Cait, talk away girl. We all get excited when we are showing off our finds and what we are creating. It's ok. You did find some great things. I love the cow planter. It would be neat since you have a tile cutter, to see the whole planter on something. Let us know what you decide.

Kathy

Girl, wonderful finds! And I'm soo glad your working on the bench again. It's soo AWSOME!!!

Love your finds....But that bench is great...You do such wonderful things...

Wow Cait! What great finds! Love the little bitty chicken! And your bench is looking awesome....a lot of work, but certainly worth it! We're always glad to see what you've been up to!

What greatfinds! And the molds were an incredible deal. Here is a link on how to use silicone molds (thru ebay). I assume those are silione glove molds. There is more info under the persons ME link but you have to scroll down a bit.
I'm eager to try some for cement, but they are Expensive! I look forward to hearing/seeing how yours turn out.
kathy

Here is a link that might be useful: Silicone molds

That is an incredibly good price on those molds. You =might= be able to get one mold for the price you paid for all five (or am I misunderstanding you paid $15 a piece for them?). I can see why you chose the plates & pottery ... I bet you'll be breaking them up! I like the little cow pot. I can see why you'd be tempted to use part of it in a mosaic project, I think it would look very cool. But it doesn't hurt to use it as a planter for a while and then if you get the urge, cut it up after that.

And I just love your garden bench! I'm glad you posted another picture of it. It is coming along beautifully!

Plus I am happy to hear that the bad luck plaguing your area has finally died down!

Keep us posted on the progress of your pieces and feel free to ramble on all you want!

Great finds, cait! Looks like great pcs for your bench! and your "kinda fill up the bench with broken plates" is certainly working!!! What talent - it's wonderful! Glad you are back at it! Have fun!
Jeanne S.

I love love love your bench!!! I was so excited to see that you've done some more work on it.
Great finds too, the cow is great, I love it. I did a mosaic using a cow cup that I found in Woolworths, don't know if you saw it in my Flickr album. I cut it with my wheeled nippers but if you use a saw hopefully you'l come out with 2 usable sides. The planter idea is cute too but I'm a little mosaic obsessed lol, so I'd be more inclined to go with that. Everything I buy is for mosaics these days, even a $90 english dinner set (-: maybe I'm just crazy?! lol.

Here is a link that might be useful: Country cow mosaic wall art

I love your flea market treasures! I have never done molds so I don't know how that works but it looks fun to try(-: I can't wait to see how they work!!!! The bench is beautiful! I love the sunflowers on it of course!!!!

I read that vasoline works well on molds using concrete. I used cooking oil on my molds for the stepping stones and it worked good. But maybe with those enclosed molds...vasoline? Read up on it, I'm a newbie. I never knew there were MOLDS you could buy for gnomes. Live & Learn.

LOVE the mosaic chair. Thats ALOT if work! It looks good to me and after its grouted it will "POP" more.

Pam

THANK YOU ALL!!! HAHAH Yup, I'll ramble on and on. Can't stop a Noo Yawka from gabbin' away!

Marlene - can't belive you could see the chick! I almost missed it cuz the lady selling it had it in a container. Only cost me 50cents! I love chicken things.

Concreteprimroses - thanks for the link. I will certainly let you know how it goes.

Luna - they were $15 for the lot, so $3 each. The guy selling them had $20 for the lot but DH offered $15 and said the guy held out his hand straight away for the money!! HAHAHA Maybe DH shoulda offered $10!! LOL

Jeanne - I think I'm fretting a bit over the bench because I had such clear vision for the back but now I just want to finish it. I actually have ideas but they will take me a bit of time to work out. I always have very difficult ideas in my head and trying to figure out how to execute them drives me crazy. But there are things I feel I must do... now the question is, How? (you like how secretive I'm being? hehehehe)

Ms Dutchy!!!! Did you marry a Dutchy or ARE you a Dutchy??? I married a Dutchy. And you're in PERTH!!! I'm an hour and a half outside of Melly. You do FANTASTIC work!! I also buy a lot from America. There's so much you can buy there and it's cheaper (except for postage) than what you can get here. I'll talk to you more on your intro thread....

Pam - vaseline sounds good. Will let you know how that works.

Worked a bit more on the bench but not enough that it looks like I've done anything. I'm trying to figure out colors. I am V E R Y S L O W. HA!

I'm not sure but I think that silicone doesn't require a release agent. I have a silicone cake pan that I got second hand. As soon as its concrete season here I'm going to try it out for stepping stones.
kathy

Love the large divided tray on the right, with the purple grapes. Kind of makes me regret having sold my entire set of that dinner ware at my garage sale a few years ago. Now I miss the pattern. I did keep a water pitcher and huge serving bowl.

Your finds are great but that bench is awesome!! It will be well worth it when you get it done.
Deb

Dear Sweet Cait:
GRRRRRRRRREAT FINDS !!!!!!!!!
OUT OF THIS *WORLD* Bench !!!!!!!!
Glad that you are safe and back to your
Garden Junking......

Your are a Bright Ray of Sunshine to us !!!!
God Bless !
SusieSunshine

Ha-ha! Thanks Marlene! I was trying to figure out what that little thing was. It is a cute little chicken. I'm sure she'll be great in some mosaic project.

MsDutchy, I can't decide if I love or hate you! lol! I am so envious of your mosaic talent yet I admire you greatly for it. lol! I just love the birdhouse in your album with the little blue bird on the top and the little dress forms.

Great shopping!! Steal on the molds!! Love the colorful dishes! The bench is coming along nicely!!Glad things have settled down there so you can get back to junkin' & finishing your bench! Jan

Cait, my surname is Holland so dutchy is a nickname that my hubby used to have and I kind of stole it.
Luna llena, pleeeease love me, don't hate me lol. Thanks for the lovely compliments on my mosaics.
(((hugs)))
Tracey

Cait1, I have a brother in Melbourne and we might end up living in Tassie in year or two, I'd love to open a little mosaic studio down there, just a dream but one that will hopefully come true some day in the not so distant future.
I haven't bought anything from the US for a while, it was fantastic when our $ was about the same as theirs but not so good at the moment, hopefully it'l pick up again soon and we can start buying again - YAY!! As for the postage I try and get as much stuff as I can that will fit into an $11.95US parcel, I think it holds around 2 or 3 kgs so it works out quite economical to do it that way.
Can't wait to see your seat finished, it's amazing!
(((hugs)))
Tracey

Oh wow, love the cow planter. I wouldn't cut it up. I would display it just as it is. It would be great if you could find a few more cow items to display with it.

The bench is awesome! What a project! It is going to be your pride and joy when you finish it.

Now the molds. I do cement work with molds and I find Vaseline is the way to go. It releases the cement item very easily.

Boy! I wish we found stuff like that around here. Great finds. A big pat on the back for hubby he did an awesome job getting the price down on the molds. What a treasure!

Luna, I hadn't thought of using the chicken in a mosaic.... but now you have my mind whirling!! A part mosiced glass totem bird bath with that chicken off to the side??? Hmmm... THANKS FOR THE IDEA!!!

Tracey - Tassy's GORGEOUS!! But cold. Heck, it get cold here. And your right about our $. I am soooo sorry I didn't buy more stuff from America when both $$ were almost on par. I did get a bit of oceanna glass, though not as much as I should have. DRATS! So where do you get the mosaic pieces now? Still off ebay or are you able to find such goodies locally? Pickens are often slim around here.

Cait, those were unusual, interesting, great finds! That mosaic bench would be impossible (almost) to move if you ever sold your place. So if you ever sell and move, you'll need to charge a whole bunch extra for that fantastic mosaic bench!!! WOW! And the fun you must have doing it ....

It's great to have 2 Aussies here, do you gals have any crafting NZ or Aus friends, if so tell them about GJ? I have put the following link on here in another thread, but just in case y'all didn't get it, check out this NZ woman's garden. Her name is Moosey ...... yes, I said Moosey. Her garden rocks! ~tenderlee

Here is a link that might be useful: New Zealand's Moosey's Country Gardens

Cait, I am addicted to garage sales and swapmeets, that's where I get most of my goodies. I buy some things off ebay but only if it's really cheap or I can pick up locally, the postage usually makes it not worth it.
Sorry I've been a bit slack here, I've been getting ready for my market stall tomorrow, I've been flat out.
(((hugs)))
Tracey

WOW!!! Your mosaic bench is out of this world! Love seeing the progress! And...I'm coming down there to go junking with you (and tour your beautiful gardens)! :o) You always find the neatest treasures. I love the cow piece! Looks like an old cookie jar and would be perfect for a plant! WAY TO GO, Cait! Bear Hugs! Kirk

Looks to me lke your gnomes....are SnowWhite and four of the dwarfs....doe anyone else think so?