For my Mum’s birthday present (big birthday) I made a mosaic table top inspired by an ebony and mother of pearl Chinese style sewing box, which has been in the family a long time. The mosaic is made from glass tiles and broken crockery and black 1980’s glassware, which proved absolutely fiendish to work with, but worth it in the end. The table came from a local bring and take recycling event – so, free, which is always good. The mosaic is about 14 x 16 inches. …BTW, I photographed it outside for the daylight, but it’s very much an indoor mosaic. The writing in the corner is hbba, Happy Birthday Barbara Anne and my initials.
Here’s a commission I did for a great traveler. (It’s not a bent mosaic, it’s two photos stuck together.) I imagined him on a beach, perhaps the coast of Africa. The original title was ‘Plenty Of Feet Around The Fire’, which I liked as a aural pun, but I was vetoed, or feetoed, I suppose. I made it by gluing it face down (i.e. mirror image wise) onto brown paper and then transferring it pre-grouted to a cemented board. It’s big, about 5 x 5 feet, and made to hang outside in mostly ceramic mosaic tiles. Underneath, this was the drawing to show what I was aiming for. I think the mosaic is now in Canada with its owner, and I hope brings a flavour of adventure in a happy settled life.
Hmm, smalti – little chunks of pure colourful expensive opaque glass. Sweeties, they look so sort of toffee like they make you want to bite them (but don’t, obviously). The grandest mosaics are made of smalti, or actual marble or precious stones. It also has a bit of stained glass in it here and there. This is a 50th wedding anniversary present, there’s a hidden code, the oblongs (years) at the right hand side overlap onto the next row (because they were married in April), and each red square is a child, or a grandchild, set into the year he or she was born. This is 12 inches square, and just pure amazing colour. Also available in subtle.
Rocket Shed was the name of my comedy club, awww… those were the days [nostalgic sigh]. Anyway, where was I, yes, this mosaic was made using a little mirror for the rocket and the stars, and both glass and ceramic tiles. If you know a man or a woman who makes rockets in their shed (literally or metaphorically) then I could happily make this again. And they could check their face for grease before coming back into the house. It’s 19.5 inches square edge to edge. Here it is in the sunshine.
I enjoyed particularly the random nature of taking a hammer to a mirror and working with the shards, letting them dictate the form of the pattern. I also like the way it looks different in different light. I didn’t enjoy the many little cuts all over my fingers…The mosaic is made on a board with a built in frame, neat, but I think on balance I prefer no frame. It’s about 14 inches in diameter.
Here’s a mosaic I designed and made using sketches done by the pupils of a Primary School in Islington. It was a project under the auspices of the Islington Schools Environment Project, with lots of practical help rendering the bricks and so on. The children had studied the water cycle and I gave them coloured pencils to make designs with, hence the squirly scribbly sketchiness of the colouring – I tried to be as true as possible to the original. The water coming from the clouds down (or from the tank up to form clouds, depending how you look at it) were too spindly to do onto the brick directly, so I incorporated fake bricks into the design. It took ages to make, in pieces, face down, so mirror image wise. It’s made entirely in glass mosaic, with white and grey grout. Hope it still makes the pupils think as they drink.
My Sketch for the project
Pupil Galun’s drawing
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