September 2009 - Summary

It’s time for another mural.  We haven’t grouted mural #1, and the ceramics teacher at the high school suggested we use bullnose tile across the top – so we have that yet to do.  I’d also like to re-do the mirror – if anyone is planning on creating a mosaic mural, let me suggest you DO NOT use mirror unless you can find thick mirror tile.  Most mirrors are thin glass, too thin to cut with a tile cutter.  Plus the cut is difficult to control.  Plus the mirror sinks into the thin-set.  Plus you need to build up the concrete on the wall so that the mirror is flush with the rest of the tile.  Plus since the glass of the mirror is so thin, there’s no edge to hold onto – thus the front ends up covered in little concretey fingerprints from the students.  Just a mess.

Reason #2 that we haven’t grouted mural #1 over the summer, as I had planned – I went to Washington DC for a class in July; I got off the plane, found a taxi, headed to my hotel; my taxi was rear-ended by another taxi, and my driver and I were transported to the ER via ambulance; I spent much of the summer in and out of doctors’ offices, in chiropractic treatment or therapeutic massage or just resting, since I couldn’t move my neck.  (There were days when my head felt too heavy for my neck to hold up, so I just leaned back on pillows for support.)  By the time school began, I was more mobile but still seeing the chiropractor twice a week for adjustments, to keep my neck vertebrae in place.  Plus my left shoulder, already inflamed after the accident, froze up and I couldn’t raise that arm.  Can you imagine tiling and grouting while NOT looking or reaching up?  No, I couldn’t imagine that either.  So we worked inside.  On a number of projects.