Getting Artsy Again. This Time Mosaic Tiles on Ambergris Caye

You can’t say that I don’t cover a wide variety of topics.  Bikers, a Belikin beer domino tournament and now art and getting crafty.

My friend Tami makes beautiful mosaic tiled pieces.  Garden ornaments, plates, teapots, tables, posts, SKULLS…

this piece is at Belizean Arts shop in Fido’s Courtyard in San Pedro.  She has also donated some amazing art to the SAGA Humane Society for our fundraisers with Kelly McGuire.  For the big show tonight, she has donated this AWESOME heart.   Valentines perfection for a lucky (and generous) bidder.

Tami has been offering me a lesson…a chance to go to her gorgeous house up north to learn how to do this.  Absolutely!  And I found out very quickly that it is NO WHERE as easy as you might think.  This heart must have taken hours and hours and hours.

I hopped on yesterday’s 12:30pm Coastal Express water taxi to get crafting.  Coastal runs a regular taxi service from town to North Ambergris Caye.  What a gorgeous day.

And arrived at Tami’s about 20 minutes later.  Her yard is filled with beautiful mosaic pieces.

Beautiful or what?

I love them all.

 

Inside, I met the two that really run the house.  A super friendly handsome boy named Norman.

 

 

Norman likes to ride in golf carts and has been known to frequent the Palapa Bar.

And this AMAZING Brazilian Mastiff.  The goofy, friendliest most expressive dog I’ve ever seen.  Otis…OTIS! is massive and just wants to sit on your lap.  10 months old.  Cutest dog I’ve seen in ages.  And strangely, his breed is one banned in many countries.  A dog originally bred to hunt down boars and JAGUARS!  I LOVE YOU OTIS!  (Picture snagged from Tami’s facebook page.)We went back to Tami’s craft room and I was already overwhelmed.  Tons of containers of tiles, glass, shells and lots of ceramics to break.  Never throw away your broken dishes or tchotchkes…Tami can make something awesome.

She was working on this beautiful post for a bird bath…  

She gave me a box of tiles to get some inspiration…

I picked a purple little skull to get started.  Don’t judge!  I’m not very arty.

And built out my stone from there.  Clipping and breaking things and then FILING!  You need to file, file, file, file to round out your broken pieces.   I saw that the heart above must have taken FOREVER.  I decided to go with more of a hodge podge look.

I had very little patience for the filing.  If you see my stepping stone, step aside.  This is going to be far from flat and far from smooth.

I am like a bird.  Anything shiny.

This is SO fun.  And three hours disappeared.  I mixed my glue/mortar and started securing my tiles.

And then to breaking and filing to fill in the open spots.  And then the sides…and the grouting.  Well shucks…I’m just going to have to come back to craft heaven aka Tami’s house.  THIS IS GOOD TIMES.

Not only is it fun but I am going to get something pretty cool.  Not half as nice as Tami’s work but pretty darned cool.

Tami continued with her bird bath piece…

I can’t even imagine trying to fit something rounded.

So until next time…my masterpieces awaits.

A few of Tami’s pieces are available at Belizean Arts but she is glad to work directly with you!  Custom pieces…color requests…

Imagine having some of your bathroom tiling in this gorgeous mosaic?  I love it.  And make sure to head to Fido’s TONIGHT for the Kelly McGuire show for SAGA and to see this beautiful heart.  I can now appreciate how much time and talent goes into making something like this.

Now I’m even MORE excited to go to this weekend’s art Festival in Placencia!