Mosaic Art

My Experience with Mosaic Art

Mosaic Art is something I never thought I would learn. My husband & I happened to go to the Workhouse Centre at Lorton, VA. We took a stroll throughout the store & trust me, there’s not a single soul who wouldn’t fall in love with the art presented at the workhouse. They’ve got too many varieties to fall in love with. Glass fusing & Mosaic is something that I liked the very moment I saw. They also had a discounted quotes for all the classes since I signed up on the open house.

September 21, 2017 was my first day at class. As it is, I was all excited to drive 20 mile to learn this amazing art. First day was the introduction class. For me, I had no basics about mosaic hence everything was totally new & a learning experience.
I got introduced to number of terms in detail like,
* Grout
* Nipper
* Glass piece
* sealer
* Glue
* glass cutter oil
* glass cutter
* Grozing pliers
* running pliers
* importance of eyewear, gloves & mask
* Varieties in Mosaics
     
 From my second class, I learnt lot more than I imagined. Mosaic according to my understanding works this way.
* We need to finalize on the design first.
* Select a substrate. I did my first design on a concrete & the remaining ones on wood. If you happened to choose wood, you need to seal it with sealer & let it rest for 15- 20 mins then use it.
* Transfer the design onto the substrate either by tracing or sketching one. I sketched on all my substrates.
* Select on the mosaics you are going to use. You can pick gems, coloured glass, readily available mosaics.
* Start assembling the mosaics on your design wearing your safety glasses. Some needs to be cut if you happened to pick a glass piece & fill in the gaps as per your design. You can use nippers most of the time. Sometimes you need to use glass cutter, grozing pliers or running pliers to cut the glass piece.

* glue the mosaics & let it rest for 24 hours before grouting.

* Grout your design. wearing your mask & disposable gloves, take required amount of grout. Mix it by adding water in small quantity to get a paste like consistency. Basically grouting gives a different look to your piece on the colour you decide.
* I used Sanded grout which needs to be mixed. Keep it for 15-20 minutes at rest once mixed.
* Apply using a disposable knife on the design, focus on the gaps between mosaics. You can use your fingers to get the targeted grout on the surface.
* Use a toothpick to remove excess grout from the corners especially if you’ve used round gems & decide how much of it should be seen as a design.
* Take a paper towel and rub the extra grout from the mosaic.
* Concentrate on the surface not the gap. Let it rest for 24-48 hours.
* Take a cleaning liquid, dab the paper towel in it & clean the surface of your piece.
* Your amazing mosaic art is ready :)

For all the supplies, you can shop on hobbylobby, Amazon, Walmart, Dollartree, Joann, Michaels.
My favourite website for now is mosaicartsupply.com
This website is extremely reasonable to shop anything.

I did shop the following items from various websites which I felt was worth buying according to quality, quantity & price. Hope this helps you.
* https://mosaicartsupply.com/shop/mosaic-glass-cutter/
* https://mosaicartsupply.com/shop/weldbond-mosaic-adhesive-160ml/
* https://mosaicartsupply.com/shop/economy-pistol-grip-cutter/
* https://mosaicartsupply.com/shop/novacan-cutting-oil/
* https://mosaicartsupply.com/shop/grozing-pliers/
* https://mosaicartsupply.com/shop/running-pliers/
* https://www.homedepot.com/p/Custom-Building-Products-Polyblend-546-Cape-Gray-7-lb-Sanded-Grout-PBG5467-4/205939328
* https://www.homedepot.com/p/KILZ-PREMIUM-1-Qt-White-Water-Based-Interior-Exterior-Primer-Sealer-and-Stain-Blocker-13902/100371292
* http://www.joann.com/7-x-9-rounded-rectangle-plaque/11038205.html#q=wood%20plaque&start=1

                                                                                                         - KS

"Fabfitfun" Fall Box 2017

 Hey All, today's Blog is all about reviewing the fall box of “Fabfitfun”. I got to know about this website & the box through "itsjudyslife" YouTube blog. I literally fell in love with the concept of paying just $49.99 for the box which has a lot of goodies worth up to $200! Isn’t that crazy? J
I watched a lot of unboxing videos on Facebook as soon as I liked their page. The best part about it was you get coupon code which gives $10 off on your first box. Ultimately I got the box for $39.99.

Now coming in to unboxing my “Fabfitfun” box, I was all excited when my package arrived. It looked really good but when i opened it nothing was new. Basically when you sign up & order one for yourself on their website, you will have to answer few questions based on your likes and dislikes. Well, that doesn’t really show in the box. I had answered questions like favourite lip colour, favourite colour etc. ultimately I wasn’t happy with the colours sent to me. Also they had a question which asks your expectation. I didn’t really find it different from other boxes. 

-GOODIES-

* Hot & Cold pack – This item is great. Each home should have one of these. Now I have one! J (my husband likes getting pampered, so this is for him – self pampering stuff).
My rating 4/5

* Hair Rinse Liquid –This is a good product too. Best part is it’s made with apple cider vinegar which ultimately is good for everything. They say you dilute whole ACV with water and use it on skin, face, hair. So this is a good product which is ready to use with colour locking technology, also it acts both as shampoo & conditioner.
My rating 4/5

* Duffle bag – This is one item I loved the most. It’s made of soft denim. Great size. It’ll fit most of the things like your extra clothes, towel, shoes, water bottle & what not. It’s perfect for gym.
My rating 5/5

* Mud mask – This is one product I’ve been waiting to use. Face mask is something every girl would like to wear. Now that mud mask is the craze. This works really good. I liked it.
My rating 4/5

* Jewellery holder – One of the fanciest piece I’ve come across. It can hold a lot of your accessories. It’s very handy & attractive. I loved using it. It’s easy to fix & to dismantle.
My rating 5/5

* Beanie – Beanie looks very attractive but I thought it’s very delicate. Basically in winter you need to wear something thick which can give you that warm effect. I don’t think this beanie is thick enough but looks very pretty. I liked the colour.
My rating 3/5

* Cuticle Oil – It comes with the prettiest little bottle. It’s very attractive, made with lavender. It’s got the tinge of lavender colour. It helps moisturising your nails. It’s great thing for self-pampering.
My rating 4.7/5

* Lip Crayon – I was expecting an awesome colour, ultimately I didn’t like the colour which was sent to me. It didn’t seem different or attractive. It has lip balm and lip crayon in the same stick. The best part is one side it has the magnetic cap. Over all the stick is different from what you get in the market today.
My rating 3.5/5

* Cosy Wrap – This is one of the piece which can be used for both Decorative and functional Purpose. Its Cosy as the name suggests. It could have been of a better colour.
My rating 4/5

* Flushable Cleansing Cloths – This is one thing which everybody can use. Of course it’s handy. You can have it in your purse or bag. I’ve got nothing much to talk about it.
My rating 3/5

My conclusion is that there’s nothing wrong in trying this box. I feel you get more than what you pay for. When it comes to goodies, there’s nothing outstanding in the box. though they are really good for what you pay but there’s nothing different in your box. That being the case, there was no requirement for the questionnaire.
$39.99 for all these things is definitely amazing. You can gift your friends these goodies if you think it’ll be more useful for them than you.

Thanks for reading. Hope it helps you decide to get this box or not.
                                                                                  

                                                                                         -KS

                                                              

 

PE-770 (Review & Ideas for Beginners)

Hey all, today’s topic is all about my new PE-770 Brother Embroidery machine. I’m so in love with the machine and hence this blog! As I’m more into hand embroidery I thought I’ll give a try with the machine embroidery once. Finally ended up buying my PE-770! 

 I must say it’s one of the best machines. I could be saying this as it’s my first machine too. I’m not going to talk about technicalities of the machine, but functionalities and its decorative uses. 

It’s a 5x7” hoop size machine. Any design which fits the size of the hoop, you are fine. The machine itself has got a lot of inbuilt designs which includes fonts, flowers, borders, animals, birds etc.
so it’s up to you how you are going to utilize them and come up with your own design. You can literally play on the machine if you are passionate about embroidery. 

My Embroidery using PE-770

Apart from the inbuilt designs you have on the machine; you can also go ahead and purchase the free designs from various websites available. My favourite websites are Emblibrary.com, Designsbyjuju, amazingdesigns.com, embroideryonline.com. But now before buying them I would advise you to go and purchase the free designs available on these websites. You can find them on the menu as freebies or free designs. You got to select the size for your design, and the format. Here I get it on PES format. Once you buy the designs, your email will direct you as to how to download the designs. Once downloaded onto your computer, you will have to extract the folder.  Once extracted start deleting other formats except PES in the folder and transfer the same to a USB (memory stick, flash drive). Now you are all set to go ahead & start embroidering using your machine.

Embroidery Design downloaded for free.

Other factor which needs to be considered is how to select a stabilizer.

It’s an important material used to support the stitches on the fabric, giving the grip to sit tight. There are different types such as light weight, medium weight, and heavy weight etc. Most preferred is medium weight stabilizer. Again something like tear away, cut away, self-adhesive, water soluble, fuse & tear are available. Most preferred is tear away. So go for a medium weight, tear away stabilizer. When you don’t buy a self-adhesive stabilizer you need an external thing to help stabilizer stick to the fabric. Hence fabric adhesive spray is required.

Things to buy along with the machine -
* Embroidery Thread pack (I use Exquisite)
* Special Embroidery Bobbin thread (Available in Joann)
* Stabilizer (Preferably medium weight, tear away Stabilizer)
* 505 spray & fix temporary fabric adhesive (Available in Joann)
* Of course the fabric

I decided to blog about machine embroidery because I myself had a lot of doubts before using it. So helping people like me.  

You can buy all the necessary stuff from http://www.joann.com/It’s one of my favourite place. Rather my paradise. :)

-KS

Embroidery

Hey all! Today’s blog is all about threads! Yes, you are right, it’s Embroidery. Embroidery is a game of thread. It’s vast with a lot of variation.
For me, embroidery is my patience teacher. If not anything, it’ll teach patience (lotsJ).
As a young girl, when I saw my mom or grand mom hand stitching anything, I never bothered to see what was it and I myself thought I was not really interested. Especially embroidery, I always thought it’s not my cup of tea. But today, I respect the art & enjoy doing it (all the time if given a chance J).
Sometimes, our prediction goes wrong L

I got introduced to embroidery when I was doing my UG/Bachelors in Fashion & Apparel Design. It was my 5^th semester, we had a subject called Garment Surface Ornamentation (GSO).

There’s one more reason to love the subject, there’s a say “when you like your teacher very much, you automatically tend to like that particular subject”.
Ritu ma’am was one. I always liked her way of teaching because she’s too chilled, cool, practical and more than anything ‘friendly’. That’s what attracted me as a student.
When we started with simple stitches, I kind of liked it but not much. Gradually I started loving the subject so much so that I started considering it my hobby.  At one point of time, I thought I should explore the subject as much as I could. Meanwhile I selected a topic which was related to embroidery for my project in my final semester.
I designed cushion covers, made of pure silk fabric with silk thread embroidery. I used paintings of India as my motifs. Though it was hard to embroider motifs which were a painting and silk being a soft sensitive fabric, a lot of times threads ravelled out. I didn’t felt like giving up. I picked motifs from paintings like Warli, Tanjore, Santhal, Gond, and Madhubani. I thoroughly enjoyed making it. This is how much I love embroidery!

Apart from this, I have a thought. Embroidery shouldn’t be limited to just clothing. There’s lot more you can do. Of course people are doing it these days but not many are aware of it. After my school, I started embroidering on a piece of fabric, design could be anything and everything.
the first thing If I like a design, I’ll think of embroidering it & in what possible way I can make it look better. So this way once my swatch is ready I go and get it framed. It can used for gifting your favourite people J. Handmade stuffs are always special!
Cushion covers and frameworks are my Interest! 

Embroidery is just playing with colourful threads on a piece of fabric with a lot of variation in stitches like running stitch, satin stitch, back stitch etc.
You can create your own beautiful design. It’s a never ending & forever learning process.

There are a lot of electronic embroidery machine in the market, I know for the fact that they make your job easy! I’m planning to get one. Blog on that is a sure thing!

Art has no limits. Exploring will be forever. Sure thing is that you keep inventing/discovering new things in it, that’s the beauty! J
I’m proud to be an artist. J

-KS

River Walk

River Walk

the name “River Walk” itself take us to our imaginary world. For me riverwalk is so magical. Since I stay near this amazing ‘Mississippi’ river, I consider myself lucky & blessed!
River walk has so much power. It makes you forget everything happening in your life for that little time you walk.
Initial days of mine if I remember, I literally fell for the beauty of Mississippi!  I was once here to visit my friend & that was when I saw Mississippi for the first time. Later I decided to search for a house in and around Mississippi so that I could stay close to the river. I was fortunate enough to get a house like the way I wanted & guess what; I can get the glimpse of river from my bedroom & living room’s window.

Once my friend started pulling me for a morning walk on the river side, I started getting connected to the river and felt she’s(Mississippi) marvellous. I continued going for walk whenever I could & now I go running at least thrice a week with my guy.

Okay, let’s keep all these things aside for now.
I bet you, taking a walk with your companion is the best walk you could ever have. It’ll be out of the world! (But in my case, my companion is a fitness freak! So we do more brisk walk rather than a romantic one L)
Talking to each other about their day, their plans, their journey of life, their future, anything & everything! Walking is the best place!

Walking side by side, touching each other’s hand, looking into each other’s eyes on a cloudy day is so wow! I would always love to do this sometimes over the weekends if weather turns to be romantic J
River walk can change things upside down, I meant negative to positive. River walk will also give you a lot of great ideas; it becomes your stress buster! It’ll help you relieve yourself. The best part is, nature’s noise help you plan handling toughest situation at work. Trust me; it’ll only give good things without expecting anything in return!

River side walk alone!
Yeah, I love going on a walk alone because I get quality time and peace to spend with myself. I forget the world and become one in nature. The breeze, freshness, nature’s noise! Isn’t this heaven?

I always try not putting my headphones on because the walk without artificial music will lead you to create your own! Force yourself into the nature and feel the beauty.

#companion #alone #riversidewalk  #lovearoundyou #romantic #indirectcalorieburn #naturegivesyouonly+

If you haven’t felt anything special like this, it’s your time now to plan a River walk and feel awesome J

-KS

IT'S LIP TIME! Want to know my favourite shade? :)

Hey guys! Today I'm going to talk about my favourite "Judy's Lip Palette", also called Its Lip Time. This is my first blog ever!!
Well, where do I start from? I've been Judy's fan since 2015 just for the fact that she's got lil cutie twins. I've always had craze for twins & I still hope I'll have twins one day :)
I started watching her daily blogs on her youtube channel for Miya & Keira. I fell in love with cuties so much so that I was waiting desperately for the blog every single day! I've seen them growing up, I've laughed, I've got emotional few times looking at the baby bears. Off late I've started admiring Judy for what she's been doing and also for the way she's living her passion. We humans, when we grow we don't get to live our dreams because of circumstances in life. Very few people get that awesome chance to live their dream. Among them, I'm happy and honoured to say i'm one like Judy. (will explain in my future blogs). Later I started watching her Beauty channel, Mommy channel, Benji's Culinary channel. but nothing for me can replace "It's Judy's Life" channel. When Judy revealed about her Collaboration with Pixi for the products i was happy but still was wondering and curious to know if it was good. but trust me guys, it's Super Awesome!
I literally drove to Target with my friend and got my Lip Palette. (I was hesitating to drive on highways because i started driving in the US recently) but the palette shopping encouraged me to drive. Once i got it, i was so excited & obviously posted a picture on Instagram & got few likes. but I was all the way more excited to review the palette and to reveal my favourite shade. any guesses?
Of course it has to be baby bear color. but which baby bear?
hmm, among M & K, I love one 100% and another 99.9%. Confused?
well, i'll not make you guys wait anymore. It's Keira Bear!
I've always loved her for her attitude, her crazy behaviour and for that innocence in her.
Keira Bear shade is so damn amazing, nude and gives your lips all the way a different (unique) look.
I'm in love with it! so much so that I wear it to office every other day.
I request all to go ahead and purchase your palette from Pixi or Target and say "It's Lip Time" & I'll say love you Judy!
Shop on - http://www.target.com/p/pixi-by-petra-get-the-look-palette/-/A-52273660

-KS