05 July 2014

Mosaic with Alice McLaughlin Workshop Review



During this two day workshop fifteen lucky ladies learnt about the art of mosaics and each one produced their own individual piece.

Some had a simple flat board, some had bowls or terra cotta pots to cover with a mosaic design which they had sketched on paper before-hand. One lady even brought along a satellite dish to cover the inside with a mosaic design. This piece will later become part of a larger art work for her garden.
 
Everyone was kept busy selecting and cutting the tiles in the colours they wanted and even using a hammer to smash up tiles into small pieces to fit into the design.  Other materials were used such as coloured glass, beads, buttons, broken mirrors and even hand -made tiles made from clay.

Alice explained the process of drawing up a design on paper to the size required then placing clear plastic over it and then a piece of insect gauze on top. We then glued the pieces of coloured tiles onto the gauze following the pattern visible underneath. When this was dry we then carefully lifted the gauze onto a board covered with tile cement and left this to dry overnight. Those who had round surfaces such as terra cotta pots or bowls  glued the tile pieces directly onto the surface with tile cement.
On the second day we mixed grout and smeared it over the tiled surface, making sure all the crevices were filled. Then with a sponge and rags the excess grout was wiped away to reveal our pattern neatly surrounded by the grout.

At the end of the weekend we were all pleasantly surprised at what we had achieved and were even working on another piece to finish at home.


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