Flying with Mosaics

Although my last mosaics are lighter than they were 5 years ago, they still are 5 to 10 times heavier than a painting of the same dimension. 

This may be why galleries do not like mosaics very much: they find them harder to hang on a wall. Actually, there are now easy ways to hand heavy loads on any kind of walls, at a reasonable cost. I'll review these methods in a next post.

An other negative aspect of a mosaic's weight is  Shipping...

Over the past 2 years, I have sold 4 mosaics in France. Shipping them would have been very expensive, so I simply travelled with them. I carried an extra piece of luggage with my mosaics in it.

As long as you keep the total of added dimensions under 64" (160 cm) and the weight under 50 lb (23 kg, it costs $100.00 for one additional suitcase on a transatlantic flight. 

I have reduced the weight by 70 % by building my mosaics on fiberglass mesh. All that travels with me are the Tesserae glued on a very light mesh. No concrete, no backing board. I now have in France a small studio where I mount my mosaics on their final support and frame them.

Mosaicblues French Studio, Dec 2014

The important point is to pack them very carefully. 

Here are the 4 pieces flying to France with me mid-July 2015.

From top to bottom and left to right : 2 Green Eyes Girls, Carlotta, and the Pomegranate Tree. These 4 pieces are reverse method, so what you are now seeing are their backs. 

I built a wooden crate / suitcase for them. The contour of the crate was made of 3/4 " (19mm) yellow pine wood, the sides of 1/4" (6 mm) plywood, reinforced with fiberglass mesh. 

I placed a sheet of 1/2" (12 mm) insulation foam at the bottom and placed "Carlotta", sandwiched inside an envelope of tar paper on top of the foam.

I slightly sprayed the mosaic with water to increase its flexibility and I placed an other layer of 1/2" foam on top of Carlotta.

I then installed "Pomegranate Tree" on top, also wrapped in tar paper.

Covered it with more insulation...

I placed the 2 Green eyes Girls over this. 

And covered them with another foam sheet. 

I have some space left, which I'll use for various goodies to bring back home (Mexican Chorizzo among other things...)

Next Month I'll tell you more about each one of these pieces coming with me to France...
 

I am a modern mosaic artist with a deep admiration for ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine Arts. You can see my own mosaics on my site at mosaicblues. 

If you are interested by my work or would like to drop me a line please contact me by email at frederic.lecut@gmail.com or by phone at (334) 798 1639. 

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