Monday, January 14, 2008

Garden Show Update - Jan. 14 - after the grout

Lots of Grout and quite a few beers too ......

We had absolutely beautiful weather this past weekend.
It was crystal clear blue skies and a lovely day time temperature of 65 degrees.

Great for gardening work, which I did none of .
Great for enjoying a couple of nice dark English beers, which I did a lot of.
But also great for working on the glass mosaic project with both garage doors wide opened to the beautiful weather
“The Wall “ ( and yes, I did play Pink Floyd music , The Wall , while grouting the hours away) was completed this weekend.
I still have the two small side walls to build, paint, epoxy , scrape, but I can do that during the evening hours this week and have them ready to grout by next weekend.

The most labor intensive part of the project so far is the scraping off of the epoxy that inevitably gets smooshed onto the face of the glass.

You have to let it dry to just the right consistency so that it is not gooey but just hard.
But not so had that it can chip out the glass if you scrape it with a little too much pressure.

This picture below shows me removing some of the excess grout - note the ever present dust and fume mask.


A close up of the cleaning process.
You can see the area that I am working on has the thin skin of grout covering the glass removed ( the yellowish area ) and the area out at the edges still is drying and has not been rubbed clean.


Almost done. You can see some hazy areas and some touch up areas.


All done. - The grout towads the outer edges hasn’t cured out to its final color, (it becomes a bit more orange chocolate rather than just dog poop brown.
You can see the razor blade scraper, which was my constant companion for at least 8 hours during the scrape off the epoxy phase , and the glass/ grout buffer.


Now down to Home Cheapo to purchase some 2x4’s to build the two side wall frames and purchase a sheet of Hardie Backer Board.
I have enough paints to complete the side walls but need to get more tempered glass and more sparkle paper and glitter.

Off to the store !

Next project will either be making the Buddha head light box that fits into the center of the hole in the glass moasic wall and connecting in the water weir.

Or it could possible be starting on the Venetian plaster shower walls with the Balinese / Thai pebble inset.

Who knows ? - Depends on when certain materials arrive by mail.

See you around the studio !

Michelle

13 comments:

Phrago said...

Michelle, That really is beautiful... Patrick

Deviant Deziner, aka Michelle said...

Thanks Patrick !
appreciate the kudos.

Anonymous said...

Michelle, It looks like your project is really coming along, and I love the look of the glass mosaic wall you are creating. If you still need some succulents for the show, let me know, I've got lots of Aeonium canariensis 'Mint Saucer' or Graptoveria 'Fred Ives' in particular that you might find useful... Bahia

chuck b. said...

That's a beautiful piece of work, and I can't wait to see Sanitas per aquas, which I just read about (and blogged).

Need cheap [free] labor?! I'm unemployed. Lots of free time. :)

Deviant Deziner, aka Michelle said...

Howdy Bahia,
Thanks for the Aeonium offer.
I think I will take you up on it.
I will be attending an upcoming horticultural lecture where you are schedule as the speaker and perhaps if the time presents itself, we can talk .
Thanks for your always present generosity.

Chuck,
Why thank you,
I too can't wait to see Sanitas per aquas set up in the Cow Palace !
I finished epoxy'ing the two side panels to the main glass mosaic wall and will grout this weekend.

I also received the Indonesian pebbles yesterday and the really cool LED lit water weir for the wall.

I may need some help putting together the BIO wall of succulents.
I know that I need to make the frame ahead of time but I'm still not sure how well it will transport.
So I may have to attach the flats of succulents to the frame in the Cow Palace during set -up.
That is going to be a challenge !
With only 3 days to set the entire project up I may need some additional help with horticultural aesthetics.
The landscape crew will have their hands full with constructing and assembling the set so I may need additional help with the 'plant part'.

I'd appreciate the opportunity to work with you, so I'll drop you an email via your blog to see if you have any time available during set up at the show or sometime before hand.

Thanks to all for the support.
I am going to need it !!

Michelle

e- mail - dervissdesign@verizon.net

chuck b. said...

I would be happy to help--I'm a good worker and follow orders well! :)

I'm volunteering at Strybing's Friday night preview party. At least, I hope I am. That should be fun too.

lcbii@Yahoo.com

Anonymous said...

Hi Deviant!
I thought I'd finally post since you broke the ice, and the wall you're working on is just too incredible to not acknowledge!
It sounds like this display garden is going to be a wonder - and the San Francisco Garden Show is such an amazing thing to be a part of - down here in Smell-A, the one garden show we have is such a pathetic joke (but don't tell anyone I told you!)

Best of luck with staging everything, especially the succulent wall - I had a bad experience with one a few years back - but I'm certain yours has all the kinks worked out.

Have a blast! I'll be eager to see the finished product in the press ... I wish I could go...

Deviant Deziner, aka Michelle said...

Hello Germi,
I owe you a couple of Thank you's.
The first thank you is for the consideration and the dialogue that you inspired on your blog about wood burning smoke.
Without insightful , thoughtful and intelligent dialogue such as the one that you sparked ( pun intended ) people might not give wood smoke a second thought as a big time environmental pollutant.
Ironically Sunset Magazine just published a short but sweet article about this concern as it was promoting denatured alcohol as a green sustainable alternative to burning wood.

The second thank you is for your thoughts on our tempered glass mosaic project that we are working on for the upcoming SF garden show.
Thanks !

It is baffling to me that LA doesn't have a really knock out Garden Show, especially with all that hot talent creating fabulous gardens.
I guess the Venice Garden walk and KA-BOOM is somewhat filling that niche but it would be great if LA had a yearly garden show to spot light the local talent.

A couple of years ago The Hortisexuals ( a N.Cal garden club sort of like the old Germinators ) went down to LA and did our own 4 day garden tour.
The gardens were incredible and the designers were extremely generous with their time.
We spent time speaking with and visiting the gardens designed by Mia Leher, Nancy Goslee Powers, Jay Griffith ( my fave ) Thomas Cox, Thoma Schoos and others.

Again, a double Thank you for your thoughts and contributions.

Michelle / Deviant Deziner

Anonymous said...

Michelle, I was one of those people! Too wrapped up in my own sense of nostalgia about roaring fires, but you gave me alot to think about and pointed me in the right direction.
And reading about the situation with your neighbors made me so ANGRY! I can't imagine what kind of people they are to continue to do something that does you so much harm. That put alot into perspective for me.
In the event that we NEED a fire, we won't be burning wood. But I'm giving that firepit a nice long rest for now.
So thank YOU, Michelle, for taking the time to comment on my blog (which I know is a pain because of the whole registration thing!). The air on my block of you-know-where will be cleaner because of you!
You Hortisexuals (of course I know you guys, you're FAMOUS!) saw the best of the best of LA garden makers! And I agree - Jay is my favorite, too...

Deviant Deziner, aka Michelle said...

I should walk the talk and to a demonstration of how to easily and aesthetically convert all those wood burning outdoor firepits into propane gas fire pits.

I have an old copper saucer style fire pit with succulents growing in it.

As soon as the Garden Show is over in March I should get my arse in gear and do a demo on how to easily convert wood to gas.

It is very easy , and in my minds eye a lot more attractive.
I've used clear and colored glass as the topper and also stone pebbles.

another project for the list !

Anonymous said...

Love the wall!

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Clean Pros said...

Hello,

My name is Theo. I am new to blogging I noticed that we have similar interest. I think it would be beneficial to both of us to exchange links. Please send yours so I can do the same.
My email is cleanpros@live.com

Thank You