My First Mosaic
Have you ever broken a dish? A china tea cup? Something precious to you? Of course you have!
Years ago, when we were first married, I broke one of my favourite antique plates and I was so sad. I just couldn’t bear to throw it away. Being the artistic natured person that I am I decided to keep it incase I could ‘do’ something with it.
Over the years, as precious plates or cups got chipped or broken I kept saving them thinking, “Someday I’m going to make a mosaic out of these.”
Well, once Covid slowed me down I decided that the time is NOW. And so it began. We talked about what kind of object I wanted for the mosaic ( flower pots, stones for a footpath, etc.,) and finally I decided I wanted to put one on a table. A couple of years ago we settled on a sewing machine base. A woman in St. Albert already had the sewing machine removed and a wooden table attached so it was perfect for the project!
I knew nothing about making a mosaic so I watched lots of YouTube videos! I learned that I needed to get a pair of ‘nippers’ (Terry had some!), protective gloves, safety goggles, and a hammer. I also used a box so that the cut china had a place to land.
Terry used a jigsaw to cut out the table into an oval for me and then I used the extra wood for a template for my design.
Those nippers freakin’ killed my right hand. Ugh! You squeeze super tightly and then hope that you get a break that doesn’t just splinter into shards. I got fairly good at it and separated all my bits and pieces into a sections in another box. When I had to cut a thicker piece of china (like a chipped mug) I put a towel over it, placed it in the box, used a hammer, and hoped for the best.
I love my cozy art room. I set up a wood burning fire in the hearth and got to work. I had decided that I would try and make a design instead of just putting random pieces everywhere and I came up with a robin for the middle of the table. Then it was a matter of placing the pieces inside the template like a puzzle.
Once I had the image designed I went to Home Depot to buy some tiles for the edge to be mixed with green squares I created out of an old mug I used to love. I had to cut up every single , tiny tile from a large attached sheet.
Then…..yikes….it was time to start attaching the edge with grout. It went very well . Then Terry helped me staple a plastic edge onto the table that he thought would be needed to give a more finished look.
After the focal point (the robin) was drawn (thanks, Terry, for measuring) it was time to start transferring all those pieces from the template to the actual table with grout.
It soon became apparent that I would mostly fit in the ‘puzzle pieces’ anew so I took my time and tried to get it all to fit.
I used a saraded trowel to add the grout onto the table or my gloved hands for individual pieces. They both worked.
Then, once everything was applied I let it dry for a day before I covered the entire thing with grout and then wiped off the excess with a big, wet sponge.
It was a bit of a back breaking challenge but I’m very happy to see my new table with the finished artwork. And it’s even cooler that every single piece of ‘tile’ on the top of the table was from my own collection of broken bits that I’ve been carrying from house to house for years…ha ha.
