Vandalism - Part Une

On Tuesday, May 20, at 5:21 pm, I completed laying the tesserae of Mariam Mesh. 

Mariam Mesh is an experimental piece. I am trying 2 new techniques with her. 

• She is built on a fiberglass Mesh. (I will detail the hows and whys in a future post)
• I am using a different glue on part of her - a flour based "Colla de Farina". With the hope to speed up the cleaning of the mosaic. 

Remember that I work mostly Reverse Method. I build my mosaics upside down, mounted on a model with a commercial water soluble glue. Then come several operations before I can separate the actual mosaic from the model. I have described this on several videos on my Mosaicblues Youtube Channel.

Once removed the model, there is still quite some time left to clean up the glue.
This  is why I decided to try this flour based glue, hoping it would be easier and faster to clean up thatn my regular glue...

On Wednesday morning, after feeding my chickens (you can hear them in most of my mosaics videos), I went to the shop to check on Mariam. And THIS is what I found :

Vandalized, most of the tesserae of Mariam's face and part of her eyes where laying shattered on the rest of the mosaic, or beside it...

I was worried, wondering who could have done this. Then I realized that only these tesserae glued with the flour glue had been shattered, something odd was at work there... No human would have been able to know the difference.

And then I remembered a young dead rat on the ground of the chicken pen. Rats don't usually die in the open. ( I know things about rats)

It did not take long to connect the dots. The rodent(s) had feasted on the flour glue. Unfortunately for this one, small shards of glass embedded in the glue must have caused his death by internal bleeding.

I have now finished the repairs (6 hours of work), and am covering the mosaic with heavy tiles when I get out of the shop. I am not sure whether I will keep using the "Cola di Farina" or not. This will depend upon the ease of cleaning it up once I flip the mosaic. 

This incident is a good illustration of how even minor changes in the way we do things can sometimes have unsuspected consequences. 

We should probably not trust corporations or governments when they tell us new technologies such as GMOs or fracking are absolutely safe...

Just saying ...

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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Community Mosaic Workshop

Our goal was to get a number of kids together to realize a mosaic at the Wiregrass Museum of Art in Dothan, Alabama.

The design is a traditional decorative pattern used in many Roman mosaics, usually as a border for more figurative parts. It is generally called a "guilloche". You can see below an example of Guilloche around a hunting scene on a Roman Mosaic.

 

Roman mosaic : Hunting Scene with Guilloche Border.

The artwork is  60 x 18" (1.5 x 0.5 m) in size and contains about 1,500 ceramic tile pieces (tesserae). All the preparation was done beforehand so that children could take part in the workshop by sticking the pieces down to the board (the direct method).

I first designed the pattern on a piece of backing board.

Only basic drawing tools are needed : Pencil, Permanent Marker, Eraser, Compass, Ruler.

Once the drawing complete, I cut the backing board to the final dimensioin of the mosaic and mounted it on a wooden frame to increase its rigidity. 

Here you can see the 5 colors of tiles used on this project.

I had glued a few tiles onto the board so people would know which color tile was going where. (Some still did not get it though...)

I had precut all tiles to fit the dimensions of the drawing.

I brought the board, tiles and a few tools from my workshop to the Museum. We had planned to work outside. However heavy rain was threatening and we moved the workshop inside.

The tiles were glued to the board using a regular white tile glue. The setting time is around 1 hour.

I had to adjust the cut of some tesserae. I had brought a diamond blade saw which was really to noisy inside the room. So that I finally only used the nippers. 

We had some very focussed participants...

And Sticky Fingers...

Not only did the kids enjoy it !

But their parents also got their fingers dirty !
Et voila !

It took a little less than 3 hours to complete the work. Several families participated, children and parents had a great time. 

I took the piece back to my workshop to grout it. I waited several days to clean up the glue. That was  mistake, it had seriously hardened and it took lots of time and energy to remove it. 

Make sure the glue is removed during the actual laying of the tesserae. It is very easy to wipe it out with a wet sponge or rag before it dries up, after that, it sticks very strongly to everything !

The Mosaic in display at the Wiregrass Museum of Art

If you are interested in my work, would like to acquire an existing piece or commission a mosaic, or if you would simply like to learn more and about mosaic, please contact me by email at frederic.lecut@gmail.com , or by phone at (334) 798 1639.

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Medusa

Medusa was one of three sisters known as the Gorgons.

Originally a golden-haired and very beautiful maiden, she was as a priestess of Athena, devoted to a life of celibacy; but wooed by Poseidon, whom she loved in return, she forgot her vows, and became united to him in marriage. 

For this offence she was punished by the goddess in a most terrible manner. Each wavy lock of the beautiful hair which had so charmed her husband, was changed into a venomous snake and whoever would gaze directly upon her would turn to stone. 

Rhodes Medusa Mosaic - 4th century BC

From then on, her life became very complicated. It ended tragically when Perseus beheaded her.

She became however a favourite theme of ancient mosaics.
 

Brading Roman Villa, Isle of Wight, UK

I started to work on my own Medusa during the summer of 2011.

As usual, I used my preferred reverse method for this piece.  I laid the first tesserae  - Black granite and Beige Travertine - on August 28.

Medusa, August 28, 2011

On August 30 I completed the outside frise - a geometrical pattern often found in ancient Greek mosaics.

Medusa, August 30, 2011.

It took one week to complete the full head. Medusa is made mostly of stones : marbles of various colors, travertine, granite, and I used small pieces of red smalti for the snakes tongues.

Medusa, September 7, 2011. Dry

One way to better visualize the final result why working the reverse method is to spray water on top of the piece... The water brings out the actual colors as if the piece had been polished.

Medusa, September 7, 2011. Wet

I flipped Medusa at the beginning of October and used a dark red grout to fill the gaps between the tesserae.

Medusa, October 8, 2011

You can appreciate on these 2 pictures how the quality of light impacts the way you see a mosaic. This is an important factor to consider when you place a piece in your home. Generally, a warmer light better brings out the colors of a mosaic.

 

Medusa, October 8, 2011

As Medusa was destined to be a table, I polished her very finely. 

Although a polished mosaic does not catch the light as beautifully as an unpolished one I like to polish my tables. The feel of the hand on the well polished stone is a very pleasant one. 

Finally, Medusa was inserted into a beautiful bronze coated frame made of cast aluminium and steel.

Medusa, October 12, 2011

The 3 legs of the table represent the winged horse Pegasus. 
 

Pegasus,  Apulian red figure vase 4th Century B.C.

Medusa, November 2011.

Pegasus, the result of the marriage of Poseidon to Medusa, was born when the hero Perseus cut her head off.

Detail of the Table leg.

Medusas dimensions are : 
Mosaic diameter : 27"  (69 cm)
Table Height : 24" (61cm)
Table Diameter (horses level) : 34" (86 cm)


If you are interested in the Medusa Table, would like to commission a different table or mosaic, 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.

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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 .

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Julie found a new home

Julie left Mosaicblues last Monday for her new home in Clayhatchee, Alabama

I created Julie in 2009. 

She is made of Granites, Ceramics and Marbles.

Her dimensions are 20.5" x 35” (47 x 87 cm).

The original Julie.

Please note that I am not authorized

to publicize her phone number.

Mosaics last forever. If you are interested by a commissioned portrait or another style of mosaic, or would simply like to discuss my art, please contact me by email at frederic.lecut@gmail.com, or by phone at (334) 798 1639.

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Please allow me to introduce Mariam's Eyes.

I must confess. I am a big fan of the Rolling Stones. I saw them on stage 3 times. How do the Grandfathers of Rock'n'Roll relate to Mosaics ? They don't, yet...

I was just trying to find a good title for this post and here came Sympathy for the Devil's "Please allow me to introduce myself..."

I'm a man of wealth and taste...

Funny how little things come up by association ! 

Comes to think of it, I should ask Mick Jagger to do my promotion for me ! 


Anyway, please allow me to introduce Mariam's Eyes twin Mosaics.

Mariam's Eyes are made after one previous work of mine : Green Eyes, who flew to Dubai last winter. 

Green eyes was the first one of my Mosaic Eyes portraits.  2 years later Mariam's Eyes are bigger, and differently centered. I am also using different materials. 

I am actually making 2 mosaics on the same design. One is the mirror image of the other. Twin sisters ! 

One of these mosaics is a commission for a dear French friend of mine.

Mariam's Eyes will be flying to France in June, and her sister will be available for purchase in July 2014. 

If you are interested my work, would like to acquire an existing piece or commission one, 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.

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