New Designs

The three mosaics that the students have been working on are almost complete. Two have been cemented and one is waiting for a few touch ups before it is cemented. So in order to keep everyone busy we are doing two that will be auctioned off to the public.

The Lighthouse

This Mosaic was inspired by a large bag of beach glass that was acquired at a local church fair. It just seemed like it would make wonderful water. So the students took it from there and we now have a New England theme.




The lighthouse is cemented but not yet grouted and the view is of the front of the tile.

Staying with a water theme the next one was fish. The background is still being worked on and once the design is flipped the fish will be facing the other way.



The good thing is that every student has worked on a mosaic at least once. Three fifth grade classes have been able to assist in cementing the tile to the backer board. We even have video that we can show to the third and fourth graders so they can see the cementing process.

The Next Step

The first panel has had all the tile placed and was ready to be adhered to the backing. It was quite a production and more than a bit worrisome just because it's the first one I have done since I had taken the mosaic class. I was really hoping I hadn't forgotten something. For the most part all went well.
Since the tile is placed onto contact paper good side down, the image is always being viewed from the back. The contact paper holds the tile in place until it is adhered to a backing.
Backer board was placed on the table and adhesive was smeared onto the board.
Once it was all properly spread the board was picked up and placed onto the tile.

At that point it was clamped and the whole thing was flipped over. This means the backer board is now on the bottom and the tile is face up. We had many hands to help flip the design. It's fairly heavy as the backer board is more of a cement board and the tiles are glass.


Now we can remove the original design and all that will remain is the tile set into the adhesive and the contact paper that was used to keep them in place.




In these photo's you can see the tile underneath the contact paper and the design is now right side up.




Now we had to wait for the adhesive to set up a little before we could begin to remove the contact paper to expose the design.




Once the contact paper came off several students helped remove adhesive that had come further through the cracks between the tiles than was suppose to.
The next step in the process will begin in a few days and more pictures will follow.
Photography was done by a fifth grade student during the whole process.

The first panel is nearly finished.

Our first Panel is nearly done. Here is how it looked in the beginning stages. In this photo the tiles are placed in the designs and all that is left to do is the back ground. There are three panels planned so far. The theme of the panels are based on the school day. This panel includes symbols that represent a school day. Keep in mind the image is reversed.


I placed the panel on the mirrored table in the classroom. The tiles are essentially right side down. So the view is of the back of the image. This is why we reverse the image before laying tile. The image is still not yet attached to a backer board. The next step is to take tile adhesive and spread it onto a board. The board is then placed onto the tile and the whole design is flipped and will be right side up. A little tough to explain.



Here again is the image while looking into the mirror. An handy tool as we can now see it straight on as if it were hanging on a wall. This is exactly what it will look like once adhered to a backing except all the ridges in the tile that are seen now will be in the adhesive and the smooth side of the tile will be showing.

Placing the Tiles

We have begin laying the tiles onto the design. Four students at a time are in the mosaic room and are cutting and placing tile onto the outline. It's similar to coloring in a coloring book page but you're coloring with tile. I can also compare it to doing a puzzle but in this case you're cutting the puzzle pieces to fit the shape on the board. Students are serious about what they are doing and interested in the process. Not to mention it's lots of fun.

It's been going a lot faster than anticipated. The pictures here are of our first design. It's about 3 feet by 2.5 feet and we have two more designs of the same size ready to go.

We have Designs!

I think one of the hardest parts of starting a project is coming up with the idea of what we want the design to look like. I often have students say "I can't think of anything" and I am there to inspire them. This time I needed their help with the inspiration. Each student made several sketches and we began to put them all together in a collage like image. These photos show the beginning, and we have many more images to add, but our design is off to a good start.

We Have Begun!

Today was the first day of school and the mosaic project was presented to fifth, fourth and third graders. Each class seemed very excited about making a mosaic and we began by brainstorming some ideas on the theme.
In the image of my classroom you will see a black arrow. This is pointing to a large closet where the students will work on putting together the mosaic. I hope to have four students in there every class period placing tiles on the design. I would also like to have a parent volunteer that can help me with supervising the students that will be in the room. This part of the classroom is also the area where the teacher presents the lessons that the students will be working on. Those students who are not working on the mosaic that day will have an art lesson to keep them creative.



And once the technique is demonstrated students move to the tables to work while they wait for their turn in the mosaic room. Any parent that is interested in supervising a small group as they place tiles please call or e-mail me via the school web page. As a volunteer you have the added benefit of learning how to do a mosaic with this very simple technique.

The Mosaic Class

July 31- August 2, 2009
This weekend I spent all day Friday, Saturday, and Sunday at a place called Snow Farm in Williamsburg, Ma. compliments of the Hollistion Education Foundation. For the three days I was in the Mosaic class learning how to put together a mosaic and all the elements involved. I was able to put together two pieces that measured about 12 x 12 inches and one smaller one about 5 x 7 inches.


The technique that was taught by the instructor was designed so that it will be reasonably simple to have the art students at Holliston put together one for our courtyard.



Snow Farm has a week long summer intensive art program for high school students that are interested in exploring art forms like mosaics. They also have classes in welding and glassblowing and other interesting art forms.





This little picture of the dog was done for a neighbor who happened to tell me that she's turning 84 soon. I did this small mosaic for her of her dog Fred.