I’ve started seeing mosaics everywhere. A book that fell on me from my overstuffed library, then on blogs, onwards to Twitter and finally, magazine profiles. It all culminated when my friend Monica brought in a book one day and said “Had this in my car — been meaning to show it to you.” It was The Complete Pebble Mosaic Handbook by Maggy Howarth. At that point, I just threw my hands up and said “OK, Universe, I’ll do something with mosaics!” [I'm SURE the Universe didn't mean for me to give up finishes and start doing mosaics. I love mosaics but they look really intricate and like it takes a million years to master. I'll just stick to appreciating the artistry it requires. :) ]
The book that fell on me was The Mosaic Book by Vance & Goodrick-Clarke. I’ve had it for years and love the visuals. Here are some pics from it and the aforementioned Pebble Mosaic Handbook:
Here are some pics I’ve run across in my magazine adventures. On the top is a room featured in a Floor Club ad and on the bottom, designer David Mann used the Ann Sacks company to create a forest mosaic:
If you’d like to check out the works of more mosaic companies, check out Bisazza. Additionally, Sara Baldwin of both Sara Baldwin Design and New Ravenna Mosaics has a great mosaic-centric blog. The works of all these companies are incredible!
Of course, I couldn’t leave this post without mentioning decorative painting. On the top, is a can’t miss post of a faux mosaic created by Anna and Scott Sadler of Surface Refinements (Scottsdale, AZ) and profiled in Design Amour. The next pic is a gorgeous painted mosaic showcased in the Design Inspiration blog. To see instructios on creating it, click here (and this how-to has further great links).
Hope you enjoyed my being mad about mosaics — we’ll talk soon!
Beautiful and fascinating work. I see why you are so taken with this medium… somewhat of a lost art. Thank you for sharing your interesting and informative blog.
Thank you for stopping by and for featuring my mosaic picture. Maggie Howarth’s book is great I know just the place for my pebble mosaic, the rest of the family are not chuffed that I’d be digging up the lawn though. Check out http://www.sicis.com for mosaic too.
I’ve amassed quite a library of books on mosaics thinking it’s a medium I’d like to explore….sigh…someday….we (Modello Designs) is going to be coming out with some “stocK” mosaic patterns a la the one you show from designamour. That one that Anna did was inspired by the mosaics at the Wynn hotel in LV which may have come from http://www.sicis.com/-another link you DEF want to check out! Thanks for including designamour in your post. :)
You are so in my head right now! I have always loved grottos and pebble mosaics! Wonderful piece Regina!
Steve – Thank you so much for your beautiful comment! Helen & Melanie – It was my pleasure since your two posts were such great ones with awesome visuals. The Sicis site was amazing. Theresa – Glad you liked it since this one took a bit of time to put together. I have always loved grottoes as well and am now enchanted with pebble mosaics. It’s so cool to have a blog since you learn something new everytime you post.
Those columns are beautiful! I can’t imagine the time that went into hand-crafting those! I posted some really unique photos from SICIS, another mosaic company -
http://fabulousfinishes.wordpress.com/2009/06/22/recent-magazine-finds-i-need-to-win-the-lottery/
have you ever been to that website?
You’re the bomb, Regina–thanks a ton for mentioning our work, and thanks for the heads up on the pebble mosaic book which I will soon be adding to our library. We’ve fiddled around with pebbles a little, even done a few outdoor projects, but haven’t really focused yet. I’ll be sure to let you know when we do! Thanks again!