Mosaic St. Michael the Archangel

Mosaic Saints, Angels, and Icons

Historically, mosaic icons were made with traditional materials like smalti, marble, and gold leaf glass. Those traditional mosaic materials might be preferred if you are trying to make a reproduction that looks historically accurate, but they are more expensive and more difficult to work with.

Do You Need Smalti?

If you have any latitude in choosing your materials, remember that it is possible to make striking and realistic images using ordinary vitreous glass mosaic tile, which is both affordable and easy to work with.

Vitreous is the same thickness as the gold leaf glass we sell, and so you could still incorporate gold in your icon if you decided to nix the smalti and stone. In fact, it would be easier to use our gold leaf glass with vitreous than with the thicker smalti and stone.

Body detail, Mosaic St. Michael the Archangel
Body detail, Mosaic St. Michael the Archangel by artist Micah Andrews

Lastly, keep in mind that if your mosaic is mounted high or some other place where people can’t stand up close and inspect it, they won’t be able to tell if the mosaic is vitreous or smalti.

All that being said, the color palette of vitreous is more limited than that of smalti, and so that may be reason enough to use smalti, but you may find the colors you need in recycled glass tile, which is non-grainy like smalti, but is cheaper and easier to cut with less waste.

It all comes down to what colors you need and if they are available in a particular type of tile. Mixing brands is not a problem, but mixing molded tile with smalti is problematic, mostly because the smalti is hand-cut and thicker.

Head detail, Mosaic St. Michael the Archangel
Head detail, Mosaic St. Michael the Archangel by artist Micah Andrews

St. Michael the Archangel

Artist Micah Andrews emailed me some technical questions about a mosaic he was making for a small church in the Arizona desert. Although Micah was using our method of placing clear contact paper over the pattern with the sticky side up and laying out the tile on that, he was using traditional materials and methods for everything else.

Traditionally, once a mosaic is laid out on a temporary bed of clay or lime putty, it is picked up with cheesecloth and rabbit-skin glue. Micah emailed me because when he applied the rabbit skin glue, it ran down between the tiles and even got beneath them and on their bottoms. Micah’s question was whether or not this temporary glue might interfere with the mortar bonding securely to the tiles.

After the cheesecloth and glue dried to the faces of the tiles, Micah picked the mosaic up off the pattern and flipped it over and cleaned the bottoms of the tiles with warm water and cotton swabs, taking care to not drip water down to the cheesecloth and glue that held it all together.

In hindsight, Micah observed that it would have been better for him to have used a traditional bed of clay or lime putty instead of our modern method of contact paper over the pattern because the bed of clay better accommodates the irregular smalti. The modern method of using sticky contact paper as a temporary surface is better suited to molded tile like vitreous or recycled glass.

Installation, Mosaic St. Michael the Archangel
Installation, Mosaic St. Michael the Archangel by artist Micah Andrews

Not Grouted

Roman mosaics were not grouted. Instead, the tesserae was packed closely together so that there was just a thin crack between each piece. This worked fine in the gentle climate of the Mediterranean basin because there was little or no cold weather to cause precipitation to freeze between the tiles and crack them all to pieces.

Keep in mind that you need to take your local climate into account before deciding to install on non-grouted mosaic or a mosaic made from vulnerable materials. Else you may experience freeze damage.

Completed, Mosaic St. Michael the Archangel by artist Micah
Completed, Mosaic St. Michael the Archangel by artist Micah Andrews

 

Comments

9 responses to “Mosaic Saints, Angels, and Icons”

  1. Nikki Vibert Avatar
    Nikki Vibert

    Hi there. I have old windows I want to mosaic for outdoor art. If I’m using ceramic pieces straight onto the glass, what adhesive do I use?

    1. Joe Moorman Avatar
      Joe Moorman

      You should use thinset mortar.

  2. Colleen Miltenberger Avatar
    Colleen Miltenberger

    Hi, I’d like to mosaic the wooden post for my mailbox outside. I’ll probably use vitreous glass tiles. What would be the best adhesive? And would you recommend that i glue my tiles to mesh and apply the mesh to the post with ______________adhesive? Grout or no grout? Thanks!

    1. Joe Moorman Avatar
      Joe Moorman

      Hi Colleen,

      Wood is not an acceptable backer for outdoor and wet mosaics. You would need to replace the wooden post or screw foam-core backer board to the post. We recommend mosaic mounting tape or mosaic mounting paper instead of mesh. Outdoor mosaics are mounted with thinset mortar.

      I hope this helps!

      Thanks,

  3. Denise Seaman Avatar
    Denise Seaman

    This mosaic of St. Micahel by Micah is beautiful….and it stands out beautifully in the desert!
    Your comments on choice of tile/smalti and using contact paper vs. clay was very helpful. I’m currently working on a much less intricate Angel mosaic. I was wondering if you ever have classes specifically for doing icons? I would love to be able to attend one.
    Thank you for sharing this (I know I’m late to see it)!

  4. Janet Flom Avatar
    Janet Flom

    Did you answer Micah’s question whether rabbit skin glue interferes with thinset mortar bonding to the tesserae? We are working on a 6’ x 5’ mosaic in sections using the indirect method on brown paper with flour paste glue. A few of the first sections we found we hadn’t used a good mix ratio of water to paste and the smalti did not adhere very well to the paper. Rather than redoing these sections, it was suggested that we put a single layer of cheesecloth on the wrong side with rabbit skin glue, and then just leave it that way. Then back butter to lay sections into (mortar-prepared) frame. Do you think this would be a problem?

    1. Joe Moorman Avatar
      Joe Moorman

      I’ve never used rabbit skin glue. I’ve always been skeptical of using ancient methods and obscure materials when modern solutions are more readily available.

      If possible, you never want anything on the back side except mortar. That is why mosaic mounting tape is preferred over fiberglass mesh, especially for pools and fountains.

  5. Philothea Rempel Avatar
    Philothea Rempel

    Hello Micah, Greetings! Recently I was visiting at. Paisius Monastery near Safford, is this icon from the Archangel Michael chapel there? I am interested in learning mosaic for Orthodox Icons, do you teach this?
    All the best,
    Philothea

    1. Joe Moorman Avatar
      Joe Moorman

      Here is our page of mosaic class listings by location:

      https://mosaicartsupply.com/mosaic-classes/

      Here is our page for how to find mosaic classes locally:

      https://mosaicartsupply.com/how-to-find-mosaic-classes/

      Thanks!

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