This is a project from long, long ago. But I’ve been reminded of it recently. On a good Newcastle United day I can hear the fans singing in St James stadium when I leave the studio in the evening.
I like magpies, they’re so cheeky and jaunty, and such amazing aerial acrobats with those short wings & long tail for balance. There was a huge flock of them living near the house down south. Arial (the cat in the pics) once killed a baby magpie and the adults in the magpie family punished the cat & her twin sister for weeks afterward. The birds screamed, dive-bombed and harrassed both cats equally even though sister was innocent, in that case anyway.
The other day Arial and I were outside and there was a magpie on the fence, which is more unusual up here. It made that squawking noise and poor little Arial flinched and tried to hide, probably thinking “oh no! They’ve found me!”
The nicest part of making the mosaic, was learning about the magic of putting mirror behind cathedral glass. The mosaic was mostly freecycled bathroom tiles, but the beaks and feet were cut from scrap glass. The glass pieces were much thinner than the tiles, so I stuck a piece of thick mirror underneath, just to lift the glass up to the same level as the tiles. It was amazing to get that sparkle effect so easily.
The table is long gone, but I’ve still got the pattern. I could probably make the birds in stained glass now — it was beyond my skill level back then. Unfortunately black glass is hard to see through, so you don’t get such a good stained glass effect from black and white. Works well as a mosaic, though.
I do love that sparkle effect from cathedral glass on mirror, and it’s incorporated into the little “gothic window” ornaments. They’re about 15cm (6″) tall, come with a stand and are available on my Etsy shop.
