VIDEO: Making of Mokuluas Mosaic

It was such an honor to have the opportunity to make such a stunning backsplash for my client in Kailua, Hawaii! This video shows the creation of the Mokuluas mosaic from beginning to end, but before iPhones took good pictures. ;)

Video transcript for deaf or hard of hearing:

 I’m going to take you way back to 2008 to one of the first major commissions of my professional mosaic career. I had done a couple small commissions before and finally got my website together when I got a call from an interior designer in the Bay area.

She wasn’t calling for a client, but for herself. She and her husband were building their dream home in Kailua, HI, and wanted me to make two mosaics for their home. Today I’m going to show you the making of Mokuluas, the Hawaiian art wall backsplash.

This was a new build, so since it didn’t exist yet, I received a pdf file with

elevations from the architect. There were still some variables, so I believe this is the image I sketched up with the red dots to let them know which measurements I needed to proceed.

The client sent me these two images of the Mokuluas islands. They are just around the cove from the new home they were building, but since they didn’t have a view from their property, they wanted this mosaic to bring the islands into their home. 

The client and I knew we wanted it to be slightly stylized, yet realistic, so I started first by showing her how an idea I had for the clouds, a motif that would carry through to the ocean waves. 

Then I sketched the ocean waves.

Again, the kitchen wasn’t built yet, so I put the measurements into a CAD program to create a layout to make sure the client understood the perspective.

Then the client wanted some palm leaves to frame the mosaic. There was also some talk at this time about adding a turtle. I believe I made some sketches with a turtle, but really felt it took away from the elegance of the design.

Then the builders sent me updated measurements, making the proportions slightly squarer.

This was the final design thrown into the CAD layout. 

The next step was to show the client the palette of glass I would use for the mosaic. I ordered samples of every color from a few different glass lines and pared them down to this. I spent a lot of time finding the perfect combos, so I remember being thrilled that the client immediately approved the glass.

Next I laid out the shifts of water color on the design as well as the backer board I would be working on. It would be easy with a free flowing, wavy design to get crooked or get carried away with one color and not leave enough room for all the transitions.

Then it was time to begin the construction.

I started with the palm fronds,

Then the stylized clouds 

And the pebble islands filled in by gold streaked glass to make sure they still catch the light.

I took some pictures for the client without the painter’s tape.

I need to leave some pieces of glass unattached so the panels can be screwed into the wall with washers, so as I’m working the blue tape is to hold them in place.

Now onto the water. I worked from both the bottom and top to make sure the colors and intensity of the waves would come together properly. 

Also as a note, I used white silicone for this project. I want it to be waterproof because it will be in a kitchen in a humid climate. Plus much of the glass is translucent, so using a white adhesive makes the glass bright and shiny.

I cut the mosaic into dozens of pieces and shipped the mosaic to Hawaii. The builder sent me these pics before lighting was installed in the home.

 The next year I went to Hawaii to grout the mosaic. I was busy working the whole time, but here are a couple pictures of the home and property I managed to take. 

And finally the mosaic was finished. This was right before inexpensive cameras and phone cameras started getting really good, so the pictures don’t quite show the movement of the mosaic.

 When you are in the room, because of all the shine and iridescence, the water appears to move and the homeowner reported that the colors change throughout the day.

Thank you for taking this trip back in time with me!

Mokuluas Mosaic

Dating back to 2008, this was one of my first large mosaic pieces I have done for my career. I received a call from an interior designer about a piece that she wanted for herself. She and her husband were building their dream home in Kailua, Hawaii, and they wanted for me to create a backsplash to be put in their kitchen.

Since the home was not yet built, I has asked for the measurements of all the walls surrounding the kitchen so that I knew what size I was going to create this piece to be. She also sent me two pictures of Mokulukas Islands that were located near their new home. Since they could not see the Islands from their house, so they wanted for me to create a mosaic in order to show the landscape in their own home.

The client and I knew she wanted the piece to be realistic, but also stylized, so when I began my drawing, I first started with the outline of the clouds. I created this motif drawing that would also carry through the whole piece. I then sketched the ocean waves and using the same technique. After my sketch design was created, I put the measurements into a CAD program so I could show the client and also so that way they knew the perspective that was going to be shown.

After the sketch was created, the client then decided that they wanted to add in some palm leaves. I was able to incorporate them on the sides of the piece, without taking away from the piece as a whole and the elegance of the overall design. After I added in the palm trees and sent it over to the designer, we then changed the sizing for the overall piece slightly so that it was more square and it would then fit better in the layout the client wanted.

Once everything was sketched out and placed in the CAD layout, I then showed the client the glass colors I had chosen and would be using on their mosaic. I ordered samples of lots of different colors and I also spent a lot of time picking combos of colors that I liked the best and thought that would be the best fit for the overall design. I was extremely happy when the client liked the glass colors that I had picked the first time!

After I choose the colors, I then laid out the watercolor shifts I was going to use and I put them on the backer board as well so that I knew where to follow on this specific design in order to keep it in line so it did not go all over the place. This also allowed for all the transitions of colors and so that one color would not get taken over by another color.

Finally it was time to begin the piece and I first started with the palm leaves and then I worked my way to clouds and then the Mokulukas islands using both glass and stone so that they would stand out in the piece.

Next up was creating the water. I made sure to work from both the top and the bottom to make sure the colors and the intensity of the waves would show through as well as come together properly and not look out of place. For this project, I also used some white silicone as an adhesive because it will be located in a kitchen so I wanted to make sure that it was going to be waterproof. A white adhesive is also helpful when glass is translucent because it makes it brighter and shiny too.

When the piece was complete, I cut it into dozens of pieces and then had it shipped to Hawaii for the client. The builder then had sent me photos of it being installed into the home and a year later I got to go to Hawaii to grout the mosaic. Even though I was there for work, I got to see their property and I even got to see the Mokulukas Islands in person that I had created for the client.

When you view the mosaic, the water and clouds appear to move because of all the lights and iridescent colors that I used, however pictures do not do it justice since this piece was in 2008, before quality phone cameras were invented. The client even stated that the colors change throughout the day too!

VIDEO: Afghan Blue Mosque Mosaic: WIP #3

This is the third video about the creation of my Afghan blue mosque mosaic.

Video transcript for deaf or hard of hearing:

Hi Mosaic Fans! This is where we left off last time with the Afghan blue mosque mosaic 

I’m starting the next step by pre-cutting stained glass into rhomboids for one of the border sections. Each piece will need to be cut and fitted into its space, but it’s easiest to prep about 500 pieces first and tailor them to fit rather than cut each piece from scratch as it’s needed.

Next I’m going to take a little break from those blue pieces because it’s getting a bit tedious. I’m placing some little Kismet round tiles in the upper portion of the archway. I’m really loving the way these are looking. This section should turn out a little more delicate than the rest because of the curvy design.

I’m all over the place now. I want to lock down the designs and patterning for each section, so I’m going to place whatever I can that is quick that allows me to then make decisions about the rest. Here I’m doing some of the beading work and placing the little yellow and red circles around the whole mosaic.

Next I’ll do a little cleanup and place the red squares and yellow circles in the center.

I know I need to get a little green in this mosaic, so I’m going to place the teardrop details around the two corner pieces. These are just green stained glass that I’ve cut into teardrops and surrounded by white beads.

Now it’s time to set the pattern for the center. I know I want to outline the sections in white beads, and the center tiles of the pattern in cobalt blue.

It’s going to take me a while to set this patterning, so I want to talk about why I chose to use beads. I want the crisp outlines you see in ceramic tile. It’s hard to do this with stained glass because glass doesn’t cleanly cut into 3/16” strips. Beads may be time consuming, but I can lay them down exactly how I want them, and the color will be consistent. Stained glass also tends to have dark shadows, so when you cut it super thin, the color can be inconsistent.

The white beads look overwhelming when I first lay them down, but they mellow out quite a bit once they’re surrounded by the rest of the glass. In addition, I’m using cobalt blue grout, so they will tone down a lot once they are surrounded by & slightly buried in the grout.

Next I’m going to use vellum to make some templates for the stained glass in this middle section. I’m just going to make this one square first to set the pattern idea, but if I make the templates now, it will be one less step in a couple months when I finish all the beading and I’m ready for the glass.

I estimate by the time I finish the beading, I’ll have invested at least 300 hours into the project, and that the whole project will take about 500 hours. I haven’t really been keeping track, which I regret, but it’s hard to do the work, let alone keep track of all the videos, images, and time yourself on top of it.

Here’s the mosaic so far. There’s still a lot of work to do, but it’s starting to come together.

Let’s get a little work done on one of the two featured circles. I want to know how the orange I’m planning is going to look with the orange I’ll be using in the center.

I’ll also finish up the blue pentagons on this side while I’m over here. All these robin egg blue pentagons need to be placed before I place the white star beads. I’m going to do this row, finish all the rest of the beading, then come back and finish up the left and right side.

I don’t know why these blue pieces feel so tedious to me, but they do. I’ll be much more motivated when I know I’m closer to the finish line.

And then I’ll finish the green teardrops and surrounding beads on the other circle before moving on to the never-ending task of placing the outlining the beads in the middle sections.

Onto the white beading for the upper archway. This is my favorite part of the mosaic. I love how the flowers come together to form a second pattern in between. This is my favorite thing about this type of ceramic tile in the first place; the way the designs from each tile come together to form a pattern when they are put together as a whole.

Right now the plan is to fill in the flowers with the yellow circles with orange and the designs with the orange circles with green. This may change. It will be the last thing I do because it will allow me to change my mind if a different color will help pull the whole piece together.

For the outer border I’m going to place three concentric rows of beads in kind of an ombre color scheme. This is a chance to add something different and a little more delicate to these outer rows.

I’m going to surround the beads with yellow triangles to make it kind of a sun pattern. Right now the plan is to fill in the background with cobalt blue to ground the project, but I’m going to hold off until later to see if I change my mind.

I’m just going to skim through placing some of the beads in the middle archway section. So many beads!! It felt never ending. I’m I’m just going to skim through with a few clips of placing the beads in the middle archway section. So many beads!! I’m really happy with the way it looks and I think it is worth the time investment, but there was a point at which I thought I would be 86 and still placing these beads.

Now the majority of the beads are in place. Just about another 30 hours of beads left and I can move onto the stained glass.

There’s a lot of work left but unfortunately I have to put this mosaic aside for a while to work on commissions and other projects. I will be coming back to it and sharing it with you when I do. Thank you for watching!

VIDEO: Afghan Blue Mosque Mosaic: WIP #2

This is the second video about the creation of my Afghan blue mosque mosaic.

Video transcript for deaf or hard of hearing:

Hi Mosaic Aficionados! Here I’m going to continue work on the Afghan Blue Mosque mosaic. Now that the basic structure of the mosaic is laid out, I’m going to start on the first decorative tiles.

I began by making a vellum template of the 8 point star design I chose for this section. There are 60 identical tiles in this section, so this will help keep them fairly uniform.

I remembered while sketching out this section that I wanted to put bold yellow circles in the corners. To make these, I created bars using the cutting mat you’ve seen me use before, then used the glass cutter to cut them into slight wedges instead of squares. Then I just placed them into the circle so they fit snuggly together.

I skipped ahead a bit here… I was doing a little trial and error to see what materials I wanted to use, how I would create the cuts, and in what order I wanted to lay out the glass. Since this project is all about repetition and consistency, I want to create a strategy first so that all the tiles come out looking pretty uniform.

I decided the one place I’m not going to try to get super precise is the yellow flower at the center of the design. I figure that it will give it the handmade touch that all mosaics need.

Really, to cut those little pieces into identical microscopic elongated pentagons would be ridiculous and almost impossible, so I’m justifying with the “handmade touch” statement.

I  wasn’t really happy with how close in color the turquoise and blue of the tile background is, so I was really lucky that when I stopped at the Wissmach glass factory I found a perfect blue. It’s hard to see the difference because they’re so close in color, but it will make a big difference in the mosaic.

Here I’m cutting the new blue into 7/16 of an inch bars on the cutting mat so I can swap out that color. That will allow me to cut them into 480 rhomboids to fit around the stars.

Next I need to remove the old blue glass. I lightly sprayed those pieces with water, then I chiseled them out as delicately as possible so as not to disturb the rest of the glass, especially those tiny little beads.

Then I put in the new glass pieces. It’s pretty hard to fit them around the white beaded stars, so I’ve decided to change the order for how I create the rest of this section. I’m going to lay out the background rhomboid bars first, then place the beads inside.

This way is working much better! Not only is it easier and quicker, but then the edges of the blue glass are crisper because I didn’t have to trim them with mosaic wheels.

Next I just need to lay out the glass beads in the interior of the star. This part is also easier because of placing the blue glass first, so I became full of hubris and thought I could lay down the glue for the entire star first.

It’s still not that much easier. I had to wipe up half the glue because it was getting too dry.

Now I know for the rest of the stars.

So then I just need to place my yellow flower and tthe cobalt blue glass around it. You’ll notice that I am being pretty loose with the placement of the cobalt. This is because I’m going to use cobalt grout, so precision of these pieces is unnecessary.

I timed myself making these sections and it will probably take about 66 more hours to complete this section. It’s mind numbing for me to think about having to do all this repetitive work, so if I show you, it will be a super compressed time lapse.

I appreciate you too much to bore you with watching the same thing 60 times.

Before I go today, I just want to show you where I left off for the day, which was putting the glass gems and circles in place in this section so that they won’t be moving around when I’m trying to place the rest of the glass tomorrow. Thank you so much for watching!!

VIDEO: Afghan Blue Mosque Mosaic: WIP #1

The first video about the creation of my Afghan blue mosque mosaic.

Video transcript for deaf or hard of hearing:

Hi Mosaic Fans! Today I’m going to introduce to you my art book idea. I’ve started a few small steps in the last couple years. The concept behind this book is based on the Owen Jones book The Grammar of Ornament, first published in 1856. I’ll get into details about the book in a moment.

For the first step, I wanted to create a mosaic based on the cover of the book. It has been in constant publication for over 150 years, so there have been several covers and I went with this gorgeous gold leaf on leather version.

When I had some spare time between commissions I made this mosaic based on Grammar of Ornament’s amazing art deco book cover design. I used Van Gogh glass and the background is all super black tinted grout to give it a matte feel like the leather book cover and let the bronze and silver glass shine.

Now I want to discuss the interior of The Grammar of Ornament. Jones wanted to create a book that discussed architectural ideas and motifs from around the world. The result was a book that even modern day designers have on their bookshelves over a century later.

My original idea was to follow the same format and recreate all the designs from the book into mosaic. I eventually realized this wasn’t going to work. A lot of the designs just don’t translate well into the mosaic medium, and there is also the cultural shift, such as the problematic use of the phrase “savage tribes”.

Instead I’m choosing art forms around the world that I would love to translate into mosaic. I started by making a list of countries in the world organized by geographic area. I just pick a country, do some research, and find some traditional art, design, or architecture that I want to translate into the mosaic medium.

My first geographic find is located in Afghanistan, in the city now known as Mazari Sharif. It is the architectural marvel, the Shrine of Hazrat Ali, also known as the Blue Mosque. The blue mosque was completed in 1481. Fortunately the mosque has been able to survive all the turmoil of Afghanistan, even though the city of Mazari Sharif has been occupied at times by both Russia and the Taliban.

The mosque is considered an oasis of peace, not only because of its beautiful architecture and tile work, but because the mosque is surrounded by thousands of white doves.

Since I’m focusing on patterning, I’ve decided that my mosaic design will be inspired by one of the archways. Here is the loose idea of my design I created in Pixelmator Pro. I will follow the structure, but I just put enough tile design in to make sure I like the layout and will make more choices as I work.

Next I collected images of tile designs used at the Blue Mosque so that while I’m creating the mosaic, I’ll have ideas to choose which ones will look best. Another factor in choosing patterns is which ones will be able to translate well in the mosaic medium. Each of the tiles will be only about 3” in my mosaic, so some patterns like this one may be too intricate to really look good.

I will start by using the t-square to lay out a grid on my 4’ square plywood substrate. I will be using turquoise glass to create the frame, or solid structure of the mosaic, so I’m going to start by cutting those pieces.

I’m using the grid cutter to cut all the pieces precisely. Each turquoise rectangle is 1-1/2” x 1”. I will need over 300, so I’m turning myself into a rectangle making factory. I’m using the t-square again to line up the pieces as straight as possible. I’m coating the entire back of each piece to seal it so the grout doesn’t seep underneath.

I made a mistake here and placed the horizontal row on top of the vertical rows when it should go one grid space lower in between the vertical rows. I’m spraying the row with water to loosen up the glass and I’ll move them down into their correct spot. Here I just need to sketch the diagonal lines and create the top of the archway.

Now I have the structure complete for the mosaic. I can’t wait to show you more as the mosaic progresses! Thank you for watching!

VIDEO: Copper I Mosaic: Full Time-Lapse

Copper I is the first mosaic in my series based on the allure of oxidized copper. This sixth and final video in the series is a time-lapse of the entire mosaic process. 160 hours of mosaicking in a 5 minute time-lapse video.

VIDEO: Copper I Mosaic: WIP #4

Copper I is the first mosaic in my series based on the allure of oxidized copper. This fourth time-lapse video with audio commentary is the fifth video in the series of six videos and completes the mosaic journey. The sixth video is a time-lapse of the entire mosaic process.

Video transcript for deaf or hard of hearing:

Hi Mosaic Lovers! We left off last time with most of the transition from dark brown to cream complete. It was just the final toffee layer to place before starting on the beautiful, iridescent stained glass background. I took my time with this layer because the shape was really important to the overall look of the piece and I don’t want to place the toffee colored tile in a way where I end up having trouble placing the stained glass.

I want to show you how I go about cutting the stained glass for the background. I want large geometric chunks, so I scored it with a glass cutter to get the edges nice and crisp. It takes considerably longer to get straight lines with mosaic wheels and they’re never quite as clean, especially with a glass that has an iridescent coat like this one. Stained glass always tends to chip, but especially that iridescent layer.

For this section I’m using vellum to trace the shape I want, then cutting it out and using a Sharpie to trace the shape onto the glass. The Sharpie marks will come off during grouting, but I still use a color just slightly darker than the glass. If I use black, it could show permanently if it gets in any crevices and could even discolor the iridescent glaze.

When applying the adhesive, I spread it evenly over the entire back surface of the glass. This forms a seal so that the grout can’t seep underneath the glass and appear as a discolored shadow in the completed mosaic. Most stained glass is more translucent than it appears at first, so this is essential, especially if you’re using grout that is either dark or bright. I also wipe up any excess adhesive with sculpting tools so that it doesn’t smoosh up into the grout joints when I place the next piece of glass.

I’m planning on using several shades of grout with this mosaic. I got Mapei Flexcolor 3D grout in copper for the beige and copper parts. This is a metallic, sort of iridescent grout. If I knew I was going to use this grout before I started the background, I would have spaced the stained glass further apart so that the grout was part of the design and had a few millimeters to shine.

The first thing I’m going to do is grout the blue and green parts off-white. The final color in this section will be black, but this will prevent the black grout from seeping down into the grout joints and darkening the appearance of the glass. We want the blues and greens to be sparkly and bright

Next I’m going to grout the edges beige. My sister suggested putting this mosaic in a copper frame, which is a wonderful idea. The frame could be very expensive, so I’ll wait to see if someone wants a copper frame if they buy it. Until then, I need to cover up the plywood edges with a neutral color.

Here comes the metallic grout! This is the first time I’ve used it and it is so hard to clean up. As I grout I’m coming up with a system that seems to be working. I’m working in small patches using a sponge and water, and then a polishing towel that cleans up the surface. In some places I’m also using a toothbrush, a pottery needle, and a cut off paintbrush to clean it up properly.

This grout goes from feeling like a sticky sugar facial mask to crunchy dried out brown sugar in seconds. It also leaves behind a layer of plastic-like film all over the glass that has to be cleaned up for the glass to shine. Hopefully it will be worth it in the end!

We have two more colors of grout left. Next I’m going to do the black grout in the center. I’m masking off the background because I don’t want the black grout to stain the copper grout. I’m using paper to mask off the part that is copper, but using painters tape on the section in-between that will get another color. This way I don’t have to re-mask between grout colors.

I’m being really careful to remove excess grout around the beads so they shine as much as possible. I am giving everything a good wipe down with a damp sponge so the black won’t get all over the place when I remove the painter’s tape

Now I’m removing the painter’s tape from the midsection. The grout here will be the metallic grout, but I’m adding some pigment this time; brick red and a touch of black. I already forgot how hard this grout is to work with.

I’m loving the way this grout looks with the pigment. Honestly I kind of expected the copper grout to look this color, or maybe more brown out of the bucket, but since I can add pigment to make it darker, it is probably more useful being lighter.

Ok, time to unmask and give the mosaic its final cleaning. I know it isn’t easy to see in the video, but I’m really happy with the results of the metallic grout.

This mosaic overall took somewhere between 150-160 hours. I am so glad I decided to do all the different colors of grout. It was definitely worth the extra time and trouble in the end. Thank you for watching and following along with me on this copper mosaic journey.

VIDEO: Copper I Mosaic: WIP #3

Copper I is the first mosaic in my series based on the allure of oxidized copper. This third time-lapse video with audio commentary is the fourth video in the series of six videos and continues the mosaic journey.

Video transcript for deaf or hard of hearing:

Hi Mosaic Friends! This is where we were at the end the last video about 80 hours into the mosaic. In the last couple weeks, I’ve completed about another 60 hours. From the point we left off, I changed my mind maybe a million times about what to do with the background.

Originally I had planned to use iridescent black textured glass to surround the blue & green circles. As you can see, with all the starburst spikes and different colors of blues and greens, a glass with a sheen of rainbow of colors will most likely muddy the design.

In the end I decided on 5 colors going out from dark to light, and letting the lightest color be simple and stand on it’s own by not continuing the metallic starbursts, but instead using tan and cream colored glass gems surrounded by copper ball chain.

This first color was the hardest decision. I needed a really dark color, but black was too dark and the browns I had were either vitreous glass that is too porous or stained glass that wasn’t consistent enough in color. I didn’t want any lighter colored streaks in this part. I finally settled on a very dark, blue/green wispy stained glass.

I have a ton of this glass by accident. I sent a piece of glass to be color matched to my supplier, saying I couldn’t decide if it was ‘A’ or ‘B’. They said it was ‘C’ and I ordered several sheets for a project. It was obviously not ‘C’, but they wouldn’t take it back because it was a custom order. It turns out to be lucky because out of 10s of thousands of pounds of glass, I couldn’t find any other color that works for this mosaic.

It looks bright when I’m applying the glass because the adhesive is white, but it dries clear, so it will be kind of a muddy bluish green, but super dark when it dries.

For the next three colors, I’m using dark brown, warm brown, and golden Hakatai Aventurine glass that has gold wisps throughout. It is perfect to add to the copper tones and transition to the final cream background color.

I’m working one color at a time so that I can monitor the shape. I keep backing up and looking to make sure it’s looking the way I want it. I was thinking I would flair the shape out at some point, but so far I’m only slightly altering the thickness. I still may decide to do something different with the final golden row.

I am finally really happy with the way the colors are blending together. In the next video I’ll finish up the mosaic. I can’t wait to show you the completed project! Thank you for watching!

VIDEO: Copper I Mosaic: WIP #2

Copper I is the first mosaic in my series based on the allure of oxidized copper. This second time-lapse video with audio commentary is the third video in the series of six videos and continues the mosaic journey.

Video transcript for deaf or hard of hearing:

Hi Mosaic Fans! This is where we left off with the last video after about 35 hours into the mosaic. Today I’m going to show you another 45 or so hours of work. This time lapse covers about 29-30 hours of actually placing the glass. Often the extra time lowers as a project goes on, but with so many colors & materials, there is a lot of cleaning up glass shards, organizing, changing my mind, and some cutting I did for prep that I didn’t capture.

Here I’m finishing the blue and green circles that represent the oxidized copper part of the mosaic. I wish the mosaic was even larger so that I could put in more color changes, but this is already huge for a mosaic that isn’t a commission. I’ll have to balance things out the best I can.

I can’t find the clip of finishing the two circles at the top, but here’s where we end up once I’ve finished with all the blue and green tessera in foreground.

Now on to the starbursts! I want the prominent metallic aspects to have an effect like I’ve made with some of my starburst projects in the past, but they will be more subtle once the surrounding background glass is placed around it.

Here are a couple examples of mosaic starbursts I’ve made before to give you an idea of what I’m talking about.

I’m making a lot of choices as I go. I only knew that I wanted to go from antiqued brass colors to copper to gold as the pattern moved out from the blue and green center toward the edges. I thought I wanted starbursts that were more solid, but as soon as I started, I realized that wasn’t going to work because they would be forming solid blocks of color and wouldn’t leave room behind them for me to make the ombre I’m planning in the background effective.

I also intended to make each starburst unique, but then realized that there was too much going on in similar color tones to have that much chaos. Using pattern repetition will be better to clarify the design.

While I finish up this first row of starbursts, let me discuss what will go behind them. Originally I had planned to continue making brown and copper circles around the blue and green circles, changing colors in an ombre style until I get to an iridescent cream. There is really not enough room left to switch the colors that way, so with only about an inch and a half per color, that’s not enough room to create circles. Plus with all the spikes from the starbursts, it is hard to get patterns going in these spaces even if there was enough room for the circles color-wise.

Next time I’ll be working on the background, transitioning from dark to light, but I’m happy the mosaic is coming together and definitely looking inspired by oxidized copper. Thank you for watching!

VIDEO: Copper I Mosaic: WIP #1

Copper I is the first mosaic in my series based on the allure of oxidized copper. This first time-lapse video with audio commentary is the second video in the series of six videos and shows the start of the creation.

Video transcript for deaf or hard of hearing:

Hi mosaic visionaries! This video is the beginning of the mosaic Copper I in my new series based on oxidized copper. The image you’re viewing right now is how far I am by the end of this video, which is 25 hours of mosaicking, plus about 10 hours of prep, organizing, and cleaning between steps, so about 35 hours in. So let me show you how I got started!

I’m beginning by placing my agate slices. Just like stained glass, agate is translucent even when it doesn’t seem to be so I like to take the extra step of backing them with aluminum foil so that they have a nice iridescent gleam.

Next I’ll build the first rows of tessera around the agate slices. For most of my personal art projects, I work organically. I start with only an idea of the general movement and colors I want in the piece, then as I work, I step back and see how I want the project to evolve.

I’ve been hoarding these agate slices for about a decade. I’ve used some in my previous works, but they often don’t fit in when I do smaller personal projects. I usually only have limited time to work on my own projects between commissions, so I tend to do small projects to work on different techniques I’d like to explore. Since I decided to make a larger mosaic this time, it’s the perfect opportunity to use them.

I am trying here to get a balance of color, shapes, and textures. I want to build some tiny circles with a lot of flash and sparkle first, then fill in with more grounded, larger color spans around them. That basically means that I’m selecting sparkly found objects to be the centerpiece of some of the smaller circles along with brighter colors, lots of beads, and textured glass, then when I get to the larger sections to fill in the middle, I’ll make those sections interesting by forming more abstract shapes using a series of gems as the core, then working out from there, kind of forming a multi-celled structure. Another way I’m using to create some smoothness in these larger areas is by using solid color opaque stained glass to represent the areas where the oxidation process is smooth and even.

I’m also trying at the same time to balance the color. In my favorite images of oxidized copper, there is a lot going on once you really start looking at it. It’s not just a light turquoise or mint green color. It’s every color on the richer yellow-green to aquamarine spectrum. Since this mosaic is intended to be more of an underground, vein of copper found in the earth sort of feel, I’m also going as dark as cobalt. Plus, who doesn’t love some cobalt blue?

There’s a lot more work to do on this first copper mosaic, but I’m really looking forward to seeing how it evolves. I hope you are too! Thanks for watching!

VIDEO: Copper I Mosaic: Choosing Tessera

Copper I is the first mosaic in my series based on the allure of oxidized copper. This first video explores finding the right tessera for the mosaic and is the first in the series of six videos.

Video transcript for deaf or hard of hearing:

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 though 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!

VIDEO: Delta World Map Mosaic

A time-lapse I put together for a mosaic I made years ago before there was a time-lapse function on the iPhone. I just put together a bunch of progress pics, but I thought it still may be fun to see. This is a mosaic I created for Delta Airlines to use the image in their in-flight magazine.

Empress Theodora Mosaic Reproduction

I was so lucky to have a client hire me to make a reproduction of this gorgeous and famous historic mosaic of Empress Theodora.

The journey of this mosaic reproduction began when my client contacted me to ask for a very specific and special commission. He had a reproduction of the famous Emperor Justinian mosaic created by the mosaic artist that did the restoration of the mosaics of the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy. He sent me his Emperor Justinian so that I could use him for reference to make sure the glass and stone choices paired nicely.

This was such a beautiful mosaic to see in person. I quickly saw that this mosaic was created by the double reverse method, otherwise called the Ravenna method. Since the mosaic came from Ravenna, this all makes sense! To create Empress Theodora, I decided to use the same method. I’ve never used this method before, so I did some research and purchased supplies. I also made a tiny sample to practise.

First I placed the stone and smalti in bed of lime putty. What you see in this picture will be the front.

Once the glue was dry, I flipped over the mosaic and cleaned off the lime putty.

Then I covered the front surface with layers of tartalan (a fabric like cheesecloth) and bone glue.

Then I made a box to fit, sprinkled marble dust in the interstices, and put a layer of mortar on the back.

When the mortar was dry, I washed off the layers of tartalan and bone glue and cleaned the surface. The process worked perfectly on the first try, but I needed to adjust the amount of marble dust I used so that the mortar would come closer to the surface.

The halo around the original Empress Theodora is larger compared to her head than my version. Since the client wanted both pieces the same size and hung next to each other, we decided to switch up the ratio a bit. Other than that, I tried to replicate the mosaic as close as possible. I purchased Ravenna smalti and even found some antique gold smalti.

I used an Exacto knife to mark the sketch in the lime putty. I kept the lime putty workable by spraying lightly with water and carefully wrapping the mosaic in-between working sessions.

My Empress Theodora mosaic reproduction completed next to her partner, my client’s Emperor Justinian reproduction from Ravenna.

The client was kind enough to send me a picture of Empress Theodora at home in her frame!

Krishna Sand Mosaic

I was doing a collaborative art show in which my art partner and I decided to make mosaics in different mediums than we usually do. I had the idea of working with sand and loved the outcome! This Krishna is based on a photograph by Jeffrey Boardley.

When I first had the idea of making a sand mosaic, I planned on using an image of the 14th Dalai Lama as a child on a mandala. Then I went to a photography exhibit by a high school friend. Once I saw his photograph of Krishna, I immediately asked him for permission to use his photograph instead. Thankfully, he agreed!

Here’s Jeffrey Boardley’s original photograph.

My sand Krishna is eight feet tall, so I put a grid over the original photograph to trace her onto the foam core fiberglass board I created it on.

I cut the foam core board in a stylized lotus shape, then applied construction paper to help keep the design on track and because the fiberglass board wasn’t an ideal surface for applying the sand.

I just went section-by-section applying the glue and pouring on the sand. I waited for a color to dry, then shook off the excess.

There was a lot of trial and error, as there always is when trying something new, but eventually Krishna started to come together.

Delta World Map Mosaic

This medium sized mosaic was created for Delta Airlines in 2014. Delta had assigned a national theme for each artist and they choose Mexico for me.

There are many different ways to lay out our three dimensional planet on a two dimensional map, so they wanted to make sure all the artworks in the series were using the same map for cohesion. This also allowed for each artist to add their own personal touch to the world map and be able to express their creativity using their own art forms. 

Most of the mosaic was created organically with the exception of Delta giving me the map to use for the mosaic. This piece was part of a series in which they had artists from different cities create a map in different mediums and they then featured a new one every month for their inflight magazine.

For this project, Delta had very specific dimensions that were necessary for their photography, so I created the mosaic on Wedi board, which is a lightweight, foam-cored cement backer board. By using a Wedi board, it could easily be cut to size and even though it was being created just for a photograph, I attached Wedi washers before I started so the mosaic could be hung at a later time

I choose to do the colors yellow and red because of the abundance of these colors in all Mexican art and their culture. Mexican artwork is filled with color, small details and they use a lot of beads as well. At this current time, I was super into beads and since beadwork is popular in Mexican culture, this seemed like a perfect fit.

Once I came up with a plan and choose the colors of beads, I went to Michael’s to buy the beads. I needed almost 20 little tubes of the yellow beads, but each store only stocked 3 at the time. The timeline was too short to be able to order the beads online, so I spent a whole day driving to every Michael’s in the Los Angeles area, from Long Beach to Burbank. I even had to call my bank to turn my debit card back on because apparently when you make purchases at 6 different Michael’s over the course of a few hours looks extremely suspicious!

In addition to just using beads, I used glass tiles. Most of the 5/8” tiles are Sicis and the 3/4” Hakatai. I used a combination of tiles that included translucent, iridescent, opaque, and gold-streaked glass along with wavy andamento to give the impression of movement within the waves. I wanted to create this sense of movement throughout the glass blues to create the ocean and the ripple effects of the waves.

When I started to add the blue shades of tile for the ocean, I originally intended to grout the whole mosaic, however, only the type of dark red beads that were available were painted on the outside so the grout would have just wiped the paint off.

Instead of using grout, I used white silicone with the translucent light glass on the top and then Weldbond for the rest. I also used Mapei black grout for just the bottom portion of the mosaic which included the darkest shades of blue.

I thought of a pattern that flowed from red to yellow would be beautiful, but I mostly wanted red to be the star too because I like red better then yellow and it’s also a complimentary color to the ocean blues that I am using. Just when I started to place the red beads and slowly started adding the yellow, I could see the map come along and it was easy to identify that I was creating North and South America.

Upon completion of my project, I took it to Studio Q photography where Yuno Cho placed in under a LED light box, and this helps so that the lighting can then be diffused and there would be no odd white or dark spots on the photograph in the end result. I really wish I could have all of my art professionally photographed in this way! Professional photography is very expensive... but it if for sure worth it if you can do it! Your artwork will truly benefit from it!

VIDEO: Pathway Key to Success Mosaic: WIP #2

The second of two videos showing the making the Pathway Key to Success mosaic. This was a mosaic artwork I helped kids in a foster care program make as a thank you gift to one of their donors.

Video transcript for deaf or hard of hearing:

Hi Mosaic Aficionados! Today I’m going to show you the completion of the Key to Success mosaic I helped the kids make. We last left off after I had finished the bronze Van Gogh rings.

I added a few beaded sections for examples and glass along the edge before meeting with the group. Kids tend to stick glass hanging off the edge and I don’t feel like getting cut during grouting or transporting.

I also numbered all the rings so the kids could match up what size of key they’ll need.

The kids were kind enough to deal with a tripod in their way for about an hour so you can see them work a little. These kids were amazing! They had incredible focus and attention to detail. They were about 10-12 years old and most kids can’t handle doing something this tedious for even an hour. We expanded the sessions to 2 hours because they always wanted to keep going. And they kept busy and creating through all 6 sessions we worked with them!

It was awesome to hear about their lives and watch them enjoy mosaicking. And no one stabbed anyone with the sharp pottery needles they were using to apply the beads, so I consider that a win.

So next I’m going to show you a close up time-lapse of placing the beads and key in the Apoxie Sculpt. It’s easiest to place the key loosely, then start on the outside and work in. We left the larger beads for the outside of the larger rings, then used seed beads in the centers, or in most cases the entire small circles.

I’m using a pottery needle so I can place each bead on its side so the hole isn’t visible, then press them lightly into the Apoxie Sculpt.

Now we’re ready for grouting. I used masking because I started with a linen color grout on the edges. After that dried, I applied Mapei Flexcolor 3D grout over the regular grout on the edges and on the surface of the mosaic except the circles. They don’t need grouting because of the Apoxie Sculpt. The Flexcolor 3D grout is great for projects like this because it has a cool metallic, sort of iridescent sheen.

So, I ended up just putting the 3D grout on by working my way around the circles. Because it has a translucency and is lighter in color I’m not too concerned about a little getting on the circles. My intention was to mask the beads off with mosaic tape, but the beads were too uneven a surface for it to stick to, so it was just cleaner and easier to work around the circles.

After I get the grout worked into all the crevices, I quickly go over it with a damp sponge followed by a sponge squeezed well, then keep changing sponges if necessary, finishing with a washcloth because the texture helps clean residue off the surface.

Then it’s time for a final cleanup.

There was a residue around all the circles. It’s hard to see, but there’s a little of this haze in the lower right of this circle. I believe it’s from my assistant and me placing the Apoxie Sculpt in the circles, and then the grout sticking to the apoxie residue. We tried to be as careful as possible, even cutting out each circle to size with templates and exacto knives, but your hands very quickly just get sticky after handling it.

I used an exacto blade to get the residue off the glass and a toothbrush to polish up.

When the mosaic was done even Mango approved.

Since this is a gift for the foster care organization’s largest donor, we not only took a lot of care with the project, but also had the kids sign a little thank you plaque to be hung next to the mosaic.

Thank you for following along this journey. I’m happy to report the kids loved mosaicking and the donors loved the mosaic, especially the symbolism of the keys.

Secret Spa Mosaic

I made this mosaic mostly out of Sicis Neoglass for a spa at the same home as the Mokuluas art wall. 

I created this mosaic before the actual spa was built, so I had to put the builder’s measurements into a CAD program to make sure the glass would fit once it was built.

The client is an interior designer and fell in love with Sicis Neoglass. She wanted me to use this glass for the spa. Neoglass is about 1/4” thick and comes in 3 shapes: Cube, Barrel, and Dome.

Cube

Barrel

Dome

The client wanted a design to reflect the local surroundings, so I created a ginger flower embellishment pattern to work into the waves of the mosaic.

Originally the mosaic was going to cover the whole spa, but because of concerns about the surface being slippery, she requested I just mosaic the sides and an interior wave. They would top the spa with stone. These were the options for the original design.

With the design locked down, I started creating the mosaic in reverse on heavy kraft paper so that it could be easily shipped and installed by her builders in Hawaii.

And then the mosaic was finally installed and grouted in its home in Kailua, Hawaii.

VIDEO: Pathway Key to Success Mosaic: WIP #1

The first of two videos showing the making the Pathway Key to Success mosaic. This was a mosaic artwork I helped kids in a foster care program make as a thank you gift to one of their donors.

Video transcript for deaf or hard of hearing:

Hi Mosaic Fans! This mosaic begins when I had only a day to design a project for kids from a foster care organization to create as a gift for their largest donor.

Fortunately, I woke up at 4am and found myself looking on Etsy before I was even conscious and came across these antique bronze key replicas that range in size from ½” to 2- 1/2”.

 I immediately had an idea of how to use the keys in a mosaic, so I jumped out of bed and went straight to the computer to make a mockup. The theme is to thank their donor for giving them the “Key to Success”.

 Mango, on the other hand stayed in bed until sunrise.

 I’m going to use bronze colored Van Gogh glass to create mosaic rings. Inside the rings, the kids will choose & place a key, then fill up the circle with tiny beads. They will also mosaic the background with my favorite iridescent amber/white glass from Wissmach.

I am using a 2’x3’, ¾” birch panel for the substrate.

I started by printing templates for the inner and outer circles, the inner circles on white cardstock and the outer on yellow cardstock so I can trace them onto the wood.

Then I traced the circles onto vellum so that I have a template I can see through to help make adjustments.

I wanted to keep the circles whole, except for those that come slightly off the edge, though even with those I had to make sure the keys would fit wholly onto the panel because I don’t want to have to cut the keys.

To make sure the circles all remain circles, I carefully interlinked the borders. This will mean making a lot of adjustments as I work, but will pay off in making the circles look very clean and crisp.

With the initial sketch completed, I primed the board. You can do this before or after sketching. I chose after because it’s harder to erase once the board has been primed.

The reason for priming is to help adhesion and to cut down on moisture later getting in and warping the wood. I’m priming using watered down Weldbond, which is the adhesive that will be used for the glass. We’ll be using Apoxie Sculpt for the beads, but I’ll get to that in the next video.

So that I can do this all at once, I use cups to place the mosaic on when I flip it over to prime the other side.

I wait only a few minutes until most of the primer has been absorbed, then flip it over and prime the back. I also make sure to prime the edges.

Now it’s time to cut the Van Gogh glass.

 I’m cutting it into ½” strips using the Morton grid. From there I’ll just cut wedge-shaped tessera as needed.

I started with the simple, straight forward rings on top to get a feel for the angles needed for each of the four sizes of rings.

Then I moved to the bottom to get the hard work of the interlocking rings over with. The glass size may not exactly match my templates, so I may need to adjust some of the free floating rings in the center. Doing the bottom first will allow me to size up how things will look best aesthetically.

As I move into the middle section, I’m just adjusting from the original sketch into what will look best once all the rings and beads are in place.

While the tedious nature of mosaics is often enough to drive someone crazy, it is good in instances when I’m preparing to work with kids because it gives me the opportunity to think through the best way to have them work without too much chaos.

In part two we’ll finish up the mosaic and I’ll show the kids working on it. Spoiler alert: They did awesome! Thank you!

VIDEO: Wissmach Glass Factory Trip

One of the best things about living in Ohio is being close enough to drive to the Wissmach Glass Factory in Paden City, WV.

Video transcript for deaf or hard of hearing:

Hi Mosaic Fans! I wanted to show you the Wissmach Glass Factory where I got this gorgeous glass for an awesome price.

At the factory they have scrap glass available to pick through for $1 a pound. As you can see, it’s not just tiny shards, it’s large pieces of their gorgeous stained glass. Even Mango was enjoying the visit, though mostly because one of the employees shared his lunch with Mango.

Here is their bin of COE 90 glass, which is unfortunately pretty sparse. I had hoped to find something good for my sister that fuses this kind of glass, but there wasn’t anything interesting, or basics like clear glass.

There’s even more glass here around the corner and you can choose from any of these bins down to the No Smoking sign. And someone pointed out to me today that there’s also this bin of samples.

Here’s most of the glass I got during this trip. It’s probably thousands of dollars worth of glass and I only paid $300 for it, so that was a pretty good deal. As you can see, a lot of it is a little more broken than it was at the factory and I have a few bags of smaller, broken pieces because unfortunately right as I left the factory, a car pulled out in front of me and I had to slam on my brakes, which broke a lot of the glass. I guess it’s a good thing I do mosaics!

What I mostly stopped in for was this wispy iridescent glass that varies in color from amber to white. It’s what I used as the background for the Copper I mosaic. I’ve fallen deeply in love with it and want to use it more.

I wanted to find glass to use for more copper mosaics, but didn’t find a lot. I did find a lot more iridescent glass than usual though.

So that’s it for this Wissmach Glass trip. I hope you get a chance to either go there or to another glass factory sometime because in addition to finding this inexpensive glass you can pick out, they also give tours to show how they make the glass. I’ve never been on one of these tours and I would love to and I hope all of you get to sometime too. Thank you!  

Registered Trademark Mosaic

The creation of this mosaic took some twists and turns and ended up totally different in the end, but I still love it.

I had an idea for a series of mosaics made of mirror, red glass details, and hardware such as nuts, ball chain, nails, and washers. I started this one and another, then got really busy for about 3-4 years with commissions. Some of these commissions were 13 Red Bull Mirrored Disco Coolers and a few mirrored DecoBall lamps. By the time I had time to get back to my personal artwork, the last thing I wanted to do was mosaic with mirror.

Registered Trademark was originally intended to be a sculptural piece. It was a padlock and was going to hang from barbed wire. Once I decided not to move forward with the series, I cut the front off the structure and finished the edges as a hanging mosaic.

This is a portion of the sculptural mosaic that was done before I decided to cut it apart. Hopefully it shows where I was going with the idea. I’m kind of sad the idea didn’t come to fruition, but as time consuming as mosaics are to create, sometimes you have to make choices on what to follow forward with and what to leave behind.