Hanging wedi board and other happy things!

I have finished my latest piece. When I look at this piece it makes me feel…happy. The simple shapes, muted colour palette, mixed materials (I love using slate) and the little glittery bits of broken jewellery all just work so nicely together. And my obsession with swirls continue (I just can’t get away from them). This design was a doodle I did one day about a year ago – its a lovely feeling seeing a doodle turn into something so solid!

My next project is a commission of a Portuguese cockerel and yesterday my order from Mosaic Trader arrived (iridescent tiles, transluscent red millefiori, red mirror – yummy!) so I am ready to play!

The cockerel is on a wedi board base as the piece will move inside to outside during the year. Wedi is totally water resistant material so great for outdoor mosaics. However, you need to create a  hanging system for it otherwise the weight of the tiles will cause any hooks to rip through the polystyrene core. I did this by modifying Nancie Pipgras’ wedi hanging instructions.

I embedded a brass hanging wire (on the front of the piece where I will mosaic) into the wedi by digging a channel, pushing the wire in and then putting cement adhesive over it. The metal re-enforcement rings you can see are rivets (used for fabric) glued into place to form a solid ring of metal for the wire to go through. Voila! It has fully dried now and it is really strong.

The grey, cold rain persists here and the other day I was driving and heard Bill Withers’  “Lovely Day” on the radio. It got me thinking about happy songs. We need things to induce happy feelings when the weather is so persistently grim, don’t you think? Another one of mine is Al Jarreau’s “Mornin”. Great tune and doubly good for its reminder of that great series, Moonlighting (remember that?!). What are your happy songs?

5 Responses to “Hanging wedi board and other happy things!”

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  1. rani says:

    Very cool to see your doodles come to life! I loved Moonlighting!!! Holy cow, that brings back memories!!!! A fun happy song is Tequila by Alanis Morrisette! Happy creating!!!

  2. Kate England | Marmalade Moon says:

    Hello Concetta (your name is sooo beautiful),

    Congratulations on your commission and your delicious order from Mosaic Trader! Is the red millefiori for the cockerel? So glad to hear you are having happy creative days!

  3. Amelia says:

    any work you do that makes one feel happy is ALWAYS some good work!

    We certainly do need happy rain free days round here!

    Amelia.x

  4. Nicole says:

    Lovely Day, Bill Withers….!!

    My kids now love it and croon away with me, I used to love it listening in the car on the way to school 30 years ago!! AND it always reminds me of Damien Lonsdale…do you remember him!? He was always humming something and often it was that!

    I hope the sun shines soon.

  5. Concetta says:

    Hi Nicole, yes I do remember Damien! Sun is shining today, hurray! Hope you are well x