Tile Mural Finished

"Tile Mural Finished"

Image size, 12' x varies

Ceramic clay and glazes

I can't believe that this project is finished!!!!  Well, it's finished except for installing it, which is another big project.  It feels so good to be able to put my garage back in order and to be able to use my work tables again after 8 months.  I actually enjoyed cleaning my garage yesterday!  I've packed up all of the pieces in 8 boxes and will wait for the concrete base to be poured. 

This picture is pretty dark (rainy day here) so below are some closeup pictures that show the true colors better.  

The glass gems aren't shown in these pictures.  I can't wait to see them in the mural once it is installed.

Practice Koi Tile Mural

"Practice Koi Tile Mural"

Image size 18" x 36"

Glazed Ceramic tiles

I finished painting the practice painting that will lead me into painting the huge tile mural for my yard.  I was really nervous about finally painting the clay because I didn't know how it would turn out.

I don't know if you can see in this photo, but two of the lily pads have the dark green veins oozing and they look really bad.  Also, I added a dark green around the edges which doesn't show because the glaze that I used was too transparent.  I wasn't sure if I could add more glaze and refire but decided it was worth it to try.  

I used my Dremel tool to grind the dark green glaze that had oozed out of place by the veins on the lily pads.

Then, I repainted the same background color over the areas that I ground. These are two different lily pads.

You can see how different the color looks before it is fired.  I also painted a different dark green around the edges but didn't take a picture of that before I fired it.

Here is a picture of a portion of the painting showing the newly fired lily pads.

I'm also not entirely satisfied with the color in the water.  I think it needs to have more really dark areas and also some greenish color.  This week, I think I will add some glazes to the water and see what happens.

Knowing that I can add glaze and change things really reduces my sense of anxiety about painting the real mural.  I'm very happy that I had this smaller version to use for practice.

I've started painting the small side of the mural.  It will take a while!