Heron Mosaic Finished

Finishing the heron has been a slow process. And while I was pleased in many ways with the water portion, I did realized that once again I made the same mistake as with the bunting. Not enough color contrast with the background. 

 The distinction between the heron and the water shows best when I use outdoor lighting. But I have no place outside to hang it. And sadly, once grouted, it seemed to disappear completely. Even after I cleaned each tesserae and polished it up so that it was sparkling, it still didn't bring out the heron. 

I decided to take a risk and regrout just the heron. I was thinking that the reason why the heron stood out in the photo was because the light was on it. Thus, what would happen if I regrouted it with white? 

I took some time to outline the heron with masking tape to protect the rest of the mosaic. It was worth the effort because it made regrouting so much easier.

And while the heron does stand out better now, it doesn't look as handsome. But I'm stopping. I learned more, and that's the most important thing. Plus, I'm thinking about taking a different approach next time. The heron looked really beautiful halfway finished, when the mirror was half visible. 

So I'm brainstorming on doing something more like this halfway point. 

​Oh, and for a laugh, here's what happens when you drop a tessera into your glue:

Oops.