from broken things.

i'm obsessed with mosaics -- the process, the product... i've been buying craploads of old dishes, antique tile and stained glass, for weeks. i've been trolling ebay daily, looking for materials. i spent a good hour yesterday, safety glasses on (because, you know, safety first), installed in the basement, hitting ceramics and glass with a hammer. i purchased tile nippers, for crissakes.

and i have yet to even begin to make a single thing.

paralysis, anyone?

Comments

[Courtney]

when my sister and I lived together we were mosaic-ing everything we could get our hands on.

I was always a fan of the pattern, but my sis liked to go how she felt. We had this antique desk that our grandma gave us, that we did. I thought she was going to have a heart attack.

I'll try to take some pictures and send them your way.

Good luck and have fun. FOr Christmas one year, I bought a set of 4 tv trays from walmart or something, and made them into Christmas presents. They were such a hit.

My mom does stained glass, she really likes it,too.

[stillheidi]

You should take a ride down to Philly and get inspired by all the mosaic houses down there. They're rad. Maybe I could do my back walkway....Thanks Sweetney, you have given me another project!

[christina/dreaming of sugar]

At Florida Keys Community College they put mosaics on the buildings and the risers of steps. I only got one shot: http://www.flickr.com/photos/christinawill/15199607/in/set-366576/
but it could be cool to do in a loo or a patio

[Belinda]

Oh, gosh, that is another thing I have ALWAYS wanted to try. I have round cement step-stones all over my yard, and I swore I would do sun, moon, and stars mosaics, as well as a poodle and an Arabian horse or two, on select stones. Materials, I have. Gumption, apparently not.

Can I send you all my smashed crap and have you make lovelies out of them?

Have you started seeing perfectly intact things, like, say, Fiestaware, and thought how beautiful it would look in tiny pieces, yet? Just a matter of time, if not.

[supa]

And you said you weren't crafty.

God. I love the metaphor of mosaics, as stated in your title. It's like quilting, in a way, only ... pokier. [I've got a crafter's helmet, you know, if you feel you could use some more protection].

It doesn't have to be perfect. Enjoy the process.

p.s. tile ... nippers? being, what now?

[Ozma]

Ha ha ha...oh, that brings back memories. For me, it was mobiles. And collages. Which led to drawers and drawers full of detrius...eventually leading to a hubcap collection (you can make clocks! I made one! out of the 20 hubcaps I took home!)

Now it is bottle caps. There was this amazing bottle cap artist in Guatemala and I was too poor to buy the art so 5 years later I am hoarding 2 years worth of bottle caps from friends' donations.

I just thought this all might make you feel better. But I'm also insane, so it might scare you, too.

And there's also this: You can do it! No, really, I'm not being sarcastic.

[andrea]

I'm all about collage right now. though I love mosaics and making mosaics. and I have a suitcase full of broken plates in my storage space to prove it. just can't seem to let them go.

[sweetney]

thanks for the support, ladies. i just have to throw myself into it headlong at this point i think, knowing i'm likely to fuck shit up the first couple times around. and knowing that that is, in fact, OKAY.

can you tell i have a bit of a perfectionistic streak? uh-huh.

[sweetney]

oh and MB: i said i wasn't crafty... but i didn't say i wasn't *arty*. heh.

ps: double negatives = HOT.

[kevin]

Yeah, that guy in Philly is Isaiah Zagar http://www.isaiahzagar.org/ and he has workshops you can go to. I've wanted to go on one for the past two years but I haven't been able to. I have this big mosaic project planned, and for my last birthday I had a party where everyone smashed plates as a way to help me get all the pieces together for it. They're all sill out in the backyard in bags, organized into colors. Whatever, it was a fun party. good luck.

[ccaruso]

speaking of Rorschach tests: do you think that the reason you haven't finished anything is maybe you're not all that interested in the whole mosaic thing, and it's just that you like smashing stuff with a hammer? and "tile nippers" sounds vaguely sexual. nippers. huh-huh, huh-huh...you said "nippers".

[Jackie]

hello, fellow preschool mom! I've always been fascinated by mosaics too-- there's a house near us that has some beautiful mirrored mosaics along their porch rails, and I just love it. I'm impressed that you have the materials, the farthest I've ever gone is just fantasizing!

I did the same dance with photography for a long time, and am still kind of doing it, but now that I've jumped in, I really love it.

[Meghan]

It might be the breaking of the stuff you find so pleasing.