Yesterday I went on my long awaited mosaic course… a ‘one day taster’- which I had originally booked in October 2010 to do in March 2011. The March course was cancelled and I was offered 7th May. This meant I had to cancel something else – it’s no good planning too far ahead I find.
On Friday night I printed off my list of instructions and packed my bag. A pencil, ruler, eraser, a notebook, old clothes and an apron, proof of identity, and lunch. With hindsight I would have added to that list an old tea towel and a small dustpan and brush, plus a pack of plasters.
We started at 10am. I knew no-one else on the course, so was pleased I had chosen my apron carefully. I did not take the one that has a naked male torso printed upon it. Instead I took Techie’s which says,
“Dinner will be ready when you hear the smoke alarm.”
Our teacher was a gently humorous Northerner who has a degree in fine art and teaches in prisons. There were about 15 of us, mainly female… (only two chaps) and all were friendly. It was a great atmosphere. The location was an art room in an Oxfordshire secondary school where I noticed exactly the same smell as the art room in my High School all those years ago.
As I parked the cloud burst (a very heavy downpour, much needed around here by the gardeners and farmers) which had started at about 7 am, just as Cycloman was getting ready for the day’s cycle, continued. But by lunchtime however it had cleared and we sat outside with our picnics, able to admire the mosaic on the outside wall.
We started by taking a coaster and a table mat each and covering them in paper with PVA glue. Then we learned how to cut the glass tiles and then the ceramic ones. Once mastered we had the task of covering the coaster with rows of cut ceramic tiles, (opus regulatum )leaving spacing for grouting which was planned for later.
A handout of illustrations and terms helped us on our way to the next project: decorating the place mat, about A4 sized, with glass tiles, using the typical overlapping shell shapes at the bottom, progressing into ‘free expression’ at the top. Time flew. Needless to say we ran out of time and the project wasn’t finished… but I have come home inspired, with tile cutters a few spare tiles and the half finished place mat, plus many ideas for projects.
Oh, and the last thing we did, before we said good-bye? We grouted the coaster! So that one’s all done…. including the grouting.
Boadicea's Chariot 
As a matter of curiosity how much did they charge you for this one day course?
I note here in the USA the charges for such are ludicrous, up to £100 per day!
I’ve been teaching a good friend of mine how to spin for free, she learnt on my spare wheel. I think this is normal but I have found out that others think I’m madly altruistic!
The nice payback is that she always picks up my drinks bill in the local bar before we go to knit and bitch night.
(It gets me away from the Wagner!)
Hi Pseu.
A joy of a blog, as always. I hope that you will enjoy tesserae-ing for years to come.
Moving on, greetings CO. ‘Knit and bitch’ pure dead brilliant by the way. Swopsies for you getting ‘it’s stoatting it doon’ from your time in Aiberdeen.
CO, I am inordinately fond of you, despite the fact that I know full well that you would personally rebuild Hadrian’s Wall stone by stone, given ‘space enough and time’.
Doesn’t make you a bad person, in my opinion.
Still, however, cry myself to sleep at night because you will not retell the tale of the Falls Road, the cut glass English accent, the fur coat and the stiletto hells. ‘Un bel di’?
But, it does, I have to say, disappoint me that you would ever want to ‘get away from the Wagner’.
http://youtu.be/GEhBkyi53A0
Thank you John , gem of a comment if I may say so.
CO, knit and bitch sounds interesting. Do tell more
cost was about £35 if I remember correctly, then £10 for materials on the day.
Pseu
My daughter got ‘hooked’ on mosaics for a while – so everyone got coasters, trinket boxes and other stuff, I refuse to accept mosaic photo frames! I know she got a lot of fun out of it.
Christina
I reckon you have it right – you don’t charge good friends for teaching them. I’m somewhat stunned that anyone would think you should.
Bo, they would charge you for the air you breathe here if they could get away with it!
Nothing free in the dear old US of A!
Funnily enough except for the food bank which will give food to anyone who turns up.
JM I swear one day when I have time to recount it, a long tale and I’m no typist! I find Wagner too melodramatic and shrieking, I find it upsets me these days.
I think the knit and bitch is pretty self explanatory! If amongst private like minded friends it becomes quite scurrilous by USA PC middle class standards.
At what pressure was the tire at and how fast were you driving while this poor woman held on to the boot of your car? 🙂
This came to mind, too, Donald:
Shame on you naughty creatures!
Glad you enjoyed it Pseu, although it’s crying out for a piccie of your completed mosaic! Are you going to do any more?
I’s probably only seen Roman mosaics until a trip to Barcelona when I saw Gaudi’s vivid flowing fantastic mosaics in Parc Guell. An inspiration but I expect, like most worthwhile things, it’s much harder to execute than one would imagine!