Mosaic Gallery
Memorial Day weekend 2014 was supposed to just be a fun weekend away with friends. We headed to Philadelphia for a mosaic class with Isaiah Zagar, the founder of Philadelphia's Magic Gardens. That weekend ignited yet another creative pursuit. I couldn't stop thinking about how much fun it was to break things and glue then to a wall.
Between February 2015 and May 2020 I completed 3 projects. The first was "The Great Wall", a giant clamshell quilt on the wall. Then I did a backsplash for my dye sink featuring some fish that I made with fused glass. The last project is the beaded wall that's adjacent to The Great Wall and is made with a lot of leftover bits. After that one was finished I decided to retire from mosaics. The materials were taking over my basement and the VOC gasses from the grout cause me too may allergy problems. Unfortunately I gave some of the leftover tiles to a friend. Her husband built a grill station and pizza oven and the next thing I knew I was helping mosaic a pizza oven. So, in July 2020 I worked on one more project, the Sunflower Pizza Oven.
All of these projects (except for the pizza oven) are in my unfinished basement with open rafters and concrete floors but I work a lot in the basement between quilting, dyeing and glass work so these mosaics really perk the space up for me. Here are all 4 projects with loads of photos.
Between February 2015 and May 2020 I completed 3 projects. The first was "The Great Wall", a giant clamshell quilt on the wall. Then I did a backsplash for my dye sink featuring some fish that I made with fused glass. The last project is the beaded wall that's adjacent to The Great Wall and is made with a lot of leftover bits. After that one was finished I decided to retire from mosaics. The materials were taking over my basement and the VOC gasses from the grout cause me too may allergy problems. Unfortunately I gave some of the leftover tiles to a friend. Her husband built a grill station and pizza oven and the next thing I knew I was helping mosaic a pizza oven. So, in July 2020 I worked on one more project, the Sunflower Pizza Oven.
All of these projects (except for the pizza oven) are in my unfinished basement with open rafters and concrete floors but I work a lot in the basement between quilting, dyeing and glass work so these mosaics really perk the space up for me. Here are all 4 projects with loads of photos.
The Great Wall
In February 2015 I started a mosaic on the basement wall next to my longarm (FloMo). I completed the wall April 1, 2017. The wall used 2 gallons of mastic and about 45 lbs of grout. I grouted it in 3 sections and each section took about 7 hours. The wall is 13' wide and 7' 10" tall.
Most of the materials were free. For about a year I had access to broken pottery from a local pottery studio and people gave me broken plates and bits. I purchased some of the bright colors in plates from dollar stores. My pottery source ended so I need to find new sources for free materials for future sections.
Most of the materials were free. For about a year I had access to broken pottery from a local pottery studio and people gave me broken plates and bits. I purchased some of the bright colors in plates from dollar stores. My pottery source ended so I need to find new sources for free materials for future sections.
The location of this wall doesn't make a lot of sense. It was a ton of work to be in an unfinished basement where no one really sees it. But I did the wall there because it was low risk if I abandoned the project mid-way. But if I finished it I would have a much more interesting quilting studio. It covered an ugly cinder block wall and gives me something fun to look at when I'm quilting. It was all done just for me.
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In the class with Isaiah we worked on large designs but when I thought about transferring that concept here it was overwhelming for me. I needed to break it down into smaller sections and that's what led me to making a quilt on the wall for my quilt studio. This is a traditional clamshell quilt pattern and it was perfect. I only had to focus on one section at a time. I did all white/light shards on the top edge and dark at the bottom.
The pole on the left is a radon vent. After I did the ladybug block at the bottom I got the idea to add decals to the pole and found some cute ones on Etsy.
My original plan was to just do this wall but there are already other sections in my basement being planned. Here are all of the individual sections by theme.
The pole on the left is a radon vent. After I did the ladybug block at the bottom I got the idea to add decals to the pole and found some cute ones on Etsy.
My original plan was to just do this wall but there are already other sections in my basement being planned. Here are all of the individual sections by theme.
The trademark of Isaiah Zagar's mosaics is his use of mirror. I added mirror to these 3 sections in homage to Isaiah.
These three sections are all for Chris. He went to college at UVA so there's a Virginia block. The green is meant to portray "the lawn" but nobody gets that when they see it. Chris then served in the Navy for 23 years. The center block has the medallion from the plaque he received from DESRON32. He was assigned there when we married. The star and stripes represent his rank at that time. The one in the right has the plaque he received from the Office of Legislative Affairs in Washington DC. He was there before we married. I bought a set of vintage Washington DC ashtrays from Etsy to add to the section. The pink color is for the Japanese cherry trees.
These 4 blocks are personal to me. There's my love of quilting and sewing in the first 2 blocks. The Virginia Tech logo is the only block that I bough specific materials to make. I used stained glass in orange and maroon and then added 32 blocks of "Hoike Stone" around the edge. The Hokie Stone came from some floor tiles from a friend. The last one is the Virgo constellation. I don't follow astrology but I was running out of ideas and Chris and I are both Virgos. Only one person so far has guessed that this block is a constellation.
Chris and I are both from Virginia and have lived most of our lives here. We can't imagine living anywhere else. On the left are Cardinals and Dogwood blooms, out state bird and flower. The center block pays tribute to the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains. The Virginia map has 3 points marked with red glass. McLean, where Chris was born, Bassett, where I was born and Montpelier where we live now.
These sections represent places where we vacationed while the wall was under construction. We went to Niagara Falls, Maine, Seattle and Yellowstone/Grand Tetons.
We started a family tradition with my family to vacation together in Hatteras, NC. These are my beach blocks. The first one has shells collected from the beach when we celebrated my Mom's 75th birthday at the beach.
These blocks all feature specific pieces of pottery, plates or china.
Top Row: Becky's china, Patty's wedding china and a plate from our wedding china (Rosenthal Frederick the Great). I sold all of my china except this one plate that I wanted to add to the wall.
Middle Row: This first plate is one of the most special pieces on the wall. My friend Mary gave this to me to add to the wall. She picked it up when visiting her son when he was working in Costa Rica. The plate was broken on the trip home. Her son later died in CR of anaphylactic shock. I love that she wanted this plate added to the wall. I found the middle plate at Goodwill and it had the great quilt pattern border. The third block is from a set of salad bowls that we used for years until they chipped.
Bottom row: Winter themed plates from a thrift shop in the first block. The second block has a snowman plate from my friend Betty and the little dog tile is from my friend Sally. The third block features a pottery tile from artist Karen Hull. She teaches at Visual Arts in Richmond.
Top Row: Becky's china, Patty's wedding china and a plate from our wedding china (Rosenthal Frederick the Great). I sold all of my china except this one plate that I wanted to add to the wall.
Middle Row: This first plate is one of the most special pieces on the wall. My friend Mary gave this to me to add to the wall. She picked it up when visiting her son when he was working in Costa Rica. The plate was broken on the trip home. Her son later died in CR of anaphylactic shock. I love that she wanted this plate added to the wall. I found the middle plate at Goodwill and it had the great quilt pattern border. The third block is from a set of salad bowls that we used for years until they chipped.
Bottom row: Winter themed plates from a thrift shop in the first block. The second block has a snowman plate from my friend Betty and the little dog tile is from my friend Sally. The third block features a pottery tile from artist Karen Hull. She teaches at Visual Arts in Richmond.
I offered several people the opportunity to make their own blocks but only 2 friends took me up in it. Estelle made the peacock and Lora did the wine section using a real broken wine bottle.
I used fused glass elements in many blocks but it was a feature in these 5 blocks. The top 3 blocks were some of my earliest blocks and I added the fused glass elements just to see if they would stick. I had to figure out later how to build designs around them. The beer bottle is the first bottle I slumped in my kiln.
I made the fish and flowers in the bottom 2 blocks in the kiln. The "water" for the fish is leftover tile from my friend's bathroom reno. I'm using this same theme to do a backsplash behind my dye sink as my next project.
I made the fish and flowers in the bottom 2 blocks in the kiln. The "water" for the fish is leftover tile from my friend's bathroom reno. I'm using this same theme to do a backsplash behind my dye sink as my next project.
Bluebirds, dragonflies, Mallard ducks, ladybugs and vultures are just some of the critters that we see around our home frequently. I'm particularly partial to vultures so he's in the upper right corner keeping watch over me.
These are just random ideas that I got for filling spaces. Some started with a vague idea or a particular piece of glass or pottery. Most importantly I just filled the spaces.
The last blocks were my signature blocks.
The Aquarium Backsplash
This mosaic is behind my dye sink in the basement. It's based on the aquarium block in the Great Wall. I made more fused glass fish and filled in with more leftover tile from my friend's remodeled bathroom. Unfortunately I ran out of the round blue tiles! I had to search all over Richmond to find the source and the 2 additional 12" square sets ultimately cost about $50 with the shipping. But to finish I had to bite the bullet. The grouting was finished December 26, 2019.
The Beaded Wall
I was born in 1960 so I missed the hippie movement but I remembered how much I loved the beaded curtains. When I was trying to come up with an idea for using up my scraps from The Great Wall, a beaded curtain was the first thing that came to mind. I used my longarm circle and oval rulers to mark the beads and then got busy filling in beads.
Here is the whole section. It's about 5 feet wide. I was slow working on this one so it took about 2 years to do the mosaic and then it sat for about 5 months until I grouted it in April 2020.
The beaded wall is on the adjacent wall from The Great Wall and you can see a couple of partial bead blocks on the corner of the Great Wall to tie it in.
I felt like the beads needed something to hang from so I used some tile leftover from a friend's kitchen to create a horizontal beam for hanging the strings of beads.
Most of the beads on this wall are made from leftover tile but there are a few special beads. The mirror bead is a nod to Isaiah Zagar, our original instructor in Philadelphia magic Gardens. Mirror is a signature of his. The fossil is something I picked up in Albuquerque when Mom and I attended a family wedding. The fish (and also a starfish) was purchased wile on family vacation in Hatteras, NC.
Well, technically it should be signed "20" but I did finish the mosaic in 2019 and only did the grouting in 2020. It's set in stone now so it's too late to change it.
The Sunfower Pizza Oven
My best friend has a lovely home on a Chesapeake Bay tributary. Usually when I go there I'm going to relax but in July 2020 it was a working trip. Her husband and brother-in-law built a lovely brick grill station with a pizza oven and her dream was to mosaic it. I had given her a lot of my leftover tiles from the basement and, honestly, hoped the project idea might die. But, no, we needed to get on with it. She spent a lot of time on Pinterest looking for ideas, most of which were too complex for my drawing skills and her drawing skills aren't much better! After a few hours drawing on the oven with chalk and assessing our tile palette we struck on sunflowers. Sunflowers are happy and timeless and were perfect for our tile palette. This was not an easy project. I'd never mosaiced anything with a shape before and we worked outside on the hottest week of the year so far. Chris helped us on grouting day and we were so grateful because we would not have finished without him.
These photos are on the day we left. It's not a pristine area because there were a few more things that she needed to do after we left, but you will get the idea. The last photo is an entrance post to her driveway. It had a hideous tile with an image of a castle which has no relevance to the house or the waterfront nature of the area. She covered it with with a happy sun that references the sun on the pizza oven chimney.
These photos are on the day we left. It's not a pristine area because there were a few more things that she needed to do after we left, but you will get the idea. The last photo is an entrance post to her driveway. It had a hideous tile with an image of a castle which has no relevance to the house or the waterfront nature of the area. She covered it with with a happy sun that references the sun on the pizza oven chimney.
Nadine's Patio
In 2024 I helped my friend, Nadine, mosaic her patio. The patio is made from 4 large slabs and it supports a pergola with a gigantic Wisteria plant. Over the years the weight of the Wisteria has cracked the patio and it had become dangerous. This particular corner was 3" lower than the other 3 corners and her 99 year old mother tripped over it last year. They can't replace the patio without risk to the Wisteria so we came up with the idea of putting in a mosaic patch to level things out. There are actually 2 patches that we worked on. It's filled with Mexican-style tiles in a totally random pattern.
It had been almost 4 years since my last mosaic adventure so this one was a lot of fun. This one got finished just in time for her son's wedding the next month.
It had been almost 4 years since my last mosaic adventure so this one was a lot of fun. This one got finished just in time for her son's wedding the next month.
