The Eyes are the Scouts of the Heart

Inspiration is a funny thing. A good friend of mine advised me to specialize in eyes mosaics after he'd read an article about Lover's Eyes. I thought the idea was interesting and a challenging one !  So I went to work and am really enjoying this ! I have a great number of eyes on the bench ! And intend to produce quite a few more, every piece is an experiment, this is so interesting, I am really enjoying doing and sharing this ! 

And then, as I was researching for a different purpose 12th century French Fabliaux, I fell upon a quote I had read a while ago, by Joseph Campbell about the way French Troubadour - Guiraut de Borneilh (c. 1138-1200) described how the EYES are the first helpers of the Heart in search of Love...

Eva

So through the eyes love attains the heart:
For the eyes are the scouts of the heart,
And the eyes go reconnoitering
For what it would please the heart to possess.
And when they are in full accord
And firm, all three, in one resolve,
At that time, perfect love is born
From what the eyes have made welcome to the heart.
Not otherwise can love either be born or have commencement
Than by this birth and commencement moved by inclination.

Maribel

By the grace and by command
Of these three, and from their pleasure,
Love is born, who its fair hope
Goes comforting her friends.
For as all true lovers
Know, love is perfect kindness,
Which is born - there is no doubt - from the heart and eyes.
The eyes make it blossom; the heart matures it:
Love, which is the fruit of their very seed.

Sean

So not only do the eyes tell us a lot about a person. They also have a major and active role in the search of Love !

And THIS is an other good thing about this eyes mosaicing of mine !

If you are interested in my Mosaic Eyes,  or would simply like to learn more about mosaic, please contact me by email at frederic.lecut@gmail.com, or by phone at (334) 798 1639. I have several Eyes available, and also take commissions of new Eyes ! It takes approximately 2 month to realize the mosaic after we complete its design together.

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Framed with Steel

My mosaics are now generally framed with Steel. Steel is strong, and prevents warping of these long and narrow pieces. In addition, if a piece falls the steel frame will prevent it from being shattered. 

 

Eva's eyes fell from the top of a shelf about 7 foot high. Because of its steel frame, it was just slightly cracked and I could easily repair the damages. However, the table it fell on did not appreciate the impact...

Although in a previous life I have worked with quite a few amazing welders, I would not want to disgrace my mosaics by wrapping them in a frame of my welding.

If you want things well done, call a professional...

Eddy Farmer welds my mosaics frames. Eddy is a great welder, and a good man. Here we are standing on both sides of Sean's Eyes.

Sean's Eyes, before flipping.

Eddy and I  have known each other since I first came to America 24 years ago. We built various things together for 10 years until our ways split in 2001. We met again 7 years ago when he started to work for an other one of my friends.

We cannot achieve much without help from other people. It is very important to stay aware of this, and be thankful for those people who participate in our works.

Eva's Eyes is now available; Sean's Eyes will be available in May 2014. If you would like to know more about these pieces or are interested in a commission, please contact me by phone at (334) 798 1639 or by email at frederic.lecut@gmail.com .

You can also 

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Eva's Eyes

I just realized today that I had completed quite a few pieces and never had published them. 

So here is the first of them : 

Eva's Eyes was completed in October 2012. Made of glasses, ceramics and granite, this piece is 14 x 54 inches (35 x135 cm). The frame is metallic.

French actress and model Eva Green was born on 1980. She achieved fame by appearing as Princess Sybilla in Kingdom of Heaven (2005), and as Vesper Lynd in the James Bond film Casino Royale (2006).

 

Reversed method

Most of my mosaics are made according to the reverse - or inverted method. I build them upside down, glue them on their support then flip them.

There are several reasons to do that :

When you work with materials of different thickness, and you want a flat , smooth result, this practically is the only solution.

It is also, in my opinion, results in a smoother  mosaic than the direct method.

The drawbacks are that you do not see exactly what you are doing, the colors of materials may be very different. Mirrors, for example, are usually grey or blue in the back. Stones are usually not polished on both sides, and the unpolished side is generally of a very different color ...

Here is an example of a piece right before and right after its flipping in August 2012. Remember than one is the mirror image of the other. You can see how the black granite looks very different in both pictures  Usually, non polished stones have much duller colors - but at times, the colors may be totally different from one side to the other... This is the case for some porcelains  and of most mirrors.

Eva's Eyes is mostly made of granite and ceramics. I will publish it in a few weeks when I have completed it. Once a piece is flipped, there are still quite a few hours to clean it up, grout it and frame it.