Completing Carola Quinta - the last cuts.

I am presently completing Carola Quinta, the fifth of my Opus Pixellatum series of Carole's eyes. I only have 3 to 4 % of the tiles left to lay, but they will take about 10 % of the total laying time.

I have used in this piece the 3 Opus Pixellatum and Tesselatum and Sextile techniques. Tessellatum is perfect for the curvy vines growing on top of the background layer. The bottom boulders (I harvested on the parking lot of the riding trail ...) qualify as Sextile.

Green boulders at the bottom right corner.

Because of these irregular and spiral shapes, I have to cut some of my small square tesserae to fit the curves. This accounts for the extra time spent in the completing stage of this piece which should be available in August after I come back from visiting some Romans sites in France next month.  

I am a French mosaicist.

In 1992 I made Alabama his home.

  My Art is about inspiring People.

You can contact me either 

by phone at (334) 798 1639 or by email at 

frederic.lecut@mosaicblues.com

You can also subscribe to my

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Premiere Vision - CARLOTTA

Une fois n'est pas coutume. This post is in French. 

Ce 14 juillet, j'ai ramene en France avec moi 4 mosaiques. Montees sur toile de verre dans mon atelier de Headland, en Alabama, ces 4 pieces incluent "Carlotta", Pomegranate  - le Grenadier (l'arbre, pas celui de Flandres) et 2 nouvelles editions de "Green Eyes". 

Vous voyez ici l'envers des mosaiques collees sur la toile.

Le montage des mosaiques sur toile permet d'en reduire le poids pour le voyage.

A notre arrivee en France, je realisai les supports a coller sur les mosaiques. 

J'enduisis les mosaiques de ciment colle, 

Et collai ces supports sur les mosaiques - c'est ce que nous appelons la methode indirecte, ou les mosaiques sont au depart realisees a l'envers.

Je partis alors en Irlande boire les quelques Guinness necessaires pour laisser au ciment-colle le temps de bien prendre...

Et de retour en Picardie filmai l'operation de la separation de la toile de verre de la mosaique elle-meme..

Je suis un mosaiciste francais etabli des deux cotes de l'Atlantique, en Alabama, et en Picardie. J'ai une grande admiration pour les arts Grec, Romain et Byzantins. Vous pouvez voir mes mosaiques sur mon site mosaicblues. 

Si vous aimez mon travail, avez des questions ou souhaitez simplement parler un peu, vous pouvez me contacter par email a  frederic.lecut@gmail.com ou par telephone au 001 334 798 1639. 

 

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Mosaic Glasses

Last October I introduced to you Dolce & Gabbana's 2013 collection inspired by Italian Byzantine mosaics.

In 2014, the same company introduced on the market a collection of eye glasses frames decorated from Millefiori glass.

Here is a lovely, very well done video about these. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. 

I am a modern mosaic artist with a deep admiration for ancient Greek, Roman and Byzantine Arts. I share my passion in my newsletter, as well as the work of other more modern mosaicists working with traditional or non-traditional media.

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. 

You can also

(and I recommend it !)

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The Luana Mosaic - Videos

In 2014 I designed and executed a portrait of a talented young musician. The design was inspired by Renaissance Painter Alessandro Botticelli famous painting "Primavera".

This short video below simply shows the evolution of the faces from the original Renaissance painting by Alessandro Botticelli to the final mosaic. 

If you are interested in more details of the execution, this other video shows more views of the actual execution of this piece. 

Portraits make outstanding Birthday or Anniversary presents and mosaics last forever ! If you would like to discuss or commission a portrait, or any other type of mosaic, please call me at (334) 798 1639 or drop me an email at  frederic.lecut@gmail.com

You can also Subscribe to my Newsletter to get the last news about Materials, Techniques and Sources of Inspiration of modern and antique Mosaic Artists and Patrons !

How to video : Lay your tesserae - Reverse method.

In this short video I demonstrate how to lay your tesserae.  (the little blocks of stones we learned how to make in the 2 previous videos)

We are using the reverse method here: the tesserae's shiny polished face is glued to the model, upside down. so what we see while building the mosaic is actually a mirror image of the final mosaic.

Once all the tesserae are placed, a rigid support is glued with thinset mortar on top of them and left it to set for 36 hours minimum. Then the whole thing is flipped, and the model removed from the top; there appears the final mosaic for the first time ! This will be the object of future videos. 

With a special appearance of Mugen, great destroyers of foxes, grand destructeurs des renards.

Music by the Mokurai Roosters

How to Video : Cut your own stone tesserae.

In this short video I am showing how to cut short cubes (The "tesserae") out of the long strips of materials we cut in the previous video. These tesserae are the actual building blocks of all traditional mosaics. 

As explained in the video, the tools I am using here, the small anvil - the "Hardie", and the special hammer - the "Martelina" are the same tools our Roman ancestors were using to cut their tesserae.

Wearing eyes protection is extremely important. When you work in a dry environment, or cut in a wet environment with a non continuously rimmed blade, stone, ceramic and glass may break and project in small cutting shards that can be very damaging to your eyes. One of these sliced my nose 2 weeks ago when cutting ceramic tiles. A nice little cut on the nose that bled for quite a while. I just do not want to imagine the damage that would have done to my eyes had I not be wearing goggles.

Practice...

How to Video : Cutting long strips of granite.

In this short video I am showing how cut long strips of materials which you will later use to cut small cubes (the "tesserae) that are the building blocks of all traditional mosaics. 

I am using here a classic black granite tile with a thickness of 3/8" (9mm). The tile saw I am using here is fit with a diamond blade. It would cut diverse materials : granite, marble, slate, ceramic, porcelain, glass as thick as 3/4 " (18mm). It is important to chose a good quality blade with a solid rim. Brick blades simply won't do a very good job and will certainly not cut glass but shatter it.

And yes, I usually wear eyes protections, I just forgot that day. No need to post comment about this. Just do not forget to wear yours.

Practice...

 

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 !

New Pictures - Feb 2012

My friend Joe Byers was here for 2 days to shoot a video for the promotion of MosaicBlues - I had no clue of the amount of labor involved in such an endeavour!
Joe is really gifted with Lighting - as he was shooting the video per se, I shot a few still pictures  - Enjoy...

 Emma...

Yin Yang behind Buddha

Lio...

Christos...