Week 11: Mosaic
Welcome to week 11 of 52 weeks of art! What are we doing this week?
Mosaics. What's a mosaic? Well, the dictionary definition of a mosaic is: a picture or pattern produced by arranging together small colored pieces of hard material, such as stone, tile, or glass. That seems like a simple enough project to do, right?
I wasn't really sure how to go about making a mosaic. So, off to the internet. I looked up the best way to adhere my hard material to whatever it was I was going to use. So many things to choose from here. It really came down to what I was going to do with my mosaic when I was finished with it. For example, if I was going to use it as a stepping stone out in the garden (I don't have one of those, but I can imagine what it'd be like), I would want to make sure that the base for my mosaic was something that could handle being out in the elements. If I was planning on just displaying my mosaic in the house, it doesn't really matter what I use. So, since I have no plans on putting my mosaic outside, I went with some masonite for the base of my mosaic. It's fairly inexpensive, and I just so happened to have some laying about the house.
Now, what am I going to use for my "hard material"? That was the easy part. I had lots of glass leftover from last weeks stained glass project.
I have to apologize to anyone who is following along with my art adventure, I am apparently getting worse at documenting my work. I keep forgetting to take pictures while I'm working! Ugh. So yeah, again this week you won't have many pictures of the whole process. Sorry about that.
Here's some photos of actual mosaic artists' work:
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| Found this beautiful artwork here. |
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| Found this, and many other beautiful pieces, here. |
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| Found this Happy Pear here. |
Alright, I gathered up my supplies:
- masonite board
- pieces of glass
- hammer - for making smaller pieces of glass
- E6000 - best glue for gluing things together
- pencil
- grout
I sketched out my design onto the masonite. Now, I'm going to tell you that it is SUPPOSED to be some cherry blossoms on branches. Is that what it ended up looking like? Hahaha. No. You can't really tell what it looks like. Alright, here's the pictures. Don't judge.
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| Here we have the glass pieces glued down to the masonite. |
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| And here we have the grout added. The picture is turned. So yeah, tilt your head to the left. |
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| And done. All cleaned up. Polished and looking shiny. |
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| Do you see the cherry blossoms? I sure don't. Not any more. |
On to rating mosaic ...
Just a reminder on the criteria for rating each medium.
Ease of use: How easy was this medium to use.
Affordability: How affordable supplies are for each medium.
Accessibility: How easily accessible supplies are for each medium. Example, are specific tools required that are hard to find?
Fun to Use: How much enjoyment I got out of using this medium
So, for mosaic, my rating is: 17
Ease of use: 5
This was pretty easy. Find some pieces of glass, or whatever, make them fit onto your surface. If they don't fit, just smash them with the hammer until they fit. Add some glue. Slap on some grout. Ta-da! Done.
Affordability: 3
Glass is not cheap. But you can use just about anything to make a mosaic. Got a broken plate? Smash it into more little pieces and turn that broken plate into a work of art. Got some old buttons lying around? Mosaic them. All you need is a base for your mosaic, some glue, stuff to glue down, and grout. You can make this as cheap or as expensive as you'd like.
Accessibility: 5
Since you can use pretty much anything for a mosaic, that means you can find your supplies anywhere. Lucky you.
Fun to Use: 4
The best part of making this mosaic was when I got to smash the glass with a hammer to make smaller pieces. Good times. However, trying to turn tiny broken pieces of glass into something that resembled something... that wasn't so easy. I did have fun grouting the whole thing, though.
If you would like to go on this epic art adventure with me, next week we will be doing...
If you choose to follow along, please post your work using #52weekartadventure!
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