Of all the classes I took at Glass Expo, the technique I learned that I'm most likely to do more with is mosaics, especially "hot mosaics." Creating a mosaic is, of course, just a matter of gluing small pieces of glass or other bits and bobs to a surface and then grouting around them. The real artistry is in design and in the bits and bobs one chooses to use.
Christine Stewart, a mosaic and glass artist from Australia, taught this introduction to mosaics. She does some truly incredible work. I only hope to someday emulate the amazing designs shown in the photos I took of two of her pieces. (Hmm...maybe I should add her to my list for my Women's Artist Project, which I still intend to work on, even if not on a one project per month basis).
I think she called this one "Tropics or Mars?"
She always just called this one Dragon, but I don't know if that's its real title.
I didn't have the opportunity to create anything nearly so wonderful in class. Actually, I was quite disappointed that we were only able to make a 4" square sample as an opportunity to practice some of her cutting techniques and learn how she colors grout. Here's a photo of mine with uncolored grout.
Once all of our samples were grouted, Christine demonstrated how she uses water-based liquid acrylic paint to color the grout. Essentially, she paints the entire surface and the paint sticks to the grout but not the glass. She first used gold paint on mine, but I didn't care for the effect (the flowers just disappeared).
When I expressed my dissatisfaction, she tried again with a bright blue paint and then a dark blue paint. The final result (although I may paint it again myself) is the middle piece in this photo of all the class results.
Gold ended up being a popular grout color choice among my classmates, but I didn't care for it. I commented at one point, "Y'all just like the bling." Everyone called me on my use of "y'all," but I pointed out that I'm from southern Alaska!
The hot mosaic technique that you can see in Christine's art involves the use of glass that has been fused before being incorporated into the mosaic. Fusing one or more layers of glass softens the edges and gives it a lot more dimension. It is a very different look than traditional mosaic with flat glass. I like the effect a lot and have several pieces already in mind that I can't wait to make. I'll keep you posted.
