THE BLUE BIRDBATH

My mother had a beautiful blue ceramic birdbath.  It was broken.   Over the past few winters it has seen some hard times.  The bowl cracked is so many places, and it leaked water faster than we could fill it.  Something had to be done. My sister and I repaired it with caulk which I'm sure would have worked for another winter, but I thought that wouldn't halt the dis-repair for long.  I decided to mosaic the inside of the bowl.  We went to Goodwill and bought a set of 8 plates that seemed the right color. I stuck a couple in a paper bag and hit them with a hammer until the pieces were the right size. I eventually employed all 8 plates.

I used the rims of the plates along the rim of the birdbath because they were already curved and rounded on the edges.

Then I fit in the smaller pieces starting at the top and working towards the basin.  I glued them with a tile mastic as I placed them. The mastic stayed fairly damp so I could move them if I chose.

I let the finished product sit for 24 hours.  The next day I grouted it with a premixed white grout. First I applied it with a putty knife then coaxed the grout into the little spaces with a dry paint brush. When all the areas were filled I took a wet towel and started wiping out the excess grout.

At times I got a little over zealous with my wiping and had to add a bit of grout. When I removed as much as I could, I started polishing with a dry towel until all the pieces gleamed. I had to tell myself to quit or I'd still be polishing that one last piece.

The finished product back on it's stand.  You can see on the outside of the bowl where it had cracked and been repaired.  I think this solution will last more than one winter.

I hope the birds will like this.  It's bright and cheerful and now holds water proudly.

By the way, I underestimated the length of time it would take me to do this project.  I thought I could do the tile work in 1 day but it took me 3.  Then I had to wait for it to dry before I could grout and then that had to dry.  So really it took me about a week.

On to something new.........