Mosaic Maker: Technical challenges

Mosaic Maker: Technical challenges: "Bit of a twit as it has taken me a day to work out how to change the header on the posting page! Off to the studio for some peace and quie..."

Heartfelt: Beside the seaside

Heartfelt: Beside the seaside: "It is truly amazing what a couple of days away by the sea can do. The husband whisked me away on the 5.50 am train (!!) to Brighton for some..."

Heartfelt: Inspiring ironwork

Heartfelt: Inspiring ironwork: "It is amazing what you walk past and never really stop to admire properly. These gates are to an office on Newhall Street in the centre of B..."

Heartfelt: Historical Hats

Heartfelt: Historical Hats: "As part of recent museum education project I was looking at historical costume to inspire schoolchildren whilst on an outdoor trail around A..."

Heartfelt: Etsy shop up and running!

Heartfelt: Etsy shop up and running!: "A recent rush to the creative parts of my brain means that I have now tackled the techie stuff and actually put some handmade items into my ..."

Heartfelt: A change of direction

Heartfelt: A change of direction: "It is quite amazing how life just changes when you say 'yes' to something you are not so sure about. A good friend asked if I would like to ..."

Heartfelt: The Circle Garden

Heartfelt: The Circle Garden: "This is why I have not been blogging for a while. As a result of my first mosaic commission I was asked to create a mosaic as a 60th birthda..."

Heartfelt: Odds and Ends

Heartfelt: Odds and Ends: "It is funny how the academic year still lingers on, even when you are no longer in education. In museum and gallery education there is the c..."

Odds and Ends

It is funny how the academic year still lingers on, even when you are no longer in education. In museum and gallery education there is the change of emphasis between schools and more informal activities. This year is the first year I have been able to concentrate on my own designing and making as leading workshops seems to have been thin on the ground - many museums doing this with in-house staff I think?

Now that I am ever so slightly obsessed by little glass tiles and sticking them onto backboards, I snuck off to my studio to see what I could do with some of the leftovers from the last two mosaic commissions. Talk about fiddling whilst Rome is burning - however, I did have a very enjoyable afternoon making this... still to be grouted though so I might experiment with some coloured grout again.

Have just heard from a new client that she loved the designs I sent and will speak later about the commission. A small one but another wall to decorate! This time a lizard and a dragonfly so a chance to use some beautiful shimmering blue/green glass tile. Can't wait! I'll post the drawn design when I get the go ahead.

The Circle Garden

This is why I have not been blogging for a while. As a result of my first mosaic commission I was asked to create a mosaic as a 60th birthday present for a private garden. The garden in question is the most beautiful Circle Garden in New Malden in Surrey - my clients are avid gardeners and very talented! It was quite a challenge to come up with a design that reflected their own design ideas.

I have to admit I had two goes at getting this mosaic completed! But I learnt much along the way about material use and colour which I will use if anyone ever asks me to do another design. In fact I ended up by drawing on my Grandmother's embroidery designs as inspiration. I blogged about them earlier in the Spring. The colours and structure just fitted in beautifully. Whilst sitting constructing the circles I suddenly realised that it was very similar to gem-setting (and took me back to my jewellery-making). I absolutely love making these mosaics.

The grand unveiling was at the 60th birthday party on Saturday - and yes I now have another garden mosaic commission as a result!

Some pictures of the mosaic under construction and the influences...

 A photo of part of the garden full of circle lawns, topiary and amazing planting.

 My initial design for the main mosaic circles, but not entirely happy with the result...

 Fortunately the client have a fabulous studio space at the bottom of the garden so working there was just wonderfully peaceful. These are some of the first discs - the whole family got involved and created some of the smaller discs and leaves.

Maybe you can see where some of my ideas start to come from...

 This is more of what I wanted it to look like.

 And feeling much happier about the finished result - just need to grout them now.

And up on the wall at last.

And now I have to start thinking about lizard and dragonflies...

A change of direction

It is quite amazing how life just changes when you say 'yes' to something you are not so sure about. A good friend asked if I would like to re-make a mosaic for the school where she is head teacher. The previous mosaic had unfortunately become the victim of the extreme frosts in the winter.

The school brochure had been re-designed by a very talented local graphic designer, Dan England (great name!). The design was to be a reflection of the new school logo of a newt. A newt because they have many of them living in the school wilderness area.

The site visit revealed that the mosaic footprint I was to follow was 4 metres by 1 metre! Slightly bigger than I had imagined but this was my first mosaic so in for a penny, in for a pound...

My 'studio' was a couple of trestles in a main corridor which turned out to be a brilliant idea as children and the school community could drift by throughout the day, monitoring progress and volunteering suggestions and comments. The children really enjoyed seeing the four plain marine ply boards change into a sparkly, tiled newt. They were horrified when I applied the black grout - it was interesting to watch them want to say 'but you have ruined it all by putting black all over it' but still trying to be polite to an adult!

All the children from Nursery through to Year 2 plus teaching staff all came to put some tiles on the boards - and there was an element of the design changing as we went along. Here are some photos of the Newt's progress...

 Literally the bare boards!

 All the tiles ready to go...

 Mixture of cut ceramic tiles, mirrors and glass tiles.

 The children helped with the red and mirror circles.

 The original design proposal

 Have to admit my heart was in my mouth as the boards were screwed in place!

And then I cried when the last panel went in place - with relief!