So Close to the Finish

I believe I have officially given up on NaNoWriMo. Too much energy going toward allergies and mosaic. I have a couple more days to finish, but I highly doubt I will knock out 14,000 words in time. We'll see.

A few days ago (if not more), the old Orange Lover pissed on a pillow I like to keep on the couch. I washed the pillow, but then it was too heavy with sodden feathers (synthetic? I'm not sure) to throw in the dryer, so it has been living on our front sidewalk for 3 days now. It is not remotely dry. If I throw it away and it went to a dump, would it ever dry? Or would it stay damp and mildewing underneath all the refuse that ultimately gets piled upon it?

Today I polished the mosaic and framed it. Here is the little lady who helped me scrub the glass:



Sadly, I believe the grout I mixed was too dry (I was very paranoid of making it too wet and it getting under the wavy glass, which really sucks), so a lot of it crumbled out of where it belonged. I decided to go ahead and frame it, and just fill in the cracks with more grout tomorrow. That way, I could at least have the mosaic hanging on a vertical with a light source behind it, thus showing where all the missing grout points are at.

The mosaic did warp a bit, especially at the top end (where I finished last), so when I stuck it in the frame, the top part wasn't touching the frame correctly. I do not own clamps. I know that is just crazy talk, but I don't. So The Boy suggested books (there are plenty of those in the house), and we loaded hardbacks on each corner of the mosaic (couldn't do one without the other side popping up). This is what that looks like when a little Black Bear wanders by:



While I was at it, I glued some backings on to some jewelry and photo frame I made 1.5 years ago in a glass-fusing class. That is what is sitting on the books to the right.

While the glue was drying, I found some cat legs (and a tail):



Once I felt confident that the glue was dry enough, I took off the books, and then added glue as a sealant on the back of the mosaic, thus adhering it even more firmly to the frame. Here is what the total back of the mosaic looks like right now:



All that glue will eventually turn clear. There's no way for me to know how long that will take--it totally depends on things like humidity, temperature, luck, etc. It will look good enough to hang up, and as time goes on, it will just look even better.