THE THRILL OF THE HUNT

MOSAIC FRAMES

BEGINNING 3-D ART

glass shards & grout on wooden frames

Looking for the perfect fitting piece of glass is so very satisfying when finally found 

and glued down into place.

Let's take a look see at the many outstanding designs done last school year by my beginners.

One of the class favorites was created by junior Rachel Kannampuzha

with her adorable elephant and it's balloon on this heart shaped frame.

I get the wood frames for a dollar apiece at Michael's,

 plus they give me a 40% off teacher discount.

Oh yeah!!  What a great deal.

Now the glass is another matter.

I salvage a lot of it by dumpster diving on the weekends,

and when I get desperate I take myself up to Whittier to our local stained glass store.

There they have big bins of broken pieces that I sift thru for those hard to find colors the kids like

paid for by the pound.

I also thrift broken china and shatter it even more.

You can see pieces of that in senior Vicky Hur's cool frame above.

Donations are also welcomed.

I received some broken vase forms recently from a student's grandma.

Estate sales are another way I pick up hard to find colors and patterns.

I tell the kids my Saturdays are spent entirely thrifting.

My husband and I love going up to the Dump Store on our Mountain 

for some really amazing finds,

and we try to get to all the thrift stores on the mountain as well.

Speaking of thrifting,

English teacher Donna Hall went thru some of her jewelry and china to find the perfect pieces

 to complement each other for these next two frames (above & below).

I believe she turned out a total of 4 frames in the time it took the kids to do one.

Or maybe it was 3,

I've lost track.

ha ha

The reason you are seeing flowers and petals inside the frames

 is because they were photoed on the walls at Open House time 

and the kids like to embellish the walls with dried flowers.

I apologize for the quality of these next two photos.

My camera seems to be on the fritz lately,

maybe because I spilled water all over it,

but anyways,

these two pieces by 8th graders Dylan Lin and Selina Luo are really colorful

and I wanted to be sure to share them.

I also really enjoyed this one by 8th grader Karen Hung.

Love all the grey tones she was able to get

 by collaging newsprint under clear and slightly yellowed glass.

Senior Crystal Lai-Ton-Nu sold her beauty at Open House.

Her design was so unique and lovely.

And junior Lynette Lee had another of the class's favorites,

these stalks of bamboo.

And what a shame my camera wasn't able to capture it better.

Sorry Lynette. 

We all loved junior Margaret Yiu's delicate design.

Such patience she has to pull this off!

And check out the sweet mushroom on lower right corner

 that senior Julie Ahn cleverly put in.

And what soft pretty colors as well.

And this last gorgeous one was #3 by Donna.

She made it for me and I couldn't be more thrilled with it.

Check out the sweet bird's nest in lower right corner,

and the dragonfly in center top.

She knows,

 after being in my class all last year and listening to my stories that I tell the kids,

that dragonflies and birds have a special meaning to me.

Thank you so my Donna for this heartfelt gift,

for making the time to take my class, 

for putting up with me and so much more.

I loved working with you and really enjoyed watching you fly.

Donna didn't know I took her pix,

but I couldn't resist.

My room is super cold so it's nice to sit out on the bench to warm up a bit.

I'm not sure which of the projects she was working on here,

but once she gets into what she's doing,

she becomes lost in her art.

Last year she was known to have stayed until 9:00 at night in my room working on her pieces.

She and her work were much admired by all.

We love you Ms. Hall!!!