Macro and micro mosaics weekend

The student work from Cynthia Toops’ polymer micromosaic class is a testament to both her teaching and the expertise of the Philadelphia guild. Here’s a small sampling of student work at the end of the weekend class (hastily assembled in my hotel room). Each student quickly reinterpreted Toops’ techniques into her own style.

It was an added bonus that we stumbled on Isaiah Zagar’s Magic Gardens in South Philly on Saturday evening. Zagar’s mosaic covered storefronts, alleyways, gardens and galleries provided a perfect counterpoint to Toops’ tiny formats. The micro and macro of mosaics! Meeting Zagar working in his studio was an unexpected treat.

My clumsy and colorful class bead shown here takes after the Zagar style. Thanks to our hosts, Martha Aleo and Ken Baskin, and to the great guild bunch. I’m on the way home after an invigorating weekend.

Polymer indecision

There’s so much inspired new work in Fabi’s recent posts that it’s hard to choose what to feature.

This bolo-style pendant has a clever construction that Fabi details on her Flickr page. She’s worked out a water transfer technique and embeds the results on thick textured pendants. She’s teaching her methods in April in her Madrid studio.

And if that’s not enough, follow along on her mosaics! Here’s an abstract textured one, and here’s a mosaic of her son made from leftover polymer scraps baked, cut and applied to wood.

Great colors, shapes and a huge variety of experiments. You choose.

Cracking the opalescence code

Liz Hall’s mosaic brass bangles jangle against each other and sing with shimmering color. Small iridescent pieces of polymer butt against each other with a devil-may-care attitude that’s punctuated by black and white stripes.

Liz has been working to create opalescence in polymer and it looks to me like she’s cracked the code. Wander through her Etsy shop and you’ll see her very believable results.

Mystery mosaic

The Ontario and Quebec guilds have pulled me back into mosaic/inchie mode. I’m intrigued by their group’s mystery project that Cynthia Blanton talks about on her blog.

“On the first day we were each given a small square of paper with a fragment of a photo on it. Our job was to duplicate the image in clay, matching colors and size,” she explains.

On the last night the squares were assembled on a larger canvas to reveal the image and produce the masterpiece. What a great project for a group (or a virtual group).

Mosaic final touch

Before I left town I finished my porch mosaic and I think it says “welcome” in a way that suits me. Adding the mosaic frame around the window in the door gives the entry the final touch it needed. Here are a few closeups and here’s the earlier post.

I’m getting settled in Colorado and hope you’ll distract yourselves with this while I get my bearings..

Eakes’ leap of faith

Julie Eakes is pushing the boundaries of extrusion-based mosaics again. This time she used a looser palette and a more stylized image as her starting point. Would the image still be discernable?

This is the small version of the finished cane. I’m partial to the dimensional original cane. Mixing the palette for one of these works is an arduous dance between Photoshop and the pasta machine. She created 2,000 color samples on the computer to arrive at her last palette. No small feat! Read her story here.

P.S.

The cable guy appeared and we’re back in business. Heaven!

Mosaic group effort

This four-foot polymer mosaic for our home’s new front porch was icing on this summer’s cake. The shape of our house had come to resemble a bowling alley after several long additions. It needed some details to restore its curb appeal.

Architect/polymer artist Maggie Maggio helped us with the porch design which I envisioned in Photoshop and my husband made into reality. He was happy to add more square footage to his man cave in the bargain. You can follow the porch progress here.

My mosaic (polymer glazed with colored liquid polymer) balances out the offset front door. The drawer of rubber stamps and molds that I’ve collected were finally put to good use. I was surprised at how the variety of stamps could make a cohesive aesthetic.

Even though I created some of the stamps myself, I’ll always look at this piece and express gratitude to Laurie Mika for inspiration and to Barbara McGuire, Wendy Malinow, Victoria James and Helen Breil for favorite images.

Long ago Richard Bassett brought his stash of metal stampings to a Shrinemont retreat and we scurried to make molds. All those collected bits and bobs found a home in a colorful and sentimental piece.

Now it looks like the old front door needs a similar embellishment! My husband cut out a masonite base so it’s back to the studio to make more tiles. To be continued.

Mika’s mosaics

This polymer wall art from Laurie Mika not only looks good with my site’s color scheme (always a consideration), it also reminds me to think in three dimensions on a similar project I’m working on for my new porch.

Thumbing through her site made me feel like I’d just taken a quick class. Her tiles are colorful and richly layered with a confident looseness and freedom

In creating her “Urban Icons” she uses a variety of overlapping techniques – mosaic design, painting, rubber stamping, collage, embossing, beading, and embedding just about anything into polymer clay.

She’s posted a growing list of workshops and you can also refer to her Mixed Media Mosaics book for more instruction on her lusciously embellished techniques.

Something about polymer rings

“I’ve never made a ring, but have been wanting to give it a try so I joined a Ring-A-Day group,” says Dee Wilder (Malodora).

For several days she indulged her fascination with Koosh ball threads. Thursday she returned to a micromosaic theme. Imagine making a ring a day! After one month there are already over a thousand in the Flickr group’s archive. (I just found Ponsawan Sila in the archives too!)

Wednesday’s featured artist, Lynn Lunger (UnaOdd), has experimented with a faceted wood/polymer model. Mixed media artist Jillian Moore admits that she previously had an aversion to polymer but has been converted to using the media for her rings which are pictured below.

Ronna Sarvas Weltman will divulge the secrets of her ancient/modern rings at her class at CFCF. Bettina Welker will focus on her european versions in her pre-Synergy class.

I’ve only scratched the surface. Thanks to Randee Ketzel and Susan Lomuto and others who have been sending me “heads up” about this trend. There’s a ring thing going on and poring over the examples may keep you warm on a cold winter weekend.

Eakes’ extruded mosaic

Julie Eakes combined four pounds of extruded polymer clay into one remarkable 5.5″ by 8″ by 2″ mosaic face cane. Calculating colors and preparing each cane is a painstaking task that took Julie three weeks.

Julie says her inspiration came from those photo mosaics that are made up of other little pictures. She adds that, “My brother worked with Chuck Close years ago and I was lucky enough to meet him then. I have a painting that my brother did of me using dots. I have the picture my brother did (which was inspired by Chuck) so maybe subconsciously I was inspired by Chuck.”

Julie is letting the cane rest while she considers her next step. Should she reduce it? How small should she go? It will be fascinating to watch.

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