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Video transcript for deaf or hearing impaired:
Hey everyone! So during these Corona times I’m waiting for some glass to be delivered from Italy so I can finish up a project that will go to Florida; it’s a large driveway mosaic. And in the meantime I’ve been working on some mosaic gifts for my family, but they are gifts so I can’t show those to you. So what I thought I’d show you today is, um, I am starting a new mosaic, a personal project, um, that is based on the idea of copper, oxidized copper. So I’m going to be picking out materials and I though I would show you some of the fun supplies I’m going to be working with and how I go about selecting them.
I’m going to start off with this gorgeous turquoise Bullseye stained glass as a base color for the oxidized copper. My stained glass is pretty accessible in my studio, so I will only pull out a few sheets for now just to get a range for my palette. I’m adding in a nice blue/green swirly glass, then the background color of the mosaic, which is a natural creamy glass, including some iridescence. Then I’ll add in the transition colors: earthy browns, including some with copper tones, and iridescent blacks with funky patterns. This stained glass array is the general palette.
Next I’m going to pick out some gems. Here I have a variety of turquoise to blue, including iridescent and translucent gems for depth, and some milky tan gems in case I need them for the background.
This is Hakatai Aventurine tile. It has gold streaks through it and will be perfect for this project
Here I have a variety of 5/8” tile from Sicis and Hakatai. To add different thicknesses, I’ve pulled out some thicker tessera: glass, ceramic, marble, and metal.
These super cute glass beads and tiles are only about 8mm. This is millefiori which means thousand flowers, ball chain, pebbles, agate slices and a bit of broken pottery I love, and some beautiful mother of pearl.
Finally we have the beads and found objects. When I had the idea for this series, I put out a call on Facebook and the wonderful Linda Broka was kind enough to send me these metal pieces. I haven’t experimented yet to see how best to use them, but I’m looking forward to it! I also try to collect a wide variety of accent pieces such as broken jewelry whenever they cross my path.
Next, I arrange everything into the color palette. You want a lot of variety when making a mosaic like this so that the final artwork has a lot of texture and depth. I have a good range of sizes, textures, thicknesses, and sheens, so I’m really excited to get started!