Magical Reinvention

"Who would deduce the dragonfly from the larva, the iris

 from the bud, the lawyer from the infant? 

...We are all shape-shifters and magical reinventors. 

Life is really a plural noun, a caravan of selves."

 
— Diane Ackerman

 This is a mosaic sculpture class held at A Work of Art Studio in the months of June- September, 2012, where the clients designed and made their own dragonflies (fish and frogs and flowers to come in another post). Here is Robin creating her body and wings with wire screen, wire and then tape to give it shape and form. Great care must be taken to create a solid form to carry all the weight of the plaster, cement, glass, and grout.

Here is Kathryn's dragonfly "Seymour", with washers for the base of his eyes. It is not really necessary to tape over the wire screen, but it does give a good solid base for beginners to plaster over.

Here is Pat, putting on a layer of plaster gauze to start stiffening the sculpture; then she paints on a layer of thinset mortar.

It is now ready for laying mosaic tiles. We mostly used Weldbond glue to attach our tiles, but thinset mortar could also be used as adhesive.

Kathryn drew a pattern on her wings to mimic a Zebra Dragonfly.

Here is Pat's lovely "buggy" face:)

Robin is using a multi colored pattern of greens and purples and mirror, very cheerful!

Seymour is starting to take shape!

Pat just finished grouting her dragonfly and is wiping the haze from the grout off her tiles.

 Robin's finished dragonfly.

Pat's finished mosaic sculpture!

Kathryn's finished dragonfly, "Seymour" and his spot in her garden, before being installed on a post in her flower box.

What a great class. It's a bit different to mosaic on a cement surface and I recommend a flat surface beginner's class before you tackle a layered surface. More posts to come about this same class with shapes of fish, flowers, and more....