Sunday 23 February 2014

Mosaic making.

Yesterday I met up with some friends I haven't seen for some time to take part in a Mosaic Workshop run by the wonderful Lily Mosaics in her studio at her home.

I have had a go at Mosaic before, when I attended a speed craft event. I wasn't overly enamored but in hindsight I think this was down to the short time frame and the teacher who wasn't really all that helpful, such a shame.  I left with a very pathetic looking wooden heart with a few bits stuck on it not knowing how to proceed and finish it off.

 

Therefore I was a little apprehensive in case I didn't enjoy this workshop but oh-ho-ho was I worrying over nothing, I loved it.

We were greeted and soon handed a lovely cup of tea and some biscuits before settling down to work.  The first and probably most important thing we learnt to do was to use the nippers.  Nasty looking little things but actually very safe in the right hands, oddly mine were safe enough!

We cut small squares from large squares of ceramic and later glass, then we made a petal shape.  Mine didn't really lose its pointy edges so resembled more of an arrow head.

Once we had learnt the basics we made our selections for shapes and colours.  I decided on a square hook to hand in my kitchen and went for a random selection of colours.  I was going to go with a colour scheme but I was taking too long to choose and thought I would go against my inner OCD regarding colour schemes for a change.


I didn't have much of a clue what I was planning on so started by drawing a heart in the centre of the square and filling it with buttons.  The buttons in hindsight were a bit of a pain because as the glue oozed through the holes I had to fish it out with a cocktail stick to make sure the grout would later sink into them.  This took a long time but was worth it in the end don't you think.


After taking so long with my buttons I didn't have an awful lot of time to cover the rest of the board before the end of the session.  I therefore decided that a quick arrangement of square tiles around the edge would be suitable, they would also make the heart stand out.  I mostly used already cut tiles to save time but I did cut a few.


I was really pleased with the end result and loved sticking all the tiles down to create a lovely pattern.  Here are the five that we made while we there, didn't we do well!


We left with a bag containing a small pot of grout.  My other half was grouting the kitchen tiles last night and it took all my strength not to do my own little bit of grouting but I had to wait to make sure the glue was entirely dry.

After being rudely awoken by a crying cat at 7am this morning I decided I would get up, I just couldn't help myself and did my grouting before I had even drunk my morning dandelion compound, a delicious alternative to coffee.

I started the grouting process by masking around the edge of the tile to make sure the edges finished of nice and neatly.



Then I stuck my fingers in the grout and got smoothing it out.

 
 I have to say this was pretty difficult as the buttons gathered the grout in the middle, the tiles were all different sizes and the gaps were therefore tricky to fill.  I mostly managed, it is by no stretch of the imagination a professional finish but for a first attempt I am quite happy.



I left the grout to dry a while and then checked on it, a few gaps had appeared so I went over it again.

My impatience then got the better of me and I just had to tidy it up and see what the finished item looked like.  My grouting instructions said to use a damp cloth to wipe away the excess grout once it had dried.  I wrung out a baby wipe and used one of them, it worked quite nicely but I could have done with something a little ticker.  The buttons were again a pain to clean so if I ever use them again I will be laying them upside down and therefore flat side up.  Once the hook was attached to the back and the nails were hammered in the wall it was hanging and ready to be used.

I plan to eventually hang my new pinny on it next to my home made carrier bag holder and a peg bag I made ages ago.  My kitchen is turning into a beautiful home made haven.

If you have ever considered learning to Mosaic I highly recommend Lily Mosaic here in Nottingham, she has a great little studio and her work is so inspiringly beautiful.   Go have a look at her website.





 

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