Category: Joe’s Rantings
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Local Kitty Defends Family from Deadly String Attack
Most of my blog articles are about how to cut and mount mosaic tile and how to improve your mosaic artwork, but the following story warrants coverage by every news outlet large and small: Recently local kitty Mr. Fauci bravely defended his family from a deadly string attack. Accounts vary, but all witnesses agree that…
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Mosaic Hallucinations
The month of January is tax prep and inventory season for our glass mosaic tile business, and it’s been a stressful time each and every year for 20 years, at least for a week or two or certain days. This year is particularly stressful for a variety of reasons: unprecedented inflation, weak sales, bookkeeper gone…
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Small Mosaics Update
I have been making some small mosaics on our bamboo mosaic coaster backers, and I wanted to share a photo of the collection so far and talk about some more advantages of working in a series of smalls. Each of these coasters will be a “tile” that is used in a large sculpture that is…
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White Grout Mosaics
Artist Jill Gatwood sent me some photos of mosaics made by her and her students as examples where white grout was used with good results. Jill says she didn’t used to offer white grout as an option for grouting in her class, but has since done so with some surprising discoveries. The featured mosaic for…
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Shipping Resumed
We have resumed operations and are now shipping packages normally. Please be decent to people in these hard times. APOLOGY AND CONFESSION My apologies to anyone who I have offended with my criticism of Donald Trump in my previous post Coronavirus Helmets, but you might want to give me a pass on that for several…
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Coronavirus Helmets
My son and I took a short break from planting our native and heirloom vegetable garden and digging a second tadpole pond and made Coronavirus Helmets, which are an essential piece of equipment these days. The Coronavirus Helmet featured in this post is mine. I have more about Henry’s helmet later in this post. As…
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Use of Natural Stone in Landscape Mosaics
I recently saw some stained-glass mosaics by artist Debra D’Souza, and they reaffirmed my belief in the mosaic business and actually cheered me up after a day of work poop. To explain why Debra’s mosaics make me so happy, I first have to explain a problem that really haunts me as a retailer of arts…
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Community Project Mosaic Mural
Artist Marilyn Keating makes wonderful whimsical mosaic sculptures, and she recently completed a mixed-media mosaic mural as part of her residency at Morris-Union’s Warren, NJ Developmental Learning Centers (DLC), which provide public school programs for students with autism or autistic-like behavior. I wanted to show pictures and talk about this mosaic because it was made…
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Impulse Art Projects: A Case Study In Sculptured Concrete
It’s EXTREMELY important to allow yourself to do creative projects on impulse without overthinking it. The reason is simple: research tends to kill the creative urge, at least for most people. Research can become an end in itself and go on to long and kill enthusiasm or the window of opportunity is lost. Research can…
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Everything I Told You About Mosaic Art Is Wrong
Artist Apryl Howard sent me some pictures of her recent Arizona Sunset Mosaic, and it is the exception to several “rules” I have recommended over the years. It is also a great silhouette landscape that captures the color of light and is worth seeing merely for inspiration and ideas for your own artwork.
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Protected: Mosaic Art Supply Organizational Chart
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
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How To Choose Mosaic Background Colors and Patterns
Background colors for mosaics should be chosen based on how well they contrast with the colors used in figures. For this reason, most mosaic artists will tile their figures first and then choose their background colors by a trial-and-error process of placing tiles on the mosaic backer and just seeing how they look. The same approach…