Hello Fellow Jane! Sounds like an ambitious plan! I've seen someone here a while back who was doing her walkway with circles here and there with flowers and other themes inside them. Random, yet structured!?! Glad you found us and hope you keep us posted as to what you plan on doing!

Welcome - and WOW what a project! Sounds like you know what you want and have ideas to execute your plan. Try sketching it all out on paper first, and go for it. Anxious to see your WIPs.

welcome blue! the best peice of advice I can give you is that since this is your retreat then have fun with it and then everytime you go in there it will bring happy thoughts

Anything goes in this wonderful worlds of mosaics!What do you love?Flowers in one square,stars,moon's,butterfly's ,doggies,kitties,?????Alittle of this and a little of that in all the colors YOU love it's your space!Should be wonderful!

I don't have any suggestions for your area beyond what's been given, but I HAVE to ask about your name. We have a commercial berry farm, so I want to know, what's the story?

:)
Veronica

I bet she's that kid from the Willy Wonka movie..all grown up and doin' mosaics now. LOL!!!!

Thanks for the comments...finally measured the space and it is over 40' long.

Planning to sketch out possibilities on graft paper. Like the nature suggestions and will have to include some poultry. Nature wise will include lots of edibles that I raise. And representation of the 100 plus bushes and trees I planted the last few years. Need to work on those medalions as I think that might be the easiest way to reach my goal. Probably need a larger space! LOL

Checking over my flock of 27 buff orpingtons today and any one could be my model-even 'missy' (the lone female)-the group was supposed to be all males for the pot.

Blueberrier was my name in an organic gardening club, where each person was named by his/her main passion in the plant world. Only have 40 or so bushes, so cannot compete with ladyronnie. Of course, we eat them several times a week year 'round.

Also wondering if anyone else sands the raw/cut edges so that a barefoot walker (that's me) would not run the risk of a bloody stubbed toe on a glorious design? I have used rough sand paper or emery cloth. Is there a better technique?
Thenks, cellas jane

Blue, most of us "tumble" our glass either in a rock tumbler or by hand in a closed container with a bit of water. The glass will "beat" against each other and wear away the sharp edges, only takes about 30 minutes. Do not use this method on silverback glass though.

BAMA.....you've cracked me up once again...LMAO.

So far, have never worked with glass tile, though I have drooled over it at the fancy tile shops...more than once!

Do not have a tumbler (and actually, planned to stay with the ceramic/porcelein stuff), but will check out their cost. Any special and not pricey tumbler you all suggest? How do you folks treat the edges of the ceramic tiles?

Do have a wonderful 2hp wet saw that I love. Yesterday, it went on strike and the toggle switch has a ruined rocker. Hours of phone calls for a replacement, means no tiling windowsills for two weeks....leaves lots of time to work on the floor design.

Maybe will squeeze in some hours perusing all those projects you folks do (am envy GREEN)!
cella jane

I know a lot of us have the dual drum tumbler that harborfreight sells, you can look at it online..it isn't very expensive either.

Man I wish I had a wet saw..that is the next thing I'm asking for at Christmas!! I am going to use slate and mosaic our cement steps and garden boxes that my DH is in the process of making. I am going to cut the slate tiles into squares and rectangles and such and make a whatever kind of pattern..but of course I have to get the saw first!!!! I already have all the slate. Here is a picture.

{{!gwi}}

Chickeemama, you do amazing things with tiles! What climate zone is yours? In my limited experience, slate separates with the freezing thawing cycle. I used 1" slate around a 35' long garden pond I dug in MD. After 16 years in zone 6/7, it began to flake off in many of the pieces. Slate was 1" think and cut in trapezoidal shapes to edge the teardrop shaped pond.

Slate comes from many parts of the world. One dtr has Indian slate for her kitchen floor. It flakes regularly, but is soooo beautiful! I have never seen a density rating on slate and I do have to admit that I only 'sealed' my pond slate once. Others may have advice.
At my present home, we used a leftover 1 1/2 inch thick 12"x36" piece of slate as the doorsill to the outside door to the woodshop. Winters have been mild so far and no sloughing off yet.

What do you plan to use for bonding your tile to the concrete steps? Did you 'wet-set' the tiles I note on the bottom left step?

Will check out the HF tumbler later. Thanks.

A suggestion that might work for you. Check around your area, you might be able to use someone's wet saw in exchange for a piece of your glorious creations. If you were in my area, I'd talk barter. We bought the wet saw as I had several thousand (still have lots of window sills to do plus the mosaic 'retreat' area) sq ft of tile to lay. Would have cost more with off and on rental-not counting the long drive to get a machine. Had planned to sell the wet saw when done, but maybe, this will fund my almost depleted 'art fund.' So all together, the wet saw has been a great investment.

Your comment and picture has me now thinking ahead to the fact that we need a staiway down one hill to a bassement apt and I LOVE the deep steps in yours. Thanks for the pics.
cella jane