Custom Made “Dia De Los Muertos” Altars by Thorne

Greetings constant readers and new friends as yet unmet! Been busy here in Thorne’s World a bit these days. The GirlyBoi has gone with her Mom, Sis, Nephew and Niece (all crammed into a freaking Kia!!! OMGods, I’m glad I’m not sandwiched in there somewhere!!- Besides, it’d kill me to be somewhere I could be gambling and be too broke to drop a few quarters- Thornie is a gamblin’ fool when the stars are right!) to visit Her Brother and all the Reno kinfolk. She left on Tuesday afternoon and she’ll be back next Monday sometime.

Bless her little GirlyBoi heart; she took care of the heavy work before she left; trash taking outs and making sure the pools are filled for all 4 outside dogs, cleaning up my Mom’s dog yards and getting me propane for both the house and the Grill. She even vacuumed for me! (Which seriously rocks, because it straight out kicks my FMS into overdrive to do it, for some insane reason).

But busy?? Ya, a bit. 5 dogs, 6 birds, 2 cats (and boxes! Ewwww!!!), and my Momma to take care of. Oh yeah. I also have some kinda cute little aquatic turtle (the niece’s) in an aquarium parked on my kitchen counter. That bubbler makes me have to pee every damn time I walk into the kitchen!

But…. (you knew there was a “but” in there somewhere, didn’t you??), it also means that I don’t have to cook dinner every day (Me n Mom have a deal worked out for the week! Yay!), which means a lot fewer dishes aaaand it means I don’t have to share the modem! So I can blog, and cruise the interwebz and play WoW to my lil heart’s content.

But wait. Here’s the good stuff and what I intended to tell ya about when I began. I’m crafting some and working on a collage and acrylic painting for the cover of Enigma’s soon to be published book, Watergate Summer (from the blog of the same name). I’m really honored and excited to be doing this for her. It’s a great blog with some very important an enlightening information and I’m sure it will make a great book!

I also wanted to share with you my latest spiritual crafting endeavor. You may have read about how to Ritually Create an Altar of the Dead and seen the pics of a few of my altars. It occurred to me that not everyone has the room, or the inclination (or the number of dead) that I have, so I’ve been working on mini altars. They are loosely in the style of Dia De Los Muertos; bright colors and shiny bits. I made this one for my step son, JD. It includes a photo of Jerry, my soulmale and late husband; JD’s Dad. The tiny bottle contains some of Jerry’s cremains, and the other bits are mementos unique to him and special to his son.

I would love to make one to honor and in remembrance of your dead. These would be custom order items. Each one would be unique. I would be guided in the crafting of your Mini – Altar by the small mementos or photos you send me and the things you are willing to share with me about your beloved dead. Her favorite color, his hobbies and pleasures; and by my affinity with the spirits of those who have gone before us. Each Mini – Altar would be created ritually and within sacred space and I would be happy to follow any spiritual or religious preferences you may have- I am, after all, an eclectic witch!

If you would like me to craft one for you, email me or use my contact form. Depending on the size, construction and decoration, I can see them ranging in price from $20 to $50 or so (plus shipping).

Peace, out!

Or, Part 2 of “Green Up Your Garden Decor”.

Okay! Did you have a great 24 hours?? I did here in my desert paradise. Are you ready to grout? It’s messy, so lay out a bunch of newspaper outside somewhere. Make sure you have gloves if you’re using colored grout; it stains. You can use any ol’ latex or neoprene gloves, but I like my purple ones.

You’re going to want to have a large container of water, as opposed to running your hose. (When you’re all done make sure to dump the water on a thirsty tree, okay?) A couple of sponges. See the big one with the black rubber on one side? That is a sponge specifically for grouting, but it’s not really necessary for a small project like this.

I like the latex grout for small projects and for garden art. It holds up well outside. Sanded grout is okay, if it’s all you’ve got. After you do a few projects, you’ll find your own way with it. It’s a bit rough to gauge how much you’ll need, so start with a small amount. You can always mix a little more as needed (I did for this project. The initial mix wasn’t quite enough).

Make a little well in the center of your grout. Make it about a quarter to a third of the volume of the dry mix.

Add water a little at a time. It’s much easier to mix in additional water if it needs more than it is to add the dry. Mix well, as the water is absorbed into the lumps it will get wetter than you think. Also it always seems to get lumpier and require a lot more mixing when you have to add more dry. Also when that happens you always seem to end up with more than you can use. We hate waste!

I think this photo shows the consistency pretty well. It’s about the consistency of cake frosting or maybe a little thicker than custard, (but not as smooth, of course!)

You can scoop up some grout on a sponge and begin pressing it in and on your pot, but it’s a little awkward on something this small, so I usually just use my hands. Press the grout firmly and make sure to fully fill all the spaces. Press down and toward the center of the individual tiles so that the grout goes underneath them a bit, too.

After you have the tile fully covered, use the foam “brush” or a small sponge to smooth and push the grout in some more.

 
Use the sponge brush to remove some of the excess grout, too.
 

Before you begin to wipe, wring the large sponge out very well! Wipe, rinse, wring; repeat. You don’t want to use too much water, it will just wash the grout out from between the spaces.

If you are using sanded grout, too much water will also make your grout grainy looking and will wash out the color and make it cloudy looking. Too much water (or too sloppy of a consistency) can make your grout crack as it dries. Bad news! Get it reasonably clean, but don’t worry about leaving a haze of color on the surface of the tiles. It will wipe off easily when the grout is dry. Focus more on making your grout lines smooth and consistent, especially along the edges.

How cool is that?! The grout will take about 24 hours to dry. Don’t sit the piece in the sun, it will dry too fast. If you have tiled something that is in the sun already; some piece of permanent or too heavy to move yard art, drape a cloth over it and mist it with a spray bottle periodically to allow the grout to dry slowly and evenly and to prevent cracking. When the grout is fully dry, buff it with a soft cloth to remove the haze and any excess grout on the surface of the tiles, then seal your tile and grout with any tile and grout sealant.

See? Who needs “new” stuff? Upcycle your old stuff into new art that is perfectly your style! Check back in with me here in Thorne’s World for more recycled art How-Tos. Coming up soon: Yard art Mosaic Bowling Balls (scroll down to #6). You can also see some of my tile mosaic and broken tile mosaic about halfway down this page of things that make me happy!

Back to Part 1: Green Up Your Garden Decor Questions in comments are welcome. I’ll try my best to answer and advise. I’d love to see your creative projects, too, so leave me a link!

Peace, out!

A couple weeks ago I wrote a list of fantastic junk to use in mosaics. Before we get into attaching some of the more randomly shaped items of various materials (which can get a lil tricksy if you don’t want your parts falling off randomly and for no apparent reason), I thought I’d give you a step by step how-to on a small project to get you started.

I know you have some old pots around that are just too worn and ugly to use, but still too serviceable to break up for planter-bottom-drainage. Maybe you are wanting to change the color scheme of your patio or porch and are feeling guilty about your secret desire to just say “To hell with being green! I want new STUFF!” Maybe you’re broke, like me! Maybe it has simply never occurred to you that you can have “new” stuff by giving a makeover to old stuff! In any case, this is a great way to give a facelift to a worn out old terra cotta planter (and with just a couple small changes works on plastic planters, too)!Click on the thumbnails for a larger view, or watch the flickr slideshow at the bottom of the post.

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