Let There Be Light!

A better picture. Here you can see the difference between outdoor light verses the previous picture using indoor lighting. This also has implications for design of mosaics, as the color selection is critical. (I wish I had used a different color for the head of the fish, but I only have a limited amount of inventory - this being my first real project.)

The design plan is in place. It's simply a matter of completing the laying of the tessarae. However, I'm trying to decide if the background should be all water or should I have a sandy bottom? The major issue, however, is what color of grout to use. Standard colors are White, Grey, and Black. I'm trying to decide between Grey or Black.

The grout can make or break the design, so it's a big issue. I'd be very upset if I put in 100 hours worth of work, grout the tiles, and then ruin the mosaic because I chose the wrong grout color. It happens, so I'm told. Because of that I'll probably cogitate about grout colors for quite awhile.

Now, if I just had the resources to build a new studio with ceiling lights and big windows on the east, south, and west.

If you're wondering what the green thingys are, they are leaves from a water plant. The stems and trunks will be grout lines. I'll try to take a close up picture and post that, so you can see how the grout lines - the spaces between the tiles - can become part of the picture, rather than an artifact of having to use small tiles.

An Update

This is an update on my progress. The photograph really fails to show the colors as they are - I need a professional, or better lighting, to take the picture. Hopefully, when I do have it done, I can get get a photograph taken by someone who knows what they are doing. I would estimate that this has taken be about 30-40 hours worth of work.

The Workshop

This is my workshop. I constructed the shelves and the benches. There are shelves off to the right that have drawers. I put in as much light as I could short of hiring an electrician to put in some more overhead lighting. There are no windows as this is actually my garage, but I have florescent and incadescent lighting. Probably the best light is the architects light I purchased at K-Mart for about 20 bucks.

It gets a little chilly, so I have a small electric space heater off the right side.

One thing that I really need to do is to install a row of shelves off to the left and purchase some clear plastic containers with lids so that I can keep my tessarae organized. Right now I'm using clear plastic cups, but I don't have much so its not a problem.

I've completed the fish of my latest project and am starting on the background. I'll post a picture of it in a few days. One problem I have is that the camera flash messes up the mosaic, making it look much different than it really is. I'll need some lessons in photography, I think, in order to do it justice on the photograph, therefore the 'delay' in posting it.

A Second Attempt

My new project. This time with a plan - plans are good, thats my first lesson, and I wont forget it. I have a drawing too, the one I'm working from, but I don't know how to post more than two pictures at one time, so you'll have to imagine it, I guess.

Through the generous donation of a friend, this current project is 'sold'. He doesn't have any idea what I'm making, and he's not seen my first attempt, thankfully. I'm baffeled by his willingness to purchase something sight unseen, knowing that I've never done this before. The justification, he says, is because the first works of a great artist are always worth the most. I didn't have the heart to tell him that he was suffering from some sort of dementia. If I'm somehow able to pull it off, I don't have the heart to tell him that it'll cost 2,000.

While starting with a plan was prudent, it is far from a guarantee that it will work out. The colors could end up being wrong, the design may not work, the grout may be the wrong color, or the wrong texture. The spaces between the tesserae may be too close or too far apart. I may not have prepared the base correctly or the tiles may pop off. The list of potential troubles is endless. But I'm hopeful and far from discouraged.

The Non-Starter First Attempt

This is my first attempt at a mosaic, which I never finished. It ended up being two different pieces on one board - the consequence of no planning. Actually, I like both, the "Fish in the Water" and the "Bird in the Bush", but they don't work together very good. There are two reasons for this. First, the 'fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants' approach, while creatively satsifying initially, just led to confusion and frustration in the end. From now on, I'll have a plan before I start sticking stuff to wood. The second problem was the water. The blue of the splashing water around the tail of the unfinished fish, was tonally too bright. Your eyes are immediately drawn to what was intended to be background. Therefore, for two good reasons, the project wont work. Thats my opinion and it carries absolutely no weight whatsoever, considering my extensive experience in this artform.

If you agree or disagree, I'd look forward to your comments.

Stone and Wood

I started with what I had in the house - left over ceramic floor tiles and scrap 3/4 in plywood. There was the glue I needed to buy (acquired at Lowe's) and the grout, I bought those. And the tile pinchers or nippers or whatever they're called, also needed to be purchased. Those I found at my local hardware store. The ones with the spring and the plastic coated handle seemed best.

My plan was to just start gluing stuff and see what happened. My floor tile, the remains of two former tiling projects, were 16 x 16 in and 1/4 thick. I had dark bronze colored ones and light, sort of a creamy white colored ones. Using a sledge hammer, I broke one tile of each color into small pieces. They broke like a piece of glass, angled and curved with some chips and powdered fragments. Then with a small hammer, I broke the larger pieces into a more manageable size.

Breaking the tiles was very satisfying, particularly after a long day at work.

After that, I just started sticking pieces onto the wood in a pattern that I thought was appealing. First I would lay several out next to each other, in the way that seemed to look the best. Then I would add a small amount of glue to the back of the pieces and stuck them on the plywood.

I was particularly pleased with the swooping curve from upper left to the lower right. If you look carefully, there's sort of a bird-like image in the right lower corner. I didn't really plan on that, it just happened. Actually, I didn't plan on anything, and that led to trouble later on.

I'll post a picture of the 'final' product, which remains unfinished, because of a fatal flaw.

The Original

Heres a pic of my first attempt, not completed, un-grouted. I didn't have a plan before I started, which, as you'll find out, was a fatal flaw.