Glass Mosaic Gazing Ball - Part 7 - Embellishment

Grouted gazing ball.

In my last post on the gazing ball project I showed that the ball had been grouted.  Technically, other than giving the gazing ball a coat of exterior grade sealer, the ball is complete.  Since I used the grout with resin in it, the grout is already highly waterproofed.  I still use a sealer.  If you are going to take the time to make a gazing ball, you might as well make it so that it is going to last a long time.  However, there are still more options that you can use to change the appearance of the ball.  One of them is paint.  And how you decide to paint the ball can make a big difference in its overall appearance.

Grout painted to create horizontal bands.

You can paint the gazing ball so that it appears to have solid stripes, or add a contrasting color between  the tesserae and have stripes of a different color between each band of color.  Another option would be to paint the grout to match the ball so that the gazing ball appears to be solid.  You could add dots of color on top of the painted grout.  There are plenty of ways to change the appearance of the gazing ball.  I am showing a couple of options on this ball so you can get the idea.  After that, let your imagination take off.

Gold metallic paint added to separate bands of turquoise.

When I laid out the tesserae on the gazing ball I used a pattern that would accentuate horizontal bands of tiles and horizontal grout lines.  I first painted the grout lines between the horizontal bands of glass tiles.  The paint is not an exact match.  It is about a shade lighter than the tesserae, but when you are standing a few feet back from it, the band reads as a solid.  The lighter horizontal grout lines separate the bands of color.  At this point, I could paint those horizontal lines the same color and the gazing ball would appear to be a solid color.  If it was outside in sunlight, the light would be reflecting off the glass tiles, giving the ball a glow.

In this case, I decided I wanted to paint the rest of the lines with a metallic gold paint.  The metallic paint would reflect more light than the flat acrylic paint.  It also gives the ball the a much different look from the plain gray grout.  The gray color tends to recede.  Painting the bands a bright gold makes the lines appear to move forward. 

The painting of the ball is complete other than the sealer.  Since it was a sunny day, I wanted to take some pictures outside so that you would have an idea of what it looked like in sunlight.  Since it is still winter and the temperatures are below freezing, the ball will come back inside until warmer weather.  If rain soaks in through cracks in the grout or where the grout meets the glass, water can freeze and cause cracks in the gazing ball.

Polished metal gazing balls are so popular because the surface can reflect so much light. The grout on a mosaic gazing ball does not reflect light except where it bounces off or through pieces of glass.  I decided to use a high gloss exterior sealer to seal the gazing ball.  I want as much shine coming off the ball as possible.  The high gloss sealer will reflect more light than a matte or satin sealer.  I am only painting the grout and the edges of the tiles with sealer.  The flat front of the glass tiles will not be sealed.  They are highly polished and I don't want to cover that reflective surface.  I have already put on one coat of the sealer.  Once the second coat of sealer is on, the project will be complete.

Check back on the Sunday post for a new project.