Mosaics 🐠 ✂️
A little bit of this and a little bit of that
I think I may have completed a basic mosaic project when I was a child, but I don’t have any proof, so I consider this a new experience. My local art center offered a day-long workshop that promised we would all leave at the end of the class with a finished tile. Since I don’t remember the experience that I may or may not have had, I had no idea what to expect. It seems I missed the memo about bringing an idea for a design with me to class so I found myself searching on my phone once I arrived for “easy mosaic projects” and scrolling until I found a fish that looked easy enough.
Our teacher, an expert at mosaics, (technically a mosaicist), talked to us first about the history of mosaics and tools and techniques we could use on our project. We also learned about what makes a good design.
We started sketching our design onto tile board and then selected tiles we wished to use. Using special snippers and sandpaper, we cut many tiles into the appropriate shapes and glued them into place with caulk. Since the tiles often went flying when cut, we all wore safety glasses. When our designs were in place, we left them to dry for about an hour.
Next, we plopped a big pile of grout on top of our designs and wiped it into place, trying hard not to disturb any of our barely dry tiles. When all tiles were grouted and we wiped away the excess, we gave a final polish to the tops of all tiles to get rid of any remaining residue.
I am fairly happy with this Dabble experience and would do it again. One consideration though is the tiny glass pieces and sometimes very fine slivers that are produced when cutting glass tiles. I would not recommend doing this someplace where small children are around. In my case, I do not want to do it somewhere my dogs might step. This means I will have to do it outdoors and away from areas they might walk.
What do you think? Have you tried mosaics? Was it a one time thing or are you a mosaicist? I’d love to know! 🤔
Bottles to Glasses (one of my more unsuccessful Dabbles:)
Knife Skills (because this provides another opportunity to get cut)
Kitsugi (closely related because it involves gluing broken pieces into something beautiful)
Try to make a mosaic. If you don’t want to buy special equipment or cut glass, you can simply find a mosaic design online for inspiration, get some colored paper, and cut or tear the paper into tile-like pieces and glue into place.
