September 2009 – Ornamento

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Make Mine Mosaic Too!

By: ornamento.blog September 24, 2009September 19, 2009

Art, Hand Made, Materials, mixed media, mosaics, recycled art, recycling, repurposing, risk taking, TileArt, crafts, creativityLeave a Comment

As promised, here are pictures of my finished counter that I posted about in July. I attached the pieces to the counter, grouted them with sanded grout and sealed the grout after it dried. This project was a lot more work than I thought it would be, but I like the results. I don’t use this counter for food preparation; it’s just a bright place between the dining room and the kitchen.

Frit Experiments

A few weekends ago, I took a polymer clay recycling tip and separated my broken beads and tiny stringer remnants by color. Then I smashed them into frit. What you see below are my containers of frit and some of the beads I made with it.

I have an unorthodox method of using the frit; I melt the end of my Moretti Rod, dip it into the frit container, introduce it slowly back into the flame and melt the colors in. I repeat these steps a few more times then I wind the glass onto the mandrel.

Here’s Lampworker Tom Wright on YouTube showing how he adds frit to beads.

Madame Butterfly-The Philadelphia Connection

By: ornamento.blog September 10, 2009September 9, 2009

Art, Giacomo Puccini, John Luther Long, Jun Kaneko, Law, Madama Butterfly, Music, Opera, Philadelphia, Philadelphia City Hall, Philadelphia Lawyer, Philadelphia Opera CompanyArt, inspiration, Music, PhiladelphiaLeave a Comment

Giacomo Puccini’s opera Madam Butterfly has a Philadelphia connection. John Luther Long, a Philadelphia Lawyer, wrote the original story in Center City. You can read more about it here.

There’s also a recent Philadelphia connection. The two 12 foot high bronze statues below, currently on display in City Hall courtyard, are on loan from artist Jun Kaneko to mark the Philadelphia Opera Company’s upcoming performance of the opera. Kaneko originally created brass heads for the Opera Omaha’s spring 2006 performance of Madame Butterfly. See more of Kaneko’s breathtaking set designs here.