Table Part 2

Once the design was enlarged on the paper, I had to transfer it to the table top. The outer circle was the easy part and I traced the circle with a blue shapie pen. I cut each shape, piece by piece, and traced each individual shape, working from the outside of the pattern into the inside. As I worked the pattern on the paper got smaller and smaller. I had small shapes of paper all over the floor. After the design was put on the table, I could begin the glass cutting and fitting. Cutting glass got easier with practice. I had a scoring tool to scrape a line into the glass. With a running pliers, I could squeeze the pliers over the scored line and "plink!" the glass would split right down the line I made. That "plink" didn't happen a lot at first because I didn't score it correctly. With practice I got better at scoring. I cut many, many pieces of glass and fit them into the design. I cut the glass on a towel and tried to keep the glass in one place. Yeah, that didn't work so well. Pieces of glass flew around the kitchen. I'd sweep up the pieces of glass and use the larger pieces and throw away the slivers. I cut my hands many times. In fact, my towel is spotted with blood stains. Glass is sharp but it doesn't really hurt much. On some of the larger sections of the design I chose to use a single piece of glass. On the rest I fit them in as best I could staying within the lines. I would cut a pile of glass pieces, put them on a paper plate, and glue them down with silicon glue. Eventually I found that I could do this part the best in natural daylight. I spent hours finding just the right shapes. Sometimes I needed long and straight pieces. Other spots required a curve to the right or a 35 degree angle. Toward the end of my mosaic placing, I started thinking of the shapes as states. "An Idaho would be perfect right here. I need a Tennessee shape or a small California. " Placing and gluing was one of my favorite parts of the project. I was disappointed in the outer ring which is a beautiful purple band of glass. Once the purple glass was glued down on the table, the purple is barely distinguishable from the black, unless the sun is shining right on it. After the inner design was done, I struggled with the background. Should I make it black or red or purple or a mixture of several colors? After placing pieces of all my colors of glass, I chose to go with the olive green background. I wanted to distinguish the background from the pattern my using random shapes of broken glass instead of small squares and triangles. This was a fun part. I wrapped the spare green pane of glass in a towel, put a pliers under it, and struck the glass with a hammer, shattering it. Wow, was that fun. I fit the largest pieces in first and then the smaller shapes. I didn't have quite enough of that color. My supplier was out of the color. They could order more but there is no telling if it would match the glass I had. I chose to leave larger spaces between the pieces, further distinguishing it from the center pattern where the glass pieces are close together. Once the background was glued down, it was time to grout. I used black sand grout and I followed the directions on the package. If I was to do this again, I would plan to do it in the summer because mixing and adding grout makes a huge mess. I rubbed the grout into all the spaces, let it dry for 20 minutes, and wiped off the excess with rags.