Update May 2017, visit my new online shop featuring
my coastal and nature themed mosaic art.
I found pink plastic flamingos while at Dollar Tree one day and purchased a
couple thinking I would paint them in a fun design. I ended up putting
them on a shelf in my studio and I kind of forgot about them!
When working on a Mosaic Surfboard I spotted one of thos flamingos
and decided to try my hand making a mosaic flamingo too.
Sorry I don't have "during" photos but it's pretty straightforward.
I roughed up the surface with coarse sandpaper and used Acrylpro ceramic tile
adhesive to attach the pink and orange stained glass tile and set aside to dry.
Since I work with stained glass I happened to have some on hand and I cut
the tiles myself. You can probably find pre-cut stained glass pieces online
or maybe even pink ceramic tile and you could smash it with a hammer...
cover the tiles with a towel and wear safety glasses!
After it was dry, I grouted with white grout.
He came with black wire legs that stick into the body. When I was
grouting, I stuck a little nail in the holes so I would know where they were.
The legs are hard to see in the pic.
Since the plastic flamingo is much heavier now with the glass and grout, I had to do
some finagling to get him to stand straight.
If I make another, I would find thicker wire or maybe even rods of
rebar to use for the legs.
I used little black beads for the eyes
He looks great! I ended up moving and selling him at my yard sale so
I'm not sure how he ended up after living outside although I imagine the results would
be great since it was a plastic base and the adhesive and the grout are both safe for outdoor use.
Visit my online store featuring my mosaic art.
You can also find some of my pieces in my Etsy store
I just love it... Took a year to finish it but only a minute to appreciate it... Thanks for sharing... I want to do this so bad my mouth is watering from it. Where did you find the pink tile?
ReplyDeleteI love it!!! This year I finished a huge mosaic project that I started 7 years ago :0) it got pushed off the burner ans set in a corner until life settled down.
ReplyDeletePS... I'm thinking a Pink flamingo would look real good close to the planter :0)
ReplyDeleteI love love love him but he's too gorgeous for the garden and would need to live inside with me!
ReplyDeleteThis is gorgeous!!! I want to make a flock of them for the backyard!! Where did you find the beautiful pink tile?
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone! The pink tile was some I had left over from a previous project...you can find it at any stained glass store
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this Lucy! I was in my garden the other day, admiring my funky plastic flamingo, and got the idea to mosaic him. I figured someone must have already done so, so I googled, and your awesome flamingo popped right up! He does look fabulous, and now that I know how awesome he is, I'm going to get started on giving my flamingo a face lift of his own. :)
ReplyDeleteI would love to see how yours turned out!
Deletelove it since I live in Florida - about how many tiles did you use?
DeleteConnie, not sure. I cut my own tiles from a sheet of pink stained glass
Deletelove it turned out Awesome a year worth it. Thanks for sharing your creative idea.
ReplyDeletethanks Amber!
DeleteSince Facebook is notorious for not letting page owners know when I tag them, I thought I would stop by myself and let you know I featured this post and my readers loved it! https://www.facebook.com/CraftsbyAmanda/photos/pb.323548680216.-2207520000.1395952983./10153967751305217/?type=3&theaterter
ReplyDeleteThanks Amanda!
DeleteIf you have already answered this, then I apologize. But I love and what a neat/creative summer project to take on! My question though- how much did this cost to complete? I know Mr. Flamingo was cheap, but I just meant the mosaic tiles, grout, etc. Thank you!!
ReplyDeleteHard to say, I do mosaics so I had the glass, adhesive and grout on hand. I buy the stained glass wholesale in large sheets. But a square foot sheet of pink mosaic glass at stained glass store or Hobby Lobby can run $6-8 for a square foot, probably would need 2 and then just the smallest container of adhesive you could find, maybe about $6 and the grout is probably around $13 for the small box...hope that helps some
DeleteI just wondered how it held up outside to the temps and weather extremes, since you made it. I have a plastic swan planter I would like to stain glass mosaic but in googling I read its not recommended to try to mosaic a plastic piece for outdoors. that either the glass pieces will fall off when weather gets extreme, even if you rough up the surface, or the plastic itself will start to deteriorate underneath and crumble.I live in Florida so it doesn't get that cold, but we do have lots of rain and many months of blasting sun and humidity. I would like to give it as a gift to someone who lives in Northern Louisiana. They get the horrible humid summers with intense heat from the sun. Lots of storms and rain . And last year temps got down as low as 10 degrees.
ReplyDeleteHi Cheryl, I actually don't know, I moved to another city and sold that flamingo at a moving sale. It had held up fine until that point and I live in Northwest Florida on the Gulf Coast.
DeleteI love it. I want to make one for our yard this year.
ReplyDeleteI am a flamingo fan; I enjoyed seeing this project verey much!
ReplyDelete