflection - since your mosaic is flat and not pocketed like the 'real' strawberry is. At least that's how it looks to me when I squint.

Hi Everyone,
I am new here. Lurking for now. I have never done mosaic but it looks like fun and I want to give it a try. First off ladyronnie you are very resourceful and creative, love the strawberry. what I was thinking, is you know how you can get those programs that let you explore color on your computer when you want to paint your room a different color. I believe they have a program that actually shows what your actual room will look like in that color. Well I was wondering could we take a picture of something we want to grout attach it to that prgram and play with different grout colors. It seems to me what I'm learning here is that the grout color can make or break (pardon the pun) lol an item.
Also Crockpotannie(what a cute name) would you walk me through how you did your birdbath. I just bought a cement birdbath on craigs list for 10 bucks and thought I would take a stab at this. I love shabby chic so your birdbath really appealed to me. Back to reading and studying the posts. I have a question to all of you. What was the first thing you ever mosaiced (is that a word lol)? And any tips for a beginner? Thank you all ahead of time. I just retired and now its time to play with junk. Woohoo!
Diana
P.s I just moved to Boise this winter, and I just found out they have a mosaic art studio here and you can take classes. Very Cool!

Well...I've been watching this through the entire process, but can't find where I've commented...I think it's fantastic!! This whole method is so fascinating to me. Way beyond anything I'll have the time or inclination to tackle anytime soon, but fascinating nevertheless! Can't wait to see it on display, it is going to be wonderful.

DIANA: Thanks for coming out of lurkdom to comment on my project. Glad you like it. It sure has been a challenge to determine the grout color, and I have thought about what you suggested myself. But I also figure the experience represented by this group is worth so much, I'm going to follow their advice. For what it's worth, CRACKPOTANNIE (love that name myself :) gave me a set of grout sample colors (they're plastic), and I have used them to see what I thought on a small scale. Here's what one trial of that experiment looked like:

I like the black, DH likes the gray, most everyone else who doesn't say black says gray, so gray it will be! I did finally get all the red finished this afternoon. Phew!

Lady,
I haven't been able to write much in the forum.. but I sure have enjoyed seeing what you're doing with this project. It's wonderful!!! I was wondering.... if you might get the effect that you're looking for if you put a little pearl... or small whitish bead next to each "seed"....? It might really make it pop with the charcoal grout... ? Maybe? I put your picture in Paint Shop and added a few "pearls." I put a link below.
What do you think?
Again... VERY cool project! I'm anxious to watch it! :)
Katie

Here is a link that might be useful: Lady Ronnie's strawberry.. with added highlights

KATIE: What a novel idea! I'll have to consider it. Or maybe some little bits of mirror? hmmmmm....

Me again Lady,
Well I would probably trust the more experienced also. But I know I would have been interested in seeing cream colored grout or deep burgandy. Just my two cents for what its worth. I love how everyone is helping you birth this big red strawbaby. Can't wait to see the green added. To me thats whats going to really show off the strawberry.

LADY: When you were here, do you remember the mosaiced lady w/wild hair that's in the l.r.? I used dark green grout on that - it's almost black. Hate to say I've changed my opinion on your berry. Now to REALLY throw some confusion in the mix, since green is the compliment to red on the color wheel, danged if I wouldn't use that very dark green. You can't REALLY tell it's green, but it's darker than the grey and not as harsh as black. B/f you grout,is it possible for you to check out the dark greens? It's not on our grout chart that CRACK gave us. I THINK it was Hydrament brand. The darkest green on CRACK's gift is Onyx. The green that I'm talking about is about as dark as the Charcoal on CRACK's gift. Just a thought.

Hi Diana 1952, Just dropping in. Been gone for awhile. Turns out we are almost neighbors since you live in Boise.You can click on my name and email me. Will be great to have a mosaic friend not too far away. Maggie

Roni,the gray that I used on my garden budda head was called Bay Leaf from Hd it looks grey with a greenish tint,it would look good on the red but if your going to grout all the same colors from the samples you showed I still think dark grey charcoal..heres the greenish grey,I think it's in that sample box i gave you too????Now that I went to the picture it doesn't show true color so not much help I'm afraid it's darker than it looks,and dosen't show green tint oh well sorry ..charcoal (dark)

Crackpotannie,(love your name) if you would look at my first post I would appreciate it. I'm new here. Your Budda is so well done. Very impressive.

Lady, I also like the idea of the dark green. What ever you pick it will be right. Cant't wait to see the finished project.

I guess if you stick with this hobby/addiction long enough, eventually you WILL wind up undoing several hours of work. I did so today. I started on the green/leaf/calyx/bowl part, had much of the bowl done, and just never was happy with it. So I have unthinsetted most of it, and will start over. I might even wind up taking off the little I left, which ain't much! But I feel better having pulled it all off than I did leaving it on.
So! Onward!

PS I am not discussing grout any more. For now anyway! I have been on overload trying to make the FInal fiNAL FI-NAL decision on it. I so appreciate everyone's input! It has given me much to think about. Now having said ALL THAT, I am not discussing grout anymore :)

Oh, doncha hate having to un-do? I was thinking we had totally confused you on too many opinions on grout, so we'll back off and wait patiently (NOT) for your next pictures.

Pictures?? Did somebody say PICTURES??

Diana,I was going to e-mail you so as to not take over Roni's post but couldn't find address so I'll tell you here,All I did on my birdbaths was to break up tile with hammer,but I nip them nicer as I work with it,the plates I cut with a wet saw and tile nippers also,then I buttered each piece with thinset using craft sticks,then grouted.I did not seal birdbath first,don't even think I sealed grout but I would do so now,I did this when I first started.Very easy just go for it.

So is there a finished picture of this magnificent berry around somewhere? I'm awestruck just thinking about the amount of work going into this piece. And it is looking truly magnificent!!! I would never even think about doing something of that size or weight.

Weeeeeelllllll...It's STILL a work in progress! I grouted the red part of the berry this past weekend (and REALLY like it if I say so myself...still a surprise to see what color I went with...teehee...) Last night I cut 1.5 square feet of an Armstrong variegated green stained glass into small enough triangles to hopefully have the calyx part smooth (enough) when it's done. No Morton or Beetle Bits, just a scorer and running pliers and Leps. One of these days! And that's only half of what I have to do, and THAT's only for the top side! Haven't decided whether to mosaic the underside of the green or not.

All that to say...like the Energizer bunny..."Still going!"

I can't wait to see this puppy in place in your garden. Wish I could find time to get back to my Riana project - Shea's birdbath.

Oh LadyRonnie: You've got us waiting on baited breath!!! This is gonna be such a great project sitting in your yard!!!

My digicam is on the fritz, DH is gone to town RIGHT NOW to get me a new one. No pics, may as well close this thread right now...

But in case you're curious about what's happening anyway...I've got the top mosaiced now, trying to figure out the grout on that one. I don't think it's going to be quite the dilemma the strawberry was. I'm experimenting with a couple of ideas. I had hoped to have it ALL done by today, but not gonna happen. Maybe by the end of this week? And maybe I WILL give in and post pics of the current status, if DH does bring home a new camera :)

Where's the popcorn. Nag, nag, nag.

Wow, is all I can say. Unbelievably wonderful.

I am wondering how the concrete form was made? As if you have time to explain that with all that work on the strawberry you are doing and not to mention your farming of all your berries.

Is there another post on how do this type of concrete form?

Can't wait to see the finished strawberry in it's place of honor.

Spring, just search this forum for concrete forms, or google it, there is a lot of it in Wisconsin.
LadyR: PICS???????!!!!!

thanks calamity j, I'll try that. I was telling DH about LadyR's strawberry last night and how amazing I thought it was (inside he is probably thinking I am going to try something monumental and is worried about all the stuff I will need to collect to accomplish it). Heck - inside I am thinking the same thing - what great fun to do something really big - a real statement - HA!

Very nice! How about red grout same as your tile? Black will kinda take over and you won't see the red (in my humble experience)...it will be very dark.

I'm with Slow, pass the munchies and down in front! please!

DH didn't get me a new camera, he decided I'd better go for myself. I haven't had time yet, so no pics yet, sorry!

DOONE: The strawberry is grouted already, just haven't divulged yet what I wound up doing ;)

I ordered grout today for the bath part, won't get it til next Tuesday.

Go ahead, everyone, breathe! It's coming!

Argghhhh TEASE!!!

POPCORN POPCORN POPCORN POPCORN POPCORN POPCORN POPCORN

JK, i really am waiting patiently,,,,,,,

Pffffffffttttttttttt!!!!!!!! Giving you raspberries for NO strawberries ~~

I'm all out of popcorn - anybody have any M&Ms or cookies?

Dang it. Where's the FRUIT LadyRonnie??????

IT's Tuesday ..... Show us the berry !!!!

Whew, what a read!
Great work. I cannot imagine taking on a project like this.
Can't wait to see the final pics.