I usually start by looking at my collection of thousands of rocks, minerals, crystals, and fossils. I'll pick one rock, or a collection of pieces from the same sliced and cut rock that I found, and I'll start looking for other rocks and minerals and crystals that fit with it. After a good start, I will add special pieces, minerals that have chatoyancy, meaning special optical effects, like flashy colors or glow, shine, or sparkle. And I'll usually include at least one fossil that's millions or hundreds of millions of years old.
In the world of mosaics, the base you put your Mosaic on is called the substrate, and the pieces you put on the substrate are called tesserae. Rocks, minerals, crystals, fossils and glass and metals are my tesserae, and the dozens of trays of laid-out minerals and rocks, crystals and fossils are my palette.
Besides the rocks, I find locally and in my travels, I also purchase many rocks including, agates, amber, amethyst, apatite, azurite, crystallized bismuth, chalcopyrite (peacock ore,) chrysocolla, copper, emerald, fluorite, fossils, fulgurite, garnet, gniess, hematite, jade, jasper, blue and black kyanite, labradorite, lepidolite, malachite, mica, moonstone, petrified wood, pietersite, quartz, rosy quartz, selenite, slate, smoky quartz, selenite, sodalite, sphalerite, spodumene, tanzanite, tiger eye, turquoise, vivianite, cullet glass and copper.
On all but the smallest of my mosaics, I include hanging hardware, so they don't need a frame.
People ask me where I get my materials. I source some of them locally by wandering around and finding interesting rocks. Others I buy from eBay, from mineral, fossil and gem shows, Alibaba, and vendors I discover online or at different shows. Lately I've been buying from wholesalers and importers.
One might call me an outsider artist, though I took my first art course, a sculpture course, when I was a student at Penn State University. In that course, I worked with welding iron, rope and epoxy, and plaster, mirror and wood. But that was over 50 years ago.
I feel blessed that in my mid-70s, I am enjoying the challenges of learning about lapidary arts, rockhounding, geology, rock hardness, rock cutting, different ways to adhere mosaics, using epoxy, and identification of rocks, the art of creating mosaics, and what's involved in taking my art and making a business of it as well.
Speaking o f business. I haven't listen an item for sale yet. I'm working on getting set up so I can show my work at fine art and craft fairs. Still, if anyone wants to buy one, perhaps the first I sell, I'm open to making sales happen.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
