That is soooo great! I want to do that. So you get something small...or did it start out almost 5 feet tall? And you just keep adding chicken wire and concrete and newspaper? Did you get out to your pool with a dolly? That looks like a lobor of love! It turned out great!

THAT IS AMAZING!!!! wow Lyndalu, wow... amazing! wow... I'm speechless! wow

HOLY DAWG SNOT!!
What a project. It's really nice. How long did the whole process take?

Wow!!! That is so beautiful!!!
I can't believe how big it is. What an awesome job lyndalu!

Hazie

Bama -All right! I got a "HOLY DAWG SNOT"! Cool! You know I've been waiting to get one of those!! :)
I'm not sure about how long the TOTAL process took -but I think I have about 180 hours of just gluing down the tesserae. And I know the grouting process (including cleanup) was about 16 hours - I did keep track of that! I think I mentioned in another post that I had put in an 8 hour session of grouting - that's too long to grout - I don't recommend it. But you know how it is, you get going and you can't stop and before you know it - it's 2 AM. Right?

kelly - thanks! it was almost 5 feet tall to start with. The method did make it a lot wider, though. But you're right - you can start out with many different things as a base and build onto it. Even styrofoam! If this is of interest to you, check into books by Sherri Warner Hunter - they are a wealth of information.

Nice - thanks, sweetie. :)

Oh Linda your design is fantastic...the colors are so great with your pool.It has got to be more spectacular in person too because the grand size doesn't really show up for us.What a great job using the chicken wire and paper...someday I hope to have the nerve to try that.it is beautiful!Annie

oops...thanks, hazie! I took so long to write my other response, that yours came in while I was writing it. I'm still not believing how big it is either. I'm so glad to have it done, and finally out of my garage! It's challenging working on something that big - it's not like you can put it up on your work bench. So while I was working on the bottom part of it, I had to sit on the floor. I was so glad when I got to the point of graduating to a short stool, and then a chair, and then my tall chair. I listen to recorded books while I'm working on projects, and I listened to a LOT of books during this one!

What a big vase! It's beautiful. That's a lot of glueing and grouting. Looks great with your pool. Nice pool too by the way.

WOWSERS!!! That is gorgeous! I love big pieces, and the pattern you used really is unique. The colors are good together, too.

Amazing! Absolutely Amazing!!!!! I love it!!!

Barbara

That is simply amazing, like BARBARA NOW said, and the most wonderful pattern of design. I like the way you laid the tesserae on each part of the design. Quite spectacular, to say the least. I've not seen the newspaper/wire technique, and don't remember that being in my Sherri Warner Hunter book. What concrete mixture did you use to cover the wire? I'm really surprised about the newspaper for shaping. Truly a beautiful piece of art, and you've placed it in a wonderful spot for enjoyment. Congratulations on what seems like a whale of a project.

I'm with the HOLY DOG SNOT!!! lady!! That is just awesome!!!!!!

annie, cacbeary, hrsg,barbara, slow, coppertop...thank you so much.

slow - Sherri Warner Hunter uses the chicken wire w/newspaper on her chicken on page 67 of her Creative Concrete Ornaments for the Garden. The chicken wire is used for the shaping, and the newspaper just fills in the void, and keeps the concrete from falling through. When you asked, I thought - uh oh...where DID I get that idea? But I thumbed through the book...and oh good..it was there. :) Do you guys do that sometimes - can't remember where you got the idea or heard or saw that before? And if I get the idea from HERE - from one of you guys - I always want to give credit for the inspiration - and then go searching through posts so I can give credit where credit is due. So MANY great ideas here.

oh and the mixture....it's Sherri's "basic sand mix" - 1 part portland cement, 3 parts sand. I did start out with a hypertufa mix - Sherri's "hypertufa mix c" which was 1 part cement, 1 part sand, 1 part peat moss, but it wasn't as smooth and easy to work with as the 1st mix...so I quickly switched to that.

I used the chicken wire because I already had it - but I definitely want to try the rianna method, which Sherri uses also....I need to pick up some of that wire.

A gorgeous and huge project. It looks fabulous sitting by your water, I love all the colors and your design,
Cindy

LYNDALU: WOW! Really lovely and the colors are very suited to your climate! You have perfected the art of movement in your pieces. The design is realllllllly beautiful! All in all, a FABULOUS piece of art!

I love it !!! You couldn't have made it any better !!

LOVE IT! How much does it weigh? Any trouble moving it? Great job. I love how so many of the cult members will stick with a project until they figure it out. It's always spectacular in the end! Love the design and the colors.

klinger, rosie, toomuch, sunshine...thank you so much.

sunshine - I have no idea how much it weighs - it's pretty heavy. You asked about moving it - and I remembered that I forgot to answer kelly's question about moving it - yes, we used a dolly. My sister and I managed to do it without any problem. So it will be easy enough to move into the lanai when hurricanes approach! Yes, you're right - us "cult members" really stick to it till we figure something out - and we can always get help doing that here!

I forgot to mention that I have this heavy-duty "swiveler" (like a lazy susan) that I found at Big Lots - that holds up to 500 pounds! So the vase sat on that the whole time I was working on it. I love those for working on projects.

WOW!!! Awesome!! The second pic looks like it has eyes!! I listen to books too!!! And I sure hear ya about all the time it takes for these big projects! I salute you Slow for your tower! When Klinger and I were in Mexico, we ran across some statues made this way that you have done.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

Lyndalu

You did an awesome, fantastic, wonderful job on your vase. I enjoyed looking through your album and I was able to see in the close ups that you used Sue Zipkin dishes on your vase. I love her patterns. Your vase is definitely a labor of love.
I also like your WIP pot using the thrift store dishes. Those dishes are so colorful, how the heck did you luck out finding those? Our stores around here charge so much for plates now...and if they look a little old, they charge double! Not worth it, I'll stick to GS to find mine.

Barb

Jane - thank you! And I love those statues! I just loved all your pics from Mexico that you have shared.

Barb - thanks, and I'm tickled that you recognized the Sue Zipkin dishes. I really love her patterns, too. I lucked into a set of 18 of another pattern of hers - The Sweet Shopee - just took a picture - couldn't you just eat these up? And I really love it when the design is on the whole plate. I'll have to investigate slow's new discovery of grinding off the footers - would really help to use more of the plate on these!

I get just about all my dishes at the thrift stores. I've been really, really lucky. The dishes on my WIP terracotta pot (Lynns "Savanna"), is a set of 30 pieces - that I paid $20 for - found them at our local Kiwanis Thrift Store. I was soooooo excited to find them - and was thrilled with the price. Some of our thrift stores are ridulous on their per plate price - like GW - I pretty much quit going there. But I have really good luck at Kiwanis, Habitat for Humanity, and Family Thrift.

WOW Your vase is stunning!!!! And such a large project. Wonderful!!!! I love everything about it. Also love your glass pool house.

Those dishes are really pretty too. Lucky you!!!

Chris

Oh my god...I have 12 of her Sweet Shoppe too! I have 4 bowls & dinner plates with the design on the rims only and 4 smaller plates with the design all over. Found em at a GS. I love them so much I have held off cutting them up!

I don't think we have a Kiwanis or Family Thrift around here. All we have are Salvation Army and Value World. We do have a Habitat but it is in downtown Detroit so I would need my DH to take me.

Slow's grinding off footers won't work for me with my Allstar grinder so I'm going to check out grinding disks for DH's Dremel.

Barb

WOW that is fantastic. Great Job. Bevinpa

WOW WOW WOW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THere is no words GReat!!!!!