"Heavy" mosaic

[froggie0424]

My dad passed away in May, and his nickname was Heavy.  When I was a kid he played in a rock-n-roll cover band called Reno.  I bought a mosaic kit for $5 awhile back, but I didn't know what to do with it.  Finally inspiration struck, and here is the product.  It's his bass drum from his drum kit that he put his name on...  

The outside border is black glass, and the inside surrounding the drum is a darkish blue.  The dimensions are 8"x8".  I plan on grouting it in white, which I hope will make the blue stand out a bit more.

[Antidigger]

What a beautiful memorial

[HSG]

Clearly inspiration also came in the form of commemoration. Sorry for your loss, but what an excellent way to work through the loss, and remember your dad. Please share pics after you grout.

[mjnovak]

This is great. I love that you were able to honor your dad and something that he surely loved! Looks great!

[froggie0424]

Here it is grouted:


What do you think of the white grout?  While I was Googling, I read a blog post that said you should never use pure white unless you wanted your project to look like something from a kid's summer camp.     They suggested using grey, which will show up as a "pencil line" between the tiles...

I think it looks Ok as is, but I can sort of see the point about using the grey too.  But I do like that the "drum" is sort of set off by being all white.  I think if I had used grey grout that the black border wouldn't have shown up as well.

Overall, this is the first mosaic I've ever made, and I'm pretty pleased with it.  Comments are welcome though.

[HSG]

It looks good! And for your first it is a success.

Grouting is the hardest part of mosaic work. It can certainly make or break, no pun intended, a mosaic.

Sometimes using a lighter grout and then doing a grout wash is the way to go. You can then use any color, or multiple colors to bring your mosaic to life. Also doing a grout test before applying to the actual mosaic is a good idea, too. Then if you make an ugly error it is only the test piece that is ruined, and not the actual mosaic.

Let me know if you have any question, and I'll be glad to explain further.

[froggie0424]

I haven't heard/learned about grout washing yet.  I'll have to look into that too.

Thanks for the compliment!     I still feel like the white is Ok for this one.  I'm doing a fleur de lis clock mosaic with the same blue tiles that I used for my dad's.  I'm going to use mirror tiles to fill in the rest (I'll post soon...  ).  I think that one is going to be better with grey grout...  I bought some black acrylic paint to mix in with the grout.

[HSG]

Looking forward to seeing more of your work.

[mjnovak]

I still maintain -- it looks GREAT. 
I personally like how bright white the drum looks.