Now What Are They Making!?!??!!?

Well, true to my threats and promises, I started makin' mosaic on one of the dead trees. Here is an underpinning... sort of a cross between armor and lingerie. Tree looks sexy: all silvery and sinuous and shiny!

My hands and arms don't, though. Despite wearing gloves and a long sleeved sweat shirt, the metal lathing (that I had to apply in order to give a surface for the cement to stick to) is very sharp and scratched the hell out of me. It was fun anyway, learning to use a new material and solve problems along the way. First I tried wiring the pieces together but that didn't work. Then I discovered that fencing nails (the ones bent like "U" shapes) worked, as did the big-headed nails that Bob gave me. (Bob was busy repairing his studio roof line... there's always something to do around here!) I bashed my thumb and swore up a storm but it was exciting and challenging.
Several experts suggested that I reinforce the base of the tree with rebar* but I- maybe impetuous!- declined, thinking that the dead tree, once it's housed in a sheath of concrete, will stand longer than I will. Besides, if it falls over, we'll gave spectacular ruins and it will still be a romantic mess! O Ozymandias!!

My assembled tools; not sure if you can see the cache of band-aids in the corner of the wheel barrow!
It will be interesting to see how far I get with all the broken crockery I have assembled. When we did the walkway, I thought we'd have tons and tons of material but it got used up quickly and I had to go to a second hand store and purchase an entire snow-flake themed set of dinnerware. If the walkway was predominately blue and white (it borders the Blue Garden), I am feeling this trunk will be corseted in more reds and oranges. I have some right purty coppery/autumnal platters to smash!

As my riding lesson was cancelled today due to high winds and a chance of rain, I may be able to start the cement stage of the proceedings. I learned from our adventures on the walk way that planning a design a head of time- and preparing the pieces- makes the job easier.

*Hey! The experts who work in rebar were unavailable due to scheduling (and other) conflicts. this meant I either had to wait (until god knows when) or never begin this project. The clematis that I planted on this very same tree skeleton was growing fast!!

As Promised... The Walk Way!

Ooooohhhhhhh! Nice going! Isn't that just spectacular? That's the "Blue Plate Special" Walkway. I really think that Bob and I outdid ourselves (and we had fun, too!) It came out far better than I ever anticipated...
This is a shot looking back at the house from (of all things) the compost pile. That's where the walk way terminates- or begins- depending on where you're going. To the left is the Blue Garden, full of blue spiky foliage and it looks positively Californian when you have the trunks of those sketchy pines and our BauHaus Chicken Coop in sight. Definitely not expected in a New England Garden, and that's part of its charm. (Did I use that same photo in the last posting? I must be getting forgetful!)
Here are a few details:

Bob and I, as previously remarked, broke up a million plates. But some of the busted plates were re-assembled, almost intact, as seen in that detail above. There were some particularly special plates that were nice to include.

Like this one, above; just a really pretty plate with flowers and blue and gold. Or this fragment:

This is a Yale commemorative plate. I think I'm referencing my grandfather (Grampa) who taught at Yale and the fact that I'm in Yale's Special Collection (four times!) Yale definitely deserved a nod.
And here's a section for Jules:

See the little dog near the top? It also says "Mut" underneath (a sample form a mother's day plate, but it's in Danish). And here's a bit for Maggie:

I didn't have actual horses represented, so I used Sea Horses. I don't think she minded.
And here's a shot of one of the ends:

All three plates I used towards the house end have flowers represented, including Blue Roses on the right. A big influence was my trip (yea, these many years ago) to Antonia Gaudi's Park Guell in Barcelona. It is an amazing mosaic extravaganza, with stairways and walkways and miles of benches all covered in broken plates and bits of colored glass. Astonishing! Our walkway may only be 12 or 15 feet long, but it is pretty wonderful to me. I got all carried away and said to Bob, "Why stop here? Let's make all our walkways in mosaic!" Bob pointed out that winter snow cleanup would be a night mare; do we have to start thinking about snow now?!??!?!?!
One last detail:

I obtained tow Hudson City Savings coffee mugs at a local second hand store. That's the bank that holds the mortgage on our BauHaus Chicken Coop. Each end of the walkway contains smashed mug fragments to remind Bob and I of our luck in finally landing the financing to get us the house. I liked being able to include bits of our personal history.