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!