Sunk Cost Fallacy Happens in Art Too

Sunk cost fallacy is when someone is reluctant to abandon a strategy because they have already invested in it. It happens in every field, including art, and it can be emotional.


I have been working and planning in all my spare time for over a year for an exhibition I wanted to create for 2027. I put several hundred hours into planning, designing, and beginning fabrication. In the end decided that even though I loved the concept, the end result wasn’t going to be worth the time and money I would have to put into it over the course of the next few years. Before I describe why I’ve decided not to continue with the exhibition, my feelings about it, and show the works-in-progress, let me show you the concept. I made a model with SketchUp and turned that into a video that describes the exhibition.


Overall, I’m glad I decided to both invest and quit the idea. I learned a lot of new techniques, I have artworks to finish that I think will be gorgeous, and I learned a lot about how to tie an entire concept together, yet I didn’t continue to lose time and money and stress myself out over a concept that wouldn’t pay off in the end. I’m also glad I decided to write this blog post about the whole experience because it’s helped me realize that letting go is a wise choice, not a failure.


I made the hard decision not to continue with planning the exhibition when I was applying for a huge grant for this project that needed a lot of elaborate information and had a friend that was nice enough to proofread for me. At one point to answer one of the grant questions, I mentioned that it would take over 10,000 hours of work to complete the art for the exhibition. Her note was that I should adjust this because 10,000 hours sounded too unbelievable. I realized at that point that if this friend that knows and appreciates my art and understands the project thought putting 10,000 hours into it sounded unbelievable, maybe I needed to rethink things because 10,000 hours was most likely an underestimate. I wasn’t counting the time I already put in, time for artist assistants, or the fact that the pieces I already started on were already taking way longer than my projected time for each individual piece.

At that point, I gave the concept some thought and decided if I got the grant, I would move forward, and if I didn’t, I wasn’t going to move forward with the whole grand concept. I didn’t get the grant.

I felt sad about giving up on this concept I spent so much time dreaming about and working on. I also felt like a bit of a failure giving up instead of persevering. In the end, it would have left me with no time to pursue my other goals for years, have any life-work balance (which is a goal I keep saying I’m going to achieve someday), and cost me a lot of money even if I got the huge grant. The artwork for it is either so conceptual (like the wall panels) or expensive (like the sculptures), that I couldn’t ever hope to recover my time and money put into it. Plus I would have ended up storing huge crane sculptures for years.

Most importantly, I don’t think anyone observing the exhibit could even fathom how much work or expense went into it. For instance, below is a detail of one of the “poem” panels. Even if an observer loved the concept and execution, at most they would think it’s interesting, detailed, or love the colors. I don’t think anyone could fathom the time or cost. The 19 panels consist of 219 stripes of color with a round gold mirror indicating the letter. Each stripe took me 6-7 hours to complete. At best, that’s at least 1314 hours for the easiest part of the exhibition for observers to think “oh, cool”.

My favorite part of the cranes idea is the sculptures. I will finish the one I started below and make a couple more. I think they are going to be absolutely gorgeous. One thing I’ve gained from this experience was learning to work better with sculptural materials. I started off experimenting by piecing sections together before I finally decided to try just folding the sculptural mesh like I would an origami crane, then using white Apoxie Sculpt to flesh out the base and black Apoxie Sculpt to apply the beads. As a bonus, I found these super tiny 0/15 beads that are wonderful to work with for mosaic because they are so tiny they make normal seed beads look like boulders. I can’t wait to find time to finish this crane because I think it’s going to be gorgeous!

I also experimented with different mediums to work into the concept, including tinted mortar backgrounds, alcohol ink with 3D origami cranes, and different ways to hang the cranes.

I even created a line of drop ship merchandise that I hoped would help out with the supply costs of creating this body of work. A few of the items I just decided to go ahead and put in my shop. Why not?

Mosaic Art of 2022

I finally took a pause from making mosaics and got around to updating my site with all the art I created last year! Of course, it's all put into categories, so here's your quick guide on what's new. Every image links to the full page with more and larger images.

I didn’t get around to doing a lot of writing about the artwork, so ignore the boring text and just look at the pretty images. ;)

Copper Patina Mosaics

Starting at the end of 2022, here are some of the new mosaics I created for my Oxidation exhibition at Silo Art Gallery.

 

Sancta Clara Sunrise behind St. Joseph Mosaic

During the winter I got to stay bright by creating this sunrise mosaic with stained glass and gold smalti, then we installed it in the summer of 2022.

I love when I get to work with bright colors!! Most of my mosaics are at private homes, so it’s also exciting that people can actually visit the grounds of this monastery to see it in person!

Sancta Clara Monastery
4200 Market Avenue N, Canton, Ohio 44714

 

Glenwood Landscape Mosaic

It was so cool to work with the 6th graders and their fabulous art teacher to make this giant landscape mosaic to beautify their hallway and create a calm place to read and study. This kept us all busy through the winter and spring of 2022.

 

Coming Up…

For those of you that stuck around to the end, here’s a sneak peek at what I’m working on now. This is what I’m beginning to create for a large exhibition in 2026 or 2027. I hope to finish these two along with a few other things by late spring so I can announce the project and start fundraising.

It’s always hard to find enough time for everything as an artist! I took a couple weeks to update my website and make a few social media posts, but in addition to trying to create, I’m also working with kids for two arts organizations, starting on three commissions, and trying to keep up with the business end of art. This is just a little PSA for those that want to know why artists are always so stressed. We’re running businesses with no experience in business, in which we fill the role of several employees with expertise we don’t have, spending 100 hours a week working and creating art, and then it’s almost impossible to get people to pay enough or buy enough to cover expenses. So hug an artist & buy from an artist. ❤️

VIDEO: Making of Mokuluas Mosaic

It was such an honor to have the opportunity to make such a stunning backsplash for my client in Kailua, Hawaii! This video shows the creation of the Mokuluas mosaic from beginning to end, but before iPhones took good pictures. ;)

Video transcript for deaf or hard of hearing:

 I’m going to take you way back to 2008 to one of the first major commissions of my professional mosaic career. I had done a couple small commissions before and finally got my website together when I got a call from an interior designer in the Bay area.

She wasn’t calling for a client, but for herself. She and her husband were building their dream home in Kailua, HI, and wanted me to make two mosaics for their home. Today I’m going to show you the making of Mokuluas, the Hawaiian art wall backsplash.

This was a new build, so since it didn’t exist yet, I received a pdf file with

elevations from the architect. There were still some variables, so I believe this is the image I sketched up with the red dots to let them know which measurements I needed to proceed.

The client sent me these two images of the Mokuluas islands. They are just around the cove from the new home they were building, but since they didn’t have a view from their property, they wanted this mosaic to bring the islands into their home. 

The client and I knew we wanted it to be slightly stylized, yet realistic, so I started first by showing her how an idea I had for the clouds, a motif that would carry through to the ocean waves. 

Then I sketched the ocean waves.

Again, the kitchen wasn’t built yet, so I put the measurements into a CAD program to create a layout to make sure the client understood the perspective.

Then the client wanted some palm leaves to frame the mosaic. There was also some talk at this time about adding a turtle. I believe I made some sketches with a turtle, but really felt it took away from the elegance of the design.

Then the builders sent me updated measurements, making the proportions slightly squarer.

This was the final design thrown into the CAD layout. 

The next step was to show the client the palette of glass I would use for the mosaic. I ordered samples of every color from a few different glass lines and pared them down to this. I spent a lot of time finding the perfect combos, so I remember being thrilled that the client immediately approved the glass.

Next I laid out the shifts of water color on the design as well as the backer board I would be working on. It would be easy with a free flowing, wavy design to get crooked or get carried away with one color and not leave enough room for all the transitions.

Then it was time to begin the construction.

I started with the palm fronds,

Then the stylized clouds 

And the pebble islands filled in by gold streaked glass to make sure they still catch the light.

I took some pictures for the client without the painter’s tape.

I need to leave some pieces of glass unattached so the panels can be screwed into the wall with washers, so as I’m working the blue tape is to hold them in place.

Now onto the water. I worked from both the bottom and top to make sure the colors and intensity of the waves would come together properly. 

Also as a note, I used white silicone for this project. I want it to be waterproof because it will be in a kitchen in a humid climate. Plus much of the glass is translucent, so using a white adhesive makes the glass bright and shiny.

I cut the mosaic into dozens of pieces and shipped the mosaic to Hawaii. The builder sent me these pics before lighting was installed in the home.

 The next year I went to Hawaii to grout the mosaic. I was busy working the whole time, but here are a couple pictures of the home and property I managed to take. 

And finally the mosaic was finished. This was right before inexpensive cameras and phone cameras started getting really good, so the pictures don’t quite show the movement of the mosaic.

 When you are in the room, because of all the shine and iridescence, the water appears to move and the homeowner reported that the colors change throughout the day.

Thank you for taking this trip back in time with me!

Mokuluas Mosaic

Dating back to 2008, this was one of my first large mosaic pieces I have done for my career. I received a call from an interior designer about a piece that she wanted for herself. She and her husband were building their dream home in Kailua, Hawaii, and they wanted for me to create a backsplash to be put in their kitchen.

Since the home was not yet built, I has asked for the measurements of all the walls surrounding the kitchen so that I knew what size I was going to create this piece to be. She also sent me two pictures of Mokulukas Islands that were located near their new home. Since they could not see the Islands from their house, so they wanted for me to create a mosaic in order to show the landscape in their own home.

The client and I knew she wanted the piece to be realistic, but also stylized, so when I began my drawing, I first started with the outline of the clouds. I created this motif drawing that would also carry through the whole piece. I then sketched the ocean waves and using the same technique. After my sketch design was created, I put the measurements into a CAD program so I could show the client and also so that way they knew the perspective that was going to be shown.

After the sketch was created, the client then decided that they wanted to add in some palm leaves. I was able to incorporate them on the sides of the piece, without taking away from the piece as a whole and the elegance of the overall design. After I added in the palm trees and sent it over to the designer, we then changed the sizing for the overall piece slightly so that it was more square and it would then fit better in the layout the client wanted.

Once everything was sketched out and placed in the CAD layout, I then showed the client the glass colors I had chosen and would be using on their mosaic. I ordered samples of lots of different colors and I also spent a lot of time picking combos of colors that I liked the best and thought that would be the best fit for the overall design. I was extremely happy when the client liked the glass colors that I had picked the first time!

After I choose the colors, I then laid out the watercolor shifts I was going to use and I put them on the backer board as well so that I knew where to follow on this specific design in order to keep it in line so it did not go all over the place. This also allowed for all the transitions of colors and so that one color would not get taken over by another color.

Finally it was time to begin the piece and I first started with the palm leaves and then I worked my way to clouds and then the Mokulukas islands using both glass and stone so that they would stand out in the piece.

Next up was creating the water. I made sure to work from both the top and the bottom to make sure the colors and the intensity of the waves would show through as well as come together properly and not look out of place. For this project, I also used some white silicone as an adhesive because it will be located in a kitchen so I wanted to make sure that it was going to be waterproof. A white adhesive is also helpful when glass is translucent because it makes it brighter and shiny too.

When the piece was complete, I cut it into dozens of pieces and then had it shipped to Hawaii for the client. The builder then had sent me photos of it being installed into the home and a year later I got to go to Hawaii to grout the mosaic. Even though I was there for work, I got to see their property and I even got to see the Mokulukas Islands in person that I had created for the client.

When you view the mosaic, the water and clouds appear to move because of all the lights and iridescent colors that I used, however pictures do not do it justice since this piece was in 2008, before quality phone cameras were invented. The client even stated that the colors change throughout the day too!

Ombre Mosaic Fireplace

I loved making this mosaic so much! The subtle color changes and wide variety of tessera made this fireplace a work of art.

It was such a pleasure to make this mosaic fireplace for this delightful client in Akron, Ohio. She had a wonderful eye for color, design, and theme. It’s wonderful to work with someone that knows what she wants, but is open to different ideas.

The client came with images and the concept when I visited her home to see her aesthetic, and then I sketched up some ideas. We landed on this sketch to begin the process.

 
 

She then came to my studio to choose from a huge variety of glass options. She quickly picked what she did and did not want to use in the creation. It was a tough decision to go as dark, and with heavier materials at the bottom, but I really felt it would ground the mosaic to make the design pop and make the upper half more ethereal. I’m so glad she chose to go with it, and she’s very happy with the outcome, so I think it was the right move! This is my favorite mosaic I’ve made because I love when the complicated bits and decisions of making a mosaic come together in such a unified, flowing, elegant design.

Sun Kitchen Mosaic Backsplash

It was so much fun to have the honor of making this brilliant, Gaudi-inspired showpiece for a client’s home! 

My clients were building their dream pool house which was sleak, modern and minimal. It is a gorgeous home with clean lines and almost all white. They planned on doing a lot of entertaining, so they wanted a bright, bold mosaic backsplash in their open kitchen to be the centerpiece of the dining and living area. I was so fortunate that the president of an arts organization I do work for are neighbors and friends with the couple building the home. The wife told the couple about my mosaic work and we met to discuss the project.

The couple wanted something inspired by Gaudi because they loved his mosaics and wanted a special artwork to remind them of their travels to Barcelona. They also wanted cobalt contrasting with vibrant, warm colors. It’s so rare people are bold enough to put this much color in their home, so it was such a joy to work with them to make this mosaic happen.

I wanted to create a design that would match their Gaudi & color specifications while still reflecting my own style. I suggested a sun because Gaudi has made mosaic suns, but I did it my way by using geometric shapes, different levels of translucency in the glass, colored mirror, and gold smalti. I didn’t even anticipate the gorgeous reflection of the sun on the stovetop. That was a happy coincidence. For the background we wanted something swirling and magical, so I created crisp lines between the cobalt that would transition through other blues and greens before coming back to cobalt. They wanted more red and movement in the design, so I added in the red sections to reflect the movement of the background.

I also suggested to create the mosaic out of glass instead of ceramic. I was so happy they agreed because I couldn’t have created a work this intricate out of ceramic. It would also lack the shine and impact. I still used a picasiette-style andamenton traditional of ceramic mosaics to pay homage to Gaudi. The whole design and choice of glass came together beautifully and quickly because the clients were open to ideas but also knew exactly what they wanted when they saw it. It was a wonderful collaboration.

Casa de Los Robles Mosaic

I loved making this plaque for a client’s home using stained glass and 24 karat gold smalti.

It was such an honor to get to make this beautiful plaque for my client’s home. She wanted something elegant to honor her home, Casa de Los Robles (House of the Oak), that was built in 1927.

A major feature of this mosaic is the gold smalti, which is 24 karat gold leaf between layers of glass. This beautiful and coveted glass comes from the Orsoni glass company in Venice, Italy. I had the idea of working with gold smalti and the client loved it, but then we were left with the dilemma that she definitely wanted the “de” to be placed in the tree trunk. I could have used dark gold smalti for the background and yellow gold to stand out in the tree, but I personally feel that using different colors in font is less elegant. The USA supplier of the gold at the time didn’t have this darkest of colors that had a certain refraction that allowed it to stand out against both dark brown and cream glass. Fortunately, when I relayed the significance of this particular color, the supplier managed to either find some stashed away or get some from Italy before her regular shipment, which would have been several months if the factory even had any in stock. To me, this color totally makes the mosaic work, so I was elated.

Then I had to sculpt this thick glass using andamento that keeps the script lettering light and consistent. Instead of recessing this glass that is slightly thicker than stained glass, I kept its depth so that it rose above a bit to stand out and reflect the light cleanly. I also used this bronze gold smalti in addition to a more traditional yellow gold smalti for the acorns and the border. The rest of the mosaic is stained glass.

I created the Casa de Los Robles mosaic in one piece on Wedi board. I grouted it and shipped it to California to be installed, recessed, into the wall of the client’s butler’s pantry. The client was kind enough to send along this picture after the installation.

VIDEO: Afghan Blue Mosque Mosaic: WIP #3

This is the third video about the creation of my Afghan blue mosque mosaic.

Video transcript for deaf or hard of hearing:

Hi Mosaic Fans! This is where we left off last time with the Afghan blue mosque mosaic 

I’m starting the next step by pre-cutting stained glass into rhomboids for one of the border sections. Each piece will need to be cut and fitted into its space, but it’s easiest to prep about 500 pieces first and tailor them to fit rather than cut each piece from scratch as it’s needed.

Next I’m going to take a little break from those blue pieces because it’s getting a bit tedious. I’m placing some little Kismet round tiles in the upper portion of the archway. I’m really loving the way these are looking. This section should turn out a little more delicate than the rest because of the curvy design.

I’m all over the place now. I want to lock down the designs and patterning for each section, so I’m going to place whatever I can that is quick that allows me to then make decisions about the rest. Here I’m doing some of the beading work and placing the little yellow and red circles around the whole mosaic.

Next I’ll do a little cleanup and place the red squares and yellow circles in the center.

I know I need to get a little green in this mosaic, so I’m going to place the teardrop details around the two corner pieces. These are just green stained glass that I’ve cut into teardrops and surrounded by white beads.

Now it’s time to set the pattern for the center. I know I want to outline the sections in white beads, and the center tiles of the pattern in cobalt blue.

It’s going to take me a while to set this patterning, so I want to talk about why I chose to use beads. I want the crisp outlines you see in ceramic tile. It’s hard to do this with stained glass because glass doesn’t cleanly cut into 3/16” strips. Beads may be time consuming, but I can lay them down exactly how I want them, and the color will be consistent. Stained glass also tends to have dark shadows, so when you cut it super thin, the color can be inconsistent.

The white beads look overwhelming when I first lay them down, but they mellow out quite a bit once they’re surrounded by the rest of the glass. In addition, I’m using cobalt blue grout, so they will tone down a lot once they are surrounded by & slightly buried in the grout.

Next I’m going to use vellum to make some templates for the stained glass in this middle section. I’m just going to make this one square first to set the pattern idea, but if I make the templates now, it will be one less step in a couple months when I finish all the beading and I’m ready for the glass.

I estimate by the time I finish the beading, I’ll have invested at least 300 hours into the project, and that the whole project will take about 500 hours. I haven’t really been keeping track, which I regret, but it’s hard to do the work, let alone keep track of all the videos, images, and time yourself on top of it.

Here’s the mosaic so far. There’s still a lot of work to do, but it’s starting to come together.

Let’s get a little work done on one of the two featured circles. I want to know how the orange I’m planning is going to look with the orange I’ll be using in the center.

I’ll also finish up the blue pentagons on this side while I’m over here. All these robin egg blue pentagons need to be placed before I place the white star beads. I’m going to do this row, finish all the rest of the beading, then come back and finish up the left and right side.

I don’t know why these blue pieces feel so tedious to me, but they do. I’ll be much more motivated when I know I’m closer to the finish line.

And then I’ll finish the green teardrops and surrounding beads on the other circle before moving on to the never-ending task of placing the outlining the beads in the middle sections.

Onto the white beading for the upper archway. This is my favorite part of the mosaic. I love how the flowers come together to form a second pattern in between. This is my favorite thing about this type of ceramic tile in the first place; the way the designs from each tile come together to form a pattern when they are put together as a whole.

Right now the plan is to fill in the flowers with the yellow circles with orange and the designs with the orange circles with green. This may change. It will be the last thing I do because it will allow me to change my mind if a different color will help pull the whole piece together.

For the outer border I’m going to place three concentric rows of beads in kind of an ombre color scheme. This is a chance to add something different and a little more delicate to these outer rows.

I’m going to surround the beads with yellow triangles to make it kind of a sun pattern. Right now the plan is to fill in the background with cobalt blue to ground the project, but I’m going to hold off until later to see if I change my mind.

I’m just going to skim through placing some of the beads in the middle archway section. So many beads!! It felt never ending. I’m I’m just going to skim through with a few clips of placing the beads in the middle archway section. So many beads!! I’m really happy with the way it looks and I think it is worth the time investment, but there was a point at which I thought I would be 86 and still placing these beads.

Now the majority of the beads are in place. Just about another 30 hours of beads left and I can move onto the stained glass.

There’s a lot of work left but unfortunately I have to put this mosaic aside for a while to work on commissions and other projects. I will be coming back to it and sharing it with you when I do. Thank you for watching!

VIDEO: Afghan Blue Mosque Mosaic: WIP #2

This is the second video about the creation of my Afghan blue mosque mosaic.

Video transcript for deaf or hard of hearing:

Hi Mosaic Aficionados! Here I’m going to continue work on the Afghan Blue Mosque mosaic. Now that the basic structure of the mosaic is laid out, I’m going to start on the first decorative tiles.

I began by making a vellum template of the 8 point star design I chose for this section. There are 60 identical tiles in this section, so this will help keep them fairly uniform.

I remembered while sketching out this section that I wanted to put bold yellow circles in the corners. To make these, I created bars using the cutting mat you’ve seen me use before, then used the glass cutter to cut them into slight wedges instead of squares. Then I just placed them into the circle so they fit snuggly together.

I skipped ahead a bit here… I was doing a little trial and error to see what materials I wanted to use, how I would create the cuts, and in what order I wanted to lay out the glass. Since this project is all about repetition and consistency, I want to create a strategy first so that all the tiles come out looking pretty uniform.

I decided the one place I’m not going to try to get super precise is the yellow flower at the center of the design. I figure that it will give it the handmade touch that all mosaics need.

Really, to cut those little pieces into identical microscopic elongated pentagons would be ridiculous and almost impossible, so I’m justifying with the “handmade touch” statement.

I  wasn’t really happy with how close in color the turquoise and blue of the tile background is, so I was really lucky that when I stopped at the Wissmach glass factory I found a perfect blue. It’s hard to see the difference because they’re so close in color, but it will make a big difference in the mosaic.

Here I’m cutting the new blue into 7/16 of an inch bars on the cutting mat so I can swap out that color. That will allow me to cut them into 480 rhomboids to fit around the stars.

Next I need to remove the old blue glass. I lightly sprayed those pieces with water, then I chiseled them out as delicately as possible so as not to disturb the rest of the glass, especially those tiny little beads.

Then I put in the new glass pieces. It’s pretty hard to fit them around the white beaded stars, so I’ve decided to change the order for how I create the rest of this section. I’m going to lay out the background rhomboid bars first, then place the beads inside.

This way is working much better! Not only is it easier and quicker, but then the edges of the blue glass are crisper because I didn’t have to trim them with mosaic wheels.

Next I just need to lay out the glass beads in the interior of the star. This part is also easier because of placing the blue glass first, so I became full of hubris and thought I could lay down the glue for the entire star first.

It’s still not that much easier. I had to wipe up half the glue because it was getting too dry.

Now I know for the rest of the stars.

So then I just need to place my yellow flower and tthe cobalt blue glass around it. You’ll notice that I am being pretty loose with the placement of the cobalt. This is because I’m going to use cobalt grout, so precision of these pieces is unnecessary.

I timed myself making these sections and it will probably take about 66 more hours to complete this section. It’s mind numbing for me to think about having to do all this repetitive work, so if I show you, it will be a super compressed time lapse.

I appreciate you too much to bore you with watching the same thing 60 times.

Before I go today, I just want to show you where I left off for the day, which was putting the glass gems and circles in place in this section so that they won’t be moving around when I’m trying to place the rest of the glass tomorrow. Thank you so much for watching!!

VIDEO: Afghan Blue Mosque Mosaic: WIP #1

The first video about the creation of my Afghan blue mosque mosaic.

Video transcript for deaf or hard of hearing:

Hi Mosaic Fans! Today I’m going to introduce to you my art book idea. I’ve started a few small steps in the last couple years. The concept behind this book is based on the Owen Jones book The Grammar of Ornament, first published in 1856. I’ll get into details about the book in a moment.

For the first step, I wanted to create a mosaic based on the cover of the book. It has been in constant publication for over 150 years, so there have been several covers and I went with this gorgeous gold leaf on leather version.

When I had some spare time between commissions I made this mosaic based on Grammar of Ornament’s amazing art deco book cover design. I used Van Gogh glass and the background is all super black tinted grout to give it a matte feel like the leather book cover and let the bronze and silver glass shine.

Now I want to discuss the interior of The Grammar of Ornament. Jones wanted to create a book that discussed architectural ideas and motifs from around the world. The result was a book that even modern day designers have on their bookshelves over a century later.

My original idea was to follow the same format and recreate all the designs from the book into mosaic. I eventually realized this wasn’t going to work. A lot of the designs just don’t translate well into the mosaic medium, and there is also the cultural shift, such as the problematic use of the phrase “savage tribes”.

Instead I’m choosing art forms around the world that I would love to translate into mosaic. I started by making a list of countries in the world organized by geographic area. I just pick a country, do some research, and find some traditional art, design, or architecture that I want to translate into the mosaic medium.

My first geographic find is located in Afghanistan, in the city now known as Mazari Sharif. It is the architectural marvel, the Shrine of Hazrat Ali, also known as the Blue Mosque. The blue mosque was completed in 1481. Fortunately the mosque has been able to survive all the turmoil of Afghanistan, even though the city of Mazari Sharif has been occupied at times by both Russia and the Taliban.

The mosque is considered an oasis of peace, not only because of its beautiful architecture and tile work, but because the mosque is surrounded by thousands of white doves.

Since I’m focusing on patterning, I’ve decided that my mosaic design will be inspired by one of the archways. Here is the loose idea of my design I created in Pixelmator Pro. I will follow the structure, but I just put enough tile design in to make sure I like the layout and will make more choices as I work.

Next I collected images of tile designs used at the Blue Mosque so that while I’m creating the mosaic, I’ll have ideas to choose which ones will look best. Another factor in choosing patterns is which ones will be able to translate well in the mosaic medium. Each of the tiles will be only about 3” in my mosaic, so some patterns like this one may be too intricate to really look good.

I will start by using the t-square to lay out a grid on my 4’ square plywood substrate. I will be using turquoise glass to create the frame, or solid structure of the mosaic, so I’m going to start by cutting those pieces.

I’m using the grid cutter to cut all the pieces precisely. Each turquoise rectangle is 1-1/2” x 1”. I will need over 300, so I’m turning myself into a rectangle making factory. I’m using the t-square again to line up the pieces as straight as possible. I’m coating the entire back of each piece to seal it so the grout doesn’t seep underneath.

I made a mistake here and placed the horizontal row on top of the vertical rows when it should go one grid space lower in between the vertical rows. I’m spraying the row with water to loosen up the glass and I’ll move them down into their correct spot. Here I just need to sketch the diagonal lines and create the top of the archway.

Now I have the structure complete for the mosaic. I can’t wait to show you more as the mosaic progresses! Thank you for watching!

Bodhi Tree Mosaic

The client for this mosaic came to me after she had purchased pottery from an artist in Africa. Unfortunately, the pottery broke during shipping, so she wanted me to make a mosaic artwork with the shards as a memory of her trip.

My client told me about her amazing trip to Africa (it’s been several years so I forget which country) and how she buys local artwork every time she travels. She was very excited to have this gorgeous pottery set as a memory of her time. The artist offered to ship it to her, and sadly it arrived with almost every piece broken. Her friends suggested she make a mosaic out of the shards. She decided that she wanted something more “fine art” than what she could do herself, so she asked me to help.

The pottery was beautiful, as was her story, so of course I wanted to help. I asked if she wanted to incorporate other glass or tile too, but she wanted to use exclusively the ceramic pottery. I came up with the idea of the design, which she liked. Then I found these Walker Zanger pop art porcelain tiles and realized how amazing and special they would look in this mosaic. I told the client I absolutely understood why she wanted to use only material from her trip, but offered her these as an option in case she wanted to reconsider. She loved the way they looked and how they organically fit with the pottery, so we went for it!

When I created the mosaic, I used the rims of the cups, bowls, and plates for the leaves and branches. I layered the ceramic for a three dimensional effect. For the background, I used the centers of the pottery. I decided on a simple brickish type pattern to give a sense of zen and to make a distinct change in andamento between the background and foreground. I loved how in the background, the different thicknesses between the dinnerware provided depth and texture.

I developed achy hands and a lot of blisters trying to cut this very hard, thick ceramic. It also had a tendency to crumble, which was incredibly frustrating. I stilled loved the opportunity to make this very special artwork, and the client loved it. So overall, absolutely worth it!

VIDEO: Copper I Mosaic: WIP #4

Copper I is the first mosaic in my series based on the allure of oxidized copper. This fourth time-lapse video with audio commentary is the fifth video in the series of six videos and completes the mosaic journey. The sixth video is a time-lapse of the entire mosaic process.

Video transcript for deaf or hard of hearing:

Hi Mosaic Lovers! We left off last time with most of the transition from dark brown to cream complete. It was just the final toffee layer to place before starting on the beautiful, iridescent stained glass background. I took my time with this layer because the shape was really important to the overall look of the piece and I don’t want to place the toffee colored tile in a way where I end up having trouble placing the stained glass.

I want to show you how I go about cutting the stained glass for the background. I want large geometric chunks, so I scored it with a glass cutter to get the edges nice and crisp. It takes considerably longer to get straight lines with mosaic wheels and they’re never quite as clean, especially with a glass that has an iridescent coat like this one. Stained glass always tends to chip, but especially that iridescent layer.

For this section I’m using vellum to trace the shape I want, then cutting it out and using a Sharpie to trace the shape onto the glass. The Sharpie marks will come off during grouting, but I still use a color just slightly darker than the glass. If I use black, it could show permanently if it gets in any crevices and could even discolor the iridescent glaze.

When applying the adhesive, I spread it evenly over the entire back surface of the glass. This forms a seal so that the grout can’t seep underneath the glass and appear as a discolored shadow in the completed mosaic. Most stained glass is more translucent than it appears at first, so this is essential, especially if you’re using grout that is either dark or bright. I also wipe up any excess adhesive with sculpting tools so that it doesn’t smoosh up into the grout joints when I place the next piece of glass.

I’m planning on using several shades of grout with this mosaic. I got Mapei Flexcolor 3D grout in copper for the beige and copper parts. This is a metallic, sort of iridescent grout. If I knew I was going to use this grout before I started the background, I would have spaced the stained glass further apart so that the grout was part of the design and had a few millimeters to shine.

The first thing I’m going to do is grout the blue and green parts off-white. The final color in this section will be black, but this will prevent the black grout from seeping down into the grout joints and darkening the appearance of the glass. We want the blues and greens to be sparkly and bright

Next I’m going to grout the edges beige. My sister suggested putting this mosaic in a copper frame, which is a wonderful idea. The frame could be very expensive, so I’ll wait to see if someone wants a copper frame if they buy it. Until then, I need to cover up the plywood edges with a neutral color.

Here comes the metallic grout! This is the first time I’ve used it and it is so hard to clean up. As I grout I’m coming up with a system that seems to be working. I’m working in small patches using a sponge and water, and then a polishing towel that cleans up the surface. In some places I’m also using a toothbrush, a pottery needle, and a cut off paintbrush to clean it up properly.

This grout goes from feeling like a sticky sugar facial mask to crunchy dried out brown sugar in seconds. It also leaves behind a layer of plastic-like film all over the glass that has to be cleaned up for the glass to shine. Hopefully it will be worth it in the end!

We have two more colors of grout left. Next I’m going to do the black grout in the center. I’m masking off the background because I don’t want the black grout to stain the copper grout. I’m using paper to mask off the part that is copper, but using painters tape on the section in-between that will get another color. This way I don’t have to re-mask between grout colors.

I’m being really careful to remove excess grout around the beads so they shine as much as possible. I am giving everything a good wipe down with a damp sponge so the black won’t get all over the place when I remove the painter’s tape

Now I’m removing the painter’s tape from the midsection. The grout here will be the metallic grout, but I’m adding some pigment this time; brick red and a touch of black. I already forgot how hard this grout is to work with.

I’m loving the way this grout looks with the pigment. Honestly I kind of expected the copper grout to look this color, or maybe more brown out of the bucket, but since I can add pigment to make it darker, it is probably more useful being lighter.

Ok, time to unmask and give the mosaic its final cleaning. I know it isn’t easy to see in the video, but I’m really happy with the results of the metallic grout.

This mosaic overall took somewhere between 150-160 hours. I am so glad I decided to do all the different colors of grout. It was definitely worth the extra time and trouble in the end. Thank you for watching and following along with me on this copper mosaic journey.

VIDEO: Copper I Mosaic: WIP #3

Copper I is the first mosaic in my series based on the allure of oxidized copper. This third time-lapse video with audio commentary is the fourth video in the series of six videos and continues the mosaic journey.

Video transcript for deaf or hard of hearing:

Hi Mosaic Friends! This is where we were at the end the last video about 80 hours into the mosaic. In the last couple weeks, I’ve completed about another 60 hours. From the point we left off, I changed my mind maybe a million times about what to do with the background.

Originally I had planned to use iridescent black textured glass to surround the blue & green circles. As you can see, with all the starburst spikes and different colors of blues and greens, a glass with a sheen of rainbow of colors will most likely muddy the design.

In the end I decided on 5 colors going out from dark to light, and letting the lightest color be simple and stand on it’s own by not continuing the metallic starbursts, but instead using tan and cream colored glass gems surrounded by copper ball chain.

This first color was the hardest decision. I needed a really dark color, but black was too dark and the browns I had were either vitreous glass that is too porous or stained glass that wasn’t consistent enough in color. I didn’t want any lighter colored streaks in this part. I finally settled on a very dark, blue/green wispy stained glass.

I have a ton of this glass by accident. I sent a piece of glass to be color matched to my supplier, saying I couldn’t decide if it was ‘A’ or ‘B’. They said it was ‘C’ and I ordered several sheets for a project. It was obviously not ‘C’, but they wouldn’t take it back because it was a custom order. It turns out to be lucky because out of 10s of thousands of pounds of glass, I couldn’t find any other color that works for this mosaic.

It looks bright when I’m applying the glass because the adhesive is white, but it dries clear, so it will be kind of a muddy bluish green, but super dark when it dries.

For the next three colors, I’m using dark brown, warm brown, and golden Hakatai Aventurine glass that has gold wisps throughout. It is perfect to add to the copper tones and transition to the final cream background color.

I’m working one color at a time so that I can monitor the shape. I keep backing up and looking to make sure it’s looking the way I want it. I was thinking I would flair the shape out at some point, but so far I’m only slightly altering the thickness. I still may decide to do something different with the final golden row.

I am finally really happy with the way the colors are blending together. In the next video I’ll finish up the mosaic. I can’t wait to show you the completed project! Thank you for watching!

VIDEO: Copper I Mosaic: WIP #2

Copper I is the first mosaic in my series based on the allure of oxidized copper. This second time-lapse video with audio commentary is the third video in the series of six videos and continues the mosaic journey.

Video transcript for deaf or hard of hearing:

Hi Mosaic Fans! This is where we left off with the last video after about 35 hours into the mosaic. Today I’m going to show you another 45 or so hours of work. This time lapse covers about 29-30 hours of actually placing the glass. Often the extra time lowers as a project goes on, but with so many colors & materials, there is a lot of cleaning up glass shards, organizing, changing my mind, and some cutting I did for prep that I didn’t capture.

Here I’m finishing the blue and green circles that represent the oxidized copper part of the mosaic. I wish the mosaic was even larger so that I could put in more color changes, but this is already huge for a mosaic that isn’t a commission. I’ll have to balance things out the best I can.

I can’t find the clip of finishing the two circles at the top, but here’s where we end up once I’ve finished with all the blue and green tessera in foreground.

Now on to the starbursts! I want the prominent metallic aspects to have an effect like I’ve made with some of my starburst projects in the past, but they will be more subtle once the surrounding background glass is placed around it.

Here are a couple examples of mosaic starbursts I’ve made before to give you an idea of what I’m talking about.

I’m making a lot of choices as I go. I only knew that I wanted to go from antiqued brass colors to copper to gold as the pattern moved out from the blue and green center toward the edges. I thought I wanted starbursts that were more solid, but as soon as I started, I realized that wasn’t going to work because they would be forming solid blocks of color and wouldn’t leave room behind them for me to make the ombre I’m planning in the background effective.

I also intended to make each starburst unique, but then realized that there was too much going on in similar color tones to have that much chaos. Using pattern repetition will be better to clarify the design.

While I finish up this first row of starbursts, let me discuss what will go behind them. Originally I had planned to continue making brown and copper circles around the blue and green circles, changing colors in an ombre style until I get to an iridescent cream. There is really not enough room left to switch the colors that way, so with only about an inch and a half per color, that’s not enough room to create circles. Plus with all the spikes from the starbursts, it is hard to get patterns going in these spaces even if there was enough room for the circles color-wise.

Next time I’ll be working on the background, transitioning from dark to light, but I’m happy the mosaic is coming together and definitely looking inspired by oxidized copper. Thank you for watching!

VIDEO: Copper I Mosaic: WIP #1

Copper I is the first mosaic in my series based on the allure of oxidized copper. This first time-lapse video with audio commentary is the second video in the series of six videos and shows the start of the creation.

Video transcript for deaf or hard of hearing:

Hi mosaic visionaries! This video is the beginning of the mosaic Copper I in my new series based on oxidized copper. The image you’re viewing right now is how far I am by the end of this video, which is 25 hours of mosaicking, plus about 10 hours of prep, organizing, and cleaning between steps, so about 35 hours in. So let me show you how I got started!

I’m beginning by placing my agate slices. Just like stained glass, agate is translucent even when it doesn’t seem to be so I like to take the extra step of backing them with aluminum foil so that they have a nice iridescent gleam.

Next I’ll build the first rows of tessera around the agate slices. For most of my personal art projects, I work organically. I start with only an idea of the general movement and colors I want in the piece, then as I work, I step back and see how I want the project to evolve.

I’ve been hoarding these agate slices for about a decade. I’ve used some in my previous works, but they often don’t fit in when I do smaller personal projects. I usually only have limited time to work on my own projects between commissions, so I tend to do small projects to work on different techniques I’d like to explore. Since I decided to make a larger mosaic this time, it’s the perfect opportunity to use them.

I am trying here to get a balance of color, shapes, and textures. I want to build some tiny circles with a lot of flash and sparkle first, then fill in with more grounded, larger color spans around them. That basically means that I’m selecting sparkly found objects to be the centerpiece of some of the smaller circles along with brighter colors, lots of beads, and textured glass, then when I get to the larger sections to fill in the middle, I’ll make those sections interesting by forming more abstract shapes using a series of gems as the core, then working out from there, kind of forming a multi-celled structure. Another way I’m using to create some smoothness in these larger areas is by using solid color opaque stained glass to represent the areas where the oxidation process is smooth and even.

I’m also trying at the same time to balance the color. In my favorite images of oxidized copper, there is a lot going on once you really start looking at it. It’s not just a light turquoise or mint green color. It’s every color on the richer yellow-green to aquamarine spectrum. Since this mosaic is intended to be more of an underground, vein of copper found in the earth sort of feel, I’m also going as dark as cobalt. Plus, who doesn’t love some cobalt blue?

There’s a lot more work to do on this first copper mosaic, but I’m really looking forward to seeing how it evolves. I hope you are too! Thanks for watching!