Mosaic Garden Sun Face for Under $1.00

I picked up the clay sun face at my local thrift store for $.50. I decided to make a mosaic wall hanging for out in my garden. Using mastic I mounted the sun face on a scrap piece of plywood, and surrounded it with various sizes of glass babbles. I bordered that with scrap pieces of tiles and stone (free). The little gray corner tiles at the bottom were found at Habitat for 10 cents each. I finished the whole thing off with a wood frame that I painted to match the sun face. The sun face was chipped on the nose and some other places so I just used the paint that I mixed up to do touch ups. Then to finish it off I used pearl grout, which was also a freebie. So total cost for materials was 70 cents + tax. Finished size 13 1/2" x 19 1/2".

Pieces of the Past

A couple of years ago I had the opportunity to spend the summer along a river in Colorado. We stayed in our RV while cleaning out and fixing up an old cabin. The cabin was built in the early 1900s along an early mountain train route. The property next door just had the remaining foundation, as the cabin had burned down many years ago. While poking around the burnt remains I found broken pieces of old glass, china and pottery. I used these found pieces to make this mosaic. Using the front of a discarded kitchen cabinet drawer where the center is recessed, I spread mastic to about ¾ “thick. Then I placed my broken pieces onto the mastic pressing them in gently. Just let dry and no need to worry about grouting it.