New Work Monday #19

Ooo la la la! We are going deep deep deep into the archives...

All the way back to when I was crazy about mosaics. So crazy that I took a week off work to go to Ravenna, Italy to do a mosaic class. This is one of the things I came home with:


Detail:

Mosaic bird
Copy from the Galla Placidia Masoleum
25cm x 40cm

The technique that we used was the "ancient" technique using smalti tesserae (smalti is a sort of glass pancake that is thereafter cut into rectangle-like pieces with a cutting hammer. Smalti comes in all kinds of colours, including real gold hereabove). This technique was worked in the studio, being pressed into your design that has been drawn on a kind of limestone silly putty.

When your design is complete, you glue (I think we used rabbit bone glue) a cheesecloth to your design. While waiting for the cheesecloth to dry, mix your plaster (where you want to set your final piece, we used a wooden tray frame). When the cheesecloth is dry, pull the terreraes away from the limestone and lay it down (with cheesecloth facing up) into the wet plaster. Let it dry.

When the plaster is completely dry (count 24 hours), wet the glued down cheesecloth and pull it gently away from the mosaic. Some of the tesserae may be loose or have disappeared. Don't panic. Prepare a little cement glue and stick them (or replacements) back into place.

Clean off the glue.

You may find that the white space between the tesseraes on your final space annoy your eye. No worries. A little gouache of the mosaic's primary colour in water and a paintbrush can dampen down the glaring white when the paint solution is passed over it.

Voilà.

This little fellow has been in my studio since we moved (in 2005). I think it's time to put him in a place of honour in my entranceway.