Visit the Shop

Ever wondered how mosaicists work ?

Here is an amateur video of the shop. I made it myself and I am more talented at mosaics than I am at videos... There is room for improvement and I am hopeful to improve. I plan to add technical videos to this blog in 2014. 

Hope you enjoy the visit... 

Most of my mosaics are visible on my site Mosaicblues. If you are interested in one existing piece, in commissioning a specific mosaic, or simply in discussing the art of mosaics please contact me at frederic.lecut@gmail.com or by phone at (334) 798 1639. I would love to share my passion with you !

Green Eyes Video

Here is a short video presentation of Green Eyes, who departed from Headland to Dubai in December 2013. Please be indulgent with the quality, I made it myself and I am more talented with mosaics than with videos ! But I intend to improve !

Green Eyes is the first of a popular series of Eyes mosaics I started to work on in 2011. 

I have made and sold several other eyes mosaics since her.

Eva Green's Eyes  (Eva's Eyes) 

and 

Tuareg's Eyes 

are presently available for sale. 

I am presently working on Sean Connery's Eyes

and on another veiled woman's eyes

If you are interested in one of these mosaics, or in commissioning on piece, please contact me at frederic.lecut@gmail.com or by phone at (334) 798 1639. You can also drop me a line in the comments window below this post. I would love to share my passion for mosaics with you !

Sean's eyes

I finally laid the last tesserae of Sean's Eyes.

Sean's eyes is made following the reverse method. It is built upside down, then glued to a support, then flipped. The picture you see here is a mirror image of the finished product to be !

The reversed method is much more labor intensive than the direct method, but it allows a greater choice of materials of different thickness. Its results are also in my opinion much more beautiful ! 

Sean's Eyes is 14 x 50 inches (35 x 125 cm). It is made of stones, ceramics and glasses.

Sean's Eyes is part of my popular series of Eyes Mosaics.  Sean's eyes will be available next year. Eva's eyes and Tuareg's eyes are presently available for sale. 

If you are interested in one of these, or in commissioning a special piece for you, you can contact me at frederic.lecut@gmail.com or by phone at (334) 798 1639.

You can also contact me for any other reason related to my work. I'd love to share my dreams with you !

Visit the Mosaicblues Workshop

Visit the Mosaicblues Workshop in Headland, AL.

I built the building about 8 years ago (Outside RED paint courtesy of my good friend Travis Page - a story I might tell you one day... ) when i got tired to work on my deck in the winter...

Even in Alabama, the wind can get cold !

A creative place only can be messy - in my opinion - And this one is. Treasures of Tools, Stones and various Materials picked up everywhere around the world accumulates.

But this is my shop, it is the only one I have, and so it is the best shop in the world !

The stuff of Mosaic : Stones

Stones are classified base on 2 criteria : how they are made, and what composes them.

Stones were formed a long time ago according to 3 different processes

1 - Born of fire : the Igneous Stones.

These are stones that were once very hot and liquid and cooled down underground. Their grains look like small flecks typically spread consistently throughout stone. They are hard (cannot be scratched by steel) and dense.

Granite is a typical igneous stone used in mosaic. 

Blue Granite

2 - Sedimentary Stones

These stones are formed through the compacting of grains or pieces of any kind of existing rock material. These existing rocks may have been weathered, transported, deposited and then cemented over millions of years by the movement of the earth’s tectonic plates. Sedimentary stones sometimes contain fossils or other distinct features formed at the time of deposition.

Limestones and Travertines are sedimentary stones used in mosaic.

Raw travertine

Gold Travertine

3 - Metamorphic Stone – “Changed in Structure”

They were formed at extremely high pressures and temperatures but did not melt like igneous stones did. The presence of swirls, linear patterns or banding is a key characteristic of metamorphic stones

Marble, Agates, and Slate are metamorphic stones used in mosaic. 

Raw agate

4 slates.

Marble.

2 . Mineral Composition of Stones

Stones basically made of 2 different stuffs  : Silicate (Silicium Oxyde SiO₂₎ and Calcium Carbonate (CaCO₃)

21 - Silicates

These stones are made mostly of quartz-like particles called silica. They are very hard, durable and generally acid resistant.

Granites, Flint and Slates are Silicates used in mosaic. 

22 - Calcium Carbonates 

The minerals in these stones were formed under pressure over millions of years from the bodies of tiny fossilized creatures. These stones are softer, less durable than silicates and acid sensitive.

Limestones, Marbles and Travertines are Calcium Carbonates used in mosaic.

 

 

 

Tesshu's Tiger - Travertine and Granite

Mon Mosaics

 

Mon (紋), also monshō (紋), mondokoro (紋所), and kamon (家紋), are Japanese emblems used to decorate and identify an individual or family. 

 

Mon Mosaic, Jikishin Kai, 12 x 12", Granite, Marble

While mon is an encompassing term that may refer to any such device, kamon and mondokoro refer more specifically to emblems used to identify a family.

 

Mon Mosaic, Shogun, 12 x 12" Marble, Travertine, Granite

On the battlefield, mon served as army standards. They were also displayed on Tents and Equipment.

Mon were also adapted by various organizations, such as merchant and artisan guilds, temples and shrines, theater troupes and even criminal gangs. In an illiterate society, they served as useful symbols for recognition.

Mon mosaic, Hakko Ryu, 12 x 12", ceramic, granite, Travertine

Above are 3 mosaics of Mon I realized. I am available to realize one of your choice to display in your home or Dojo. 

You can contact me by e-mail or on Facebook 

 

The Kids II - Completed

I just realized I had not posted the completed piece  - Aaron and Nathalie's kids...

So here we are ! Cover your eyes !

 

This piece is 24 x 24 " totally made of glass and mirror tesserae.

It takes me about 3 month to realize such a piece from a picture sent to me. There is quite a while spent in preparation work, editing the picture, posterizing it, selecting back grounds... In the case of this piece, I took 2 different pictures of the 2 children and merged them. I was pleased with the results, so were the proud Mom and Dad

UBI TU GAIUS, EGO GAIA

The Romans had various forms of marriages, Generally, the first part of the ceremony took place at the house of the bride's paterfamilias where the bride's parents would hand over the bride to the groom. There would be happen some important verbal exchange. 

The bride would tell the groom :  

"Ubi tu Gaius, ego Gaia," 

"Where you are Gaius, I am Gaia." 

And the groom would reply :

"Ubi tu Gaia, ego Gaius"  

"Where you are Gaia, I am Gaius."

The pronuba, matron of honor, would then join the couple's hands. The marriage was now legally valid, and more festivities followed.

The ceremony could take place even if the groom was not able to be present. In that event, he would send a letter with his part of the verbal exchange.

        I am presently working on a mosaic on this theme - Pure Classical Roman style - no flashing colours, only natural tones of the kind the Roman mosaicists used up to the 3rd century - after which they started to use glass tesserae)

This is going to be my first mosaic of a pure Classical Roman style in a long time. The last one I did was the Labyrinth table - it was about 7 or 8 years ago. I came to mosaics because of my love of Roman archaeology, so this is a great pleasure to be working on such a project !

You can see on the picture above how I am - again - using the reverse method for this piece. Although this process is slightly more difficult to handle than the direct laying, I like the result much better ! It is also the only way for me to use materials of various thickness. 

Roman Marriage

 

More to come on this piece...

 

Kids II

So this is  a commission work for Mother's Day.  I completed the layout of tesserae this afternoon and pre-grouted the back of the piece.

It has been an interesting project as there was no original picture of the kids together so I had to combine 2 different pictures (no, I did not "Photoshop" them, because Photoshop is too complicated for me, I generally now use Gimp which is quite user friendly, and free )...

In a later post I will provide additional pictures of the whole process; for now I cannot publish the pictures as we do not want the Kid's Mom might to find out, for it is a surprise !

The piece is 24" x 24" (about 60 x 60 cm). It does not include any stone, ceramic or porcelain and is totally made of Glasses or Mirrors.

Mada's Wave

Mada's Wave is a creation of Mathilde Lecut. She reproduced one of her Black and White drawings of waves and flowers.

Mada's Wave is using Golden Travertine. In a rather unusual way, the grout here is used as a major component of the piece. It is not only used to fill up the interstices between tesserae, but as major part of the  piece. 

Work in Process...

Pebble Tree

 

For Pebble Tree I played with materials cruder than the polished glass, smalti or ceramics tesserae most mosaicists use. River pebbles, wood looking ceramics and roughly cut  or tumbled stones. 

 

The result is remarkable. The light caught by the pebbles beautifully mimics the foliage of a tree under the caress of the wind.

 

Pebble tree's is 24 x 36” (66 x 99 cm), and mounted in a steel frame.

Tuareg eyes

The Tuareg (also spelled Twareg or Touareg) are a Berber people with a traditionally nomadic pastoralist lifestyle. They are the principal inhabitants of the Sahara desert of North Africa.

The Tuareg's Eyes Mosaic is 59 x 14" (150 x 35 cm) it is made of ceramics, granite, marbles and glasses.

Tuareg - Original picture.

 

 

 

Hidden Dragon

Tesshu's Dragon is a mosaic rendering of Yamaoka Tesshu's Dragon Calligraphy.

Yamaoka Tesshū 山岡 鉄舟, (1836 – 1888) was a famous samurai who played an important role in the Meiji Restoration. He also was a Kendo Master the founder of the Itto Shoden Muto-ryu school of swordsmanship, a Shodo (Calligraphy) Master, and a Zen Master. 

In Taoism, the couple Tiger - Dragon is another symbol for the Yin-Yang Symbol - Tiger generally being the Yang, fiery aspect, and Dragon, the Yin earthy aspect.

This mosaic was commissionned by my friend Yoko, a Japanese swordswoman and massage therapist in Pensacola, Florida.  Tesshu's Dragon as well as its sister Tesshu's Tiger are made of Travertine and black granite, they both measure 18 x 50". 

Crouching Tiger

Tesshu's Tiger is a mosaic rendering of Yamaoka Tesshu's Calligraphy "Tiger.

Yamaoka Tesshū 山岡 鉄舟, (1836 – 1888) was a famous 19th century samurai. He played an important role in the Meiji Restoration and among other things negotiated with Saigo Takamori better known as "the last Samurai". Tesshu also was a Kendo Master the founder of the Itto Shoden Muto-ryu school of swordsmanship, a Shodo (Calligraphy) Master, and a Zen Master. 

In Taoism, the couple Tiger - Dragon is another symbol for the Yin-Yang Symbol - Tiger generally being the Yang, fiery aspect, and Dragon, the Yin earthy aspect.

Tesshu's Tiger was commissionned by my friend Yoko, a gifted Japanese swordswoman and massage therapist in Pensacola, Florida.  Tesshu's Tiger as well as its sister Tesshu's Dragon is made of Travertine and black granite, it measures 18 x 50". 

Although these pieces were sold, I can reproduce them for you.

Green River

Green River is a small piece - 12 x 36 " I played with multicolored slates, and travertines that reminded me of rocks in the mountains. I used green mirror and blue glass for the stream. The whole idea being that of an alpine torrent.

The last wild river we have in France is the Durance, You can find gorgeous stones in its bed, I brought quite a few of them from my last trip to France and will use them one day...

The Art of Healing : A Visual Arts Benefits

The Afghan Girl's Eyes  and Maribel's Eyes  have been selected into The Art of Healing : A Visual Arts Benefits of the Southeast Alabama Medical Center Foundation.

The show will be held this coming June at the Wiregrass Museum of Art

Both pieces are for sale. I am presently working on two other pairs of eyes, and am available to take commissions...

Firegrass

I am presently working on 5 pieces. 

TUAREG is almost complete, it is framed, and will soon be published.

You have seen Tesshu's calligraphies : Dragon and Tiger.

Another Pair of Eyes is on the bench, as is a portrait of 2 kids - a Mother's day commission - which I won't be able to show until after Mother's Day ! 

FIREGRASS is a small piece - about 12 x 30" -  I am using the reversed method to allow for the various thickness of glasses, mirrors and marbles.

Firegrass - February 28, 2013

Working on several pieces at the same time is a good idea if you have space for this. It allows to let the glue settle on one piece while you work on another one. This is specially valuable in winter when the glue does not dry up as fast as in the Summer. It allows better progress.

Coral Snake

Coral Snake is a small piece I made in 2012  

It is  12 x 12" (30 x 30 cm). It is made out of bright orange and teal glasses, chocolate marble and a beige  translucent sort of alabaster.

Like many other pieces I made Coral Snake using the reversed method. Because I use materials of various thickness, the piece has to be built upside down.

Here are some pictures of its making

The whole piece before applying the thinset and support

Details of the snake

Crouching Dragon...

Tonight, I completed the laying of the Tesserae of Yamaoka Tesshu's Tiger and Dragon Mosaics. It has been raining so much since last night, that the glue is having a hard time drying up...

There is still lots of work left. Next thing to do will be to pre-grout - then to glue the support on top, after that flip the pieces and finish them. Depending upon what they look like, I may decide to not use any grout. I have not made up my mind yet. 

These are reproductions of Calligraphies by 19th century Kendo and Calligraphy Master Yamaoka Tesshu. 

Each piece is 20 x 49", materials are Travertine, Granite, and Porcelain.