A vibrant mosaic artwork based on a Jacobean Embroidery design

Mosaic Mandalas: A Journey of Reflection

A vibrant mosaic artwork is centrally positioned within the frame, displaying an ornate floral design. The artwork is circular, with a border composed of small, dark gray, rectangular tiles. The central design features a large, stylized flower in shades of orange, red, and yellow, with a white center and detailed, petal-like structures. Surrounding the main flower are various botanical elements, including green leaves, blue berries, small yellow flowers, and a detailed insect that resembles a dragonfly or a bee. These elements are rendered in shades of green, yellow, and blue, creating a vibrant contrast against the dark background.

The Bong Tree is complete

I managed to get this far and only sliced my finger once – not bad going considering I have cut up kilos and kilos of marble.I’m original mosaicing tools in the form of a hammer and hardy. More on that in another blog. These tools are usually used for cutting glass and you only have to tap the glass with the hammer and it breaks perfectly. Cutting marble is another story. Sometimes the pieces I’m cutting are 10 centimeters thick and really require some serious force, needless to say the hammer gets blunt quickly.

The importance of drawing your design

Here are the results of my thought process:. As you can see I began playing with a variety of blues and gold and began to think about how I would create the lines in the design and whether or not I wanted a border and whether that border should be black.

The Emergence of Pique Assiette

The literal translation of pique assiette from French is ‘thief of plates’ or ‘freeloader’.  Raymond Isidore (1900-1964) is perhaps best known as the king of pique assiette. His entire home is covered in bits of pottery he found in the fields around Chartre, France. His neighbors called him ‘pique assiette’ as a derogatory term and it has remained in use more generally today.