(5) Grout day and fun facts!

September 2, 2011

Today was the fourth day that I worked on grouting the butterflies. I got a good portion of the third wall grouted and when I left today I only had 22 more butterflies left to go.

I still have about 5 more butterflies to add to the wall (so if you don't see yours up yet, don't panic!) and a bunch of small ones to fill in the small gaps between the larger butterflies.

Here is the progress from today...

I started with Elsbeth Morselt's "I Can't Believe It's not Butter-fly". The primary colors really work well with the black grout. 

© 2011 Elsbeth Morselt

Then I grouted Daisy Rattray's butterfly that she named "Mystic Fred". You can read more about that on her mother Kate Rattray's blog post, Mystic Fred of the Butterflies.

I keep forgetting that a kid made this one!

© 2011 Daisy Rattray

This is Cecilia Kremer's mosaic based on the song "Butterfly" by Ayumi Hamasaki. 

"...I'm your little butterfly
Green, black and blue..."

I had never heard of the song...I thought it was based on a children's poem! 

Check out the color changing iridized glass on the body.

© 2011 Cecilia Kremer

© 2011 (left) Carla Dake, (right) Cecilia Kremer

This is Kate Rattray's "Leafy Butterfly" made with unglazed porcelain and vitreous tile. I love the colors on this one and the texture is really unique too. I don't work with unglazed porcelain but this butterfly has made me want to experiment with it.

© 2011 Kate Rattray

Here is Cindy Sbrissa's butterfly...it's based off of a tattoo that she has on her ankle. It looks great with the black grout.

© 2011 Cindy Sbrissa
Here are the other beautiful butterflies that I grouted today...

© 2011 Helen Schloss-Griffin
© 2011 Linda Biggers
© 2011 Kathleen McKenna

And a few shots of the finished portion of the wall...

© 2011 

© 2011 


© 2011 

Here's a few photos of the grouting process from start to reveal featuring artist Eulavon Mallouf's butterfly.

© 2011 

© 2011 

© 2011 

© 2011 Eulavon Mallouf

Two tiny pieces of glass from the right corner came loose when I was putting the grout over the mosaic so I had to fix it once the rest of the piece was wiped clean. I'll let the adhesive dry and then regrout the small corner next week.

Fun facts
  • I have approximately 62 hours invested in the installation and grouting work 
  • The butterflies have flown in from 9 countries across the globe

And now...the animals!

Found this adorable little frog hopping on top of the Butterfly Aviary sign. He eventually hopped off it and into the butterfly garden where I managed to get a photo of him...after chasing him all over the leaf! Even though he looks like he is pretty large here, he's really only the size of a nickel!

© 2011 

This is Allie the alligator sunning herself along the side of her enclosure. Both of the gators are usually either in their pond or hiding out in the foliage when I look for them. Allie is nesting and hopefully the Calusa Nature Center will have tiny alligators soon.

© 2011 


More pics next week.

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