Mosaics: My Other Love

Ceramics and mosaics are like two different parts of the brain to me.  In clay I tend to think in 3-D, with curves and textures and details.  In glass tile mosaics, I stretch to think in 2-D, which comes less naturally for me.  I have to restrain and often tone down my designs, because the grout lines and varieties in glass color create enough visual complexity without me adding a complicated design.

This was my first mosaic table, a Christmas gift for my now-husband, who loves tea.  We had this coffee table, but the glass in the middle broke and so I cut a board to size and created this design.

This was my second table, a year later.  I snagged a perfectly good free table from somebody's curbside, and it was our dinner table for about six months before I gave its white vinyl surface a makeover.

Both tables are currently gracing the living rooms of my closest friends, since we have no room for them where we are living now.  Plus, after I live with my art for a while, I like to see it out enriching other people's lives.  I can't keep every artwork I make!

Large mosaic projects like this drain me of a substantial amount of energy.  It takes over a month for me to go through this process:

• develop the design
• choose the colors (a "blue" area will have at least 3 shades)
  
• order and prep the materials
• refine the design after I get the uncut tiles on the surface--often I find I need to tweak lines
  
• cutting and gluing the tiles
  
• grouting
• cleaning and sealing

When I finish, I am totally uninterested in ever doing it again.  But after a few months or a year, I get that itch again and find myself on a mosaic tile website.  My current favorite to order from is Mosaic Art Supply. I am ready to start a new project soon.