Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Mosaic Journey Part 1

I thought it might be fun to show you the process I go through while I am creating one of my mosaics. This will be a step-by-step article that will take several parts to complete so I am beginning with part one.

I guess you could say I have a process that I go through with each and every one of the mosaics I have made. Sometimes the ideas come quickly and everything works, while other times I may decide to dump the whole idea or completely change it midway through.

First, I choose a theme or pick something as an inspiration piece. In this case it was the cute little bright pink flamingo I bought at one of the stores here in town. You can see most of it at the left corner on this picture next to the jar of pink dishtiles. It is definitely a whimsical piece so that indicates to me the direction I am going (a little more bling, a little more fun).

Next, I begin to add different elements such as beads, jewelry, tiles, gems, etc. that I think I may want to use with this design. I just sort of lay it all out on the floor and see what goes together. After I get a feel for the way this design is going I try to envision the end result. This helps me to determine the shape I want for the wood base. Once I pencil it onto a piece of 1/2" plywood my husband cuts it out for me and then I paint the back. I have found that it works best if you paint it now rather than wait until it's finished as some of the pieces may protrude and could get knocked off.


Now it's time to decide on what shape of mirror I want to use. In this case the oval was my choice as it goes well with the rounded edges of the base and I love the scalloped bevel.

I center it , then draw around it with a pen in case it moves while I'm working. I may take it off during certain steps as I don't want it to scratch.


Now I am ready to create. I keep my cutters handy in case I need to make one of the tiles fit better . I also use them to cut the glass tiles into certain shapes for a particular design. I will show more of this process in future posts.

My last step before I actually get down to the business of making this mosaic is to play around with the various focal pieces to see how they balance out in the design.


This is the conclusion of Part 1. Please stop back by for part 2 of this journey in the making of my mosaics. Feel free to comment or even ask questions. I look forward to it.



1 comment:

Marlaine said...

How cool that your are doing this. I can hardly wait to see the next steps!