The Making of a Mosaic

So here is how it can be done - I took quite a few pictures of the making of this Olive mirror - Using the reversed - or inverted method : Because I use materials of different thickness, I build the mosaic upside down. This can be a little tricky, but you get used to it.

It all starts with the drawing - here on a sheet of white paper - on top of which I laid a sheet of plastic. You don't really need to do this, but it makes the finishing part easier. 

Now I glue the tiles on top of the plastic sheet - following the pattern of the drawing underneath.

I am using a water based and soluble glue.

All tiles were cut ahead of time. Here I start with the leaves and olives themselves. The background will come later.

And here is the final result - fruits and leaves, without the background. For this piece, I used shiny materials : various marbles, ceramics and granites

Finally, I have laid the background - Travertine. The Travertine has a mat finish that will nicely contrast with the shine of the other stones.

Now I have laid the frame around the piece, and I have flipped it - notice how you now can see the actual colors of the stones. There is quite some time involved in removing the glue from the surface.

Details of the piece. Several slightly different travertines bring more life to the piece. 

Grouting - for this piece that included some gaps wider than 1/8",  I used a sanded grout.

After grout clean-up, now you get an idea of what the piece will eventually look like.

Installation of the mirror

I still needed to stain proof the piece - which I did using a commercial stone sealer.

Et voila le travail...

Note : There are different ways to work this method. I do not always use the plastic sheet, you can use different sort of glues, and I did not show the part right before flipping the piece - it is very important there to use a fresh thinset - make sure it is not too old (that the bag has been kept well closed since the last time you used it). Also make sure you let the thinset set for a while before you flip.  (48 hours is on the safe side) If you fail to do this : use a thinset that is too old, or rush to flip the piece, some catastrophes might happen, and you may have to spend lots of time trying to fix them. Thinset is not expensive, if you are not sure how old yuors is, dump it, go get a new bag...

Good luck

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.

July 2012 Work in Process

Exclusive preview : The Eyes of Maribel

The Original - do you recognize her ? Maribel is Spanish...

The Maribel Mosaic being laid in my Headland workshop. I am using the Indirect method, which I like so much better. Even if it is a little more demanding, it allows such a better finish.

When completed, Maribel will be around 42 x 14" She is made of 2 different black granites, glasses and about 8 different nuances of ceramics, with a very few mirror tesserae also....

Stay tuned, if everything goes well, I should complete the laying by the end of next week and flip her next week...

ps : Also on its way this month : the Amazing Amazon Torso... Featuring Zoya the High energy Cat...

The Kids Mosaic

I delivered last week my last piece : a portrait of 2 happy children. It was a commission - a present for Mother's Day. It was simply the best portrait I have made so far. I had been able to find more nuances of greys for this one, than I had used in the previous ones, and just one nuance makes a difference.

Now in this post I would like to show you how I work from an original picture to the design that I will actually use to lay the tiles :

Above is the original picture I received from the father of these children.

This is the same picture, cropped to only keep the faces, and edited to a limited number of nuances of greys.

On this version, not too different from the previous one, I added the back ground to show my client what the final result would look like.

 

Basically, from the time I receive a picture, and the time I can start laying the tiles, there are between 5 to 7 hours of computer manipulation, manual drawing and printing.

And this is a shot of the piece being made. You can see that I work on the mirror image of the previous picture. This is the technique of the Indirecte Pose, which is a little mode delicate to use than the direct pose, but gives - in my opinion - so much better results that it is well worth the effort.

And here is the final result... 

The frame, which does not appear on this picture, is a simple 1 x 1/2" board, of a dark cherry color, which contrast beautifully with green and blue irridized background.

The Kids Mosaic measures 24 x 24" (60 x 60 cm).

I only employed glass material for it - which makes the Kids Mosaic light enough to be displayed on a sheetrock wall - by using an expandable anchor of good quality available in most hardware store.

Avis aux Amateurs... Please contact me if you would like a portrait made of a loved one - It is a unique gift for a birthday, anniversary or any other occasion to celebrate that person, and it is one that will last a long time...

I also will work with you on a payment plan over several month.

April Mosaics

I have been working mostly on 2 pieces in April - one is a commission , a portrait of 2 gorgeous children. Because it is also a surprise, you will understand I cannot display it until it has been actually offered to their Mom, on Mother's day  - May 12. 


You will have to wait until that date to be able to see the whole piece.

I can however, show you a piece of the little girls face... 

I do believe it is the best portrait I have produced so far.

The second April piece are the eyes of the Young Afghan Girl. You have seen her face on the cover of National Geographic years ago, she was in a refugee camp in Pakistan when the Russians had invaded Afghanistan, and a photograph took her picture in 1984, which became famous. There is a great intensity in this little girl's eyes.  Years later, the reporter went back and was able to find the grown woman.



Her name is Sharbat Gula, and she is Pashtun.  Her life has been difficult, but she had survived. She now has children of her own.


Here is the last picture of the piece before I flipped her on Sunday, April 29, And am now working  on cleaning it up before I can grout her. The cleaning is a very long and tedious process, as I have to remove any remnants of the glue used to set the tiles on the model. (I am using the reverse method - Indirect pose - on this piece)

The eyes of Shrabat Gula should be ready by mid May...

The NIKKI Mosaic

"Nikki" is the first mosaic I created using the Direct method. (All the ones before were done using the Indirect  Method)

With the Direct method, you actually see your work while you are making it. (in the Indirect Method, you build your mosaic upside down - you only see the final result once you flip it !   

This was an unusual situation for me !  I was able to work this way because I used tesserae (tiles) of the same thickness. "Nikki" is entirely made of recycled and irridized glass tiles. 

Because of this, this piece is a much lighter piece than anything I produced before -  a good idea for portraits...

Dimensions : 14 x 24” ( 34 x 60 cm).

Many thanks to the real Nikki who had the kindness to be my model for this experimental creation.