Saturday 5 October 2013

Mudlarking Mosaic - the beginning

I'm good at ideas but rubbish at execution. So it will take gargantuan effort for me to ever finish this thing and sadly most of the time it feels more of a burden than a pleasure, I'm hoping that will change as I get into it. 

Ever since I started mudlarking I've wanted to make something from all those bits of pottery. I came across a mosaic made of foreshore finds which I absolutely loved and knowing I couldn't better the design I settled on pure plagiarism, albeit rather ambitious for someone who hasn't made anything since primary school. 

Tania Covo the wonderful Thames jeweller told me what equipment to buy to get me stared, by enjoyable happen chance, she had worked with the mosaic artist I'm copying and assured me she wouldn't mind. 

So printed photos, ordered the equipment and pulled out my first set of pottery pieces, the ubiquitous shell edged pearl ware (1780- 1840)  with its blue edging, the relief decorated edges of white stone ware plates(1720-1780)  and the more yellowy cream ware popular from 1760. 




and had a go at a section of the design to see if I could 'do it', far from  perfect but good enough for me to pursue 



then did a bit more 





so decided to get serious and bought a book and  went to the wood shop. Realising that I would never get it together to put the wood together into a frame, my very kind husband took it down to a local carpenter and brought back a large 44" x 45" frame.



Created a template from the photo, blew it up on a photocopier, copied the design onto tracing paper on both sides, so that I could then transfer it onto the board. 





By this time I'd been banished to our party shed with all my 'stuff', so with Black Eyed Peas blasting out and youngest ensconced with his nintendo on a sofa nearby to keep me company, I finally marked out the design in pen. 






 priming and buying tile cement tomorrow - then I suppose I'd better get on with it. 

11 comments:

  1. Good luck with the project. I'm told the pre mix grout is not the way to go, it's too thick for the tight spaces

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  2. Can't wait to see how this turns out. I have something of this nature planned for my ever growing collection of blue & white scraps, probably on a slightly smaller scale though!

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  3. It will be beautiful! I wish I could help you with it. Seriously, that looks like a dream project for me! As always, I enjoy your posts SO much. I think it is awesome that you are tackling something you've been wanting to do. *high five*

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  4. what a great way to enjoy a part of your collection on a daily basis! Can't wait to see the finished project, Julia... don't stop!

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  5. Hi Julia! I came back to look at each photo in detail, and just noticed how you have the decorative borders (? I can't think of another way to describe it) running along as one connected line...the pieces in relief...I just think that looks super! Please share photos of your progression so we can see. It's going to be fabulous! ��

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  6. Looking forward to seeing the end result too!

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  7. How's the project coming along? I've got a ton of slipware , thinking about starting something soon also.

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    1. It's going well, but very, very slow - and consequently no time to blog! I'll post about it again in a couple of weeks. Good luck with your plan - look forward to seeing it and reading about it on your blog. Julia

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  8. It looks great so far! Looking forward to seeing progress :-)

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  9. Love the look of this. Recently made a tea box for a friend's birthday out of my mudlarking finds but want to go onto a bigger scale. What tools have you used to make this?

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    1. The board is MDF,surrounded by wood beading. Because I knew it would be very heavy there are batons diagonally across the back to stop the board from warping and also to screw wall hangings onto it. I just use glass mosaic cutters to cut the ceramic, the one I'm using is Leponitt Glass Mosaic Cutter. Then I use a metal file to smooth any rough edges. Good luck!

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