Thursday, March 29, 2012

A Bakers Dozen





It looks like a mess but it's not.

We're close to finishing now and Lynn and Doug are coming to take some photos so it's time to take down the plastic!

Doug gets down for the best shot

Me, Mike and Lynn on the best day of an installation, it's finished!

End of day 13! Lynn points out one of her favorite spots

Tricks of the Trade


We pretty much had lines like these to correct around every piece of marble and onyx.

The fixes are all done and it's time to grout...with our fingers. The dark and light spots need different color grout and it's easier to be precise with our fingers than with a grout float.

Using a dark grout and a light grout makes a big difference as you can see on this dark line running through the light area.


End of day 12!

Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Won One


Some closeups of the beautiful lines in this artwork


Much better from a step back

Today was a day of fixing seems and mending fragments
End of day eleven!

Double Digits


Mike has cut out the last of the 8 marble inserts 
We make sure it fits before installing the mosaic

It does so we install the second to last piece
(we left this one till second to last since there are some fit problems)

Mike begins trowling for the last piece

Last piece!

End of day ten!

Day Nine


Mike has cut out the hole for the sixth piece of marble. He had to reinforce the cement board since it is very thin in between the onyx and the marble but still needs to be strong enough for a mosaic

The mosaic around  the sixth and seventh marble holes

In goes the seventh piece of marble (out of eight)

There`s a lot of nitpicky fixes around the inserted stone

And everywhere else, actually.

The skylight above adds a lot of beautiful natural light

End of day nine!

Friday, March 23, 2012

Patch Dynamics


This is the pattern Mike has to cut out for the marble insert. We calculated the placement based on the original pattern and by holding up the mosaic to make sure it was exact

Time to cute, but we do have to account for the dust

Some adjustments to the mosaic

A lot of adjustments to the mosaic...This is not bad though. The only thing adjustable in this design is the millions of tiny pieces of mosaic. The huge orbs and large marble are staying put. Though it's a lot of work, you can correct small pieces and still stay true to the original artwork.

End of day 8!

A Day of Rest at MOSA

No rest for us, after the wood is cut out, let`s hope this fits! 

It does!

Even when our piece fits nicely, we still have a  lot of corrective work  There are so many small pieces in this mosaic that they often fall out or turn sideways and need replacing.


One of the great things about this mosaic is that the roof above it is a skylight.  Students can walk over it through an elevated garden but it also provides amazing natural light, or in this case, thundershowers.

It`s not grouted yet but considering the older post, this is almost complete!

Again, the underneath of the mosaic is almost as beautiful as the top.

Mike installs the 5th marble insert.


End of day 7!