stained-glass-mosaic-plaques by Lisa Sunshine

Mosaic Virtuosity: Stained Glass Paintings

Artist Lisa Sunshine’s stained-glass mosaics are tiny 4-inch iconic images intended for use in an illustrated alphabet series.

I’m not sure whether these images are Sunshine’s own compositions or if she is using an existing illustrated series as a model, but either way the mosaics are virtuoso stuff.

Sunshine’s mosaics are “impressionistic paintings” rendered in stained glass, they are miniatures, and they make the rest of us look like amateurs.

TIP: Most people wouldn’t enjoy working in this small size and would prefer a 10″ or 12″ backer, especially if the mosaic contains multiple figures.

stained-glass-mosaic-plaque horse
stained-glass-mosaic-plaque horse

Impressionistic Paintings

Sunshine has an eye for imperfectly-cut pieces of glass that are perfect visually, in the same way an imperfect impressionistic brush stroke is perfect.

stained-glass-mosaic-plaque egg
stained-glass-mosaic-plaque egg

Perfect in image. Imperfect in fit.

Look at her mosaics as thumbnails and observe their visual perfection, then zoom in and see the imperfect fit.

stained-glass-mosaic-plaque bear
stained-glass-mosaic-plaque bear

Sunshine is not being sloppy.

With this “looseness of fit,” Sunshine is allowing herself to focus how a piece contributes visual rather than how well it fits physically like a puzzle piece.

She is also creating a grout gap by imperfection of fit.

Notice how there isn’t any place where the gap is excessively wide. You have to limit how much error you tolerate for this approach to produce good results, and Sunshine’s mosaic are fairly tight.

stained-glass-mosaic-plaque astronaut
stained-glass-mosaic-plaque astronaut

Before You Grout

What if you look at your mosaic and see a few places where the grout gap is incidentally larger than what you would prefer?

That makes the right choice of grout color critical, but not even the best choice of grout color can fix things when one or two odd places are simply too wide.

As a general rule, backfilling with small tiles looks odd and is not recommended. Usually you have to pry up one or two tiles and then retile that spot to fix the problem in a way that doesn’t look distracting.

The following mosaic is a great example of working loosely with fit yet keeping within limits:

stained-glass-mosaic-plaque ice cream
stained-glass-mosaic-plaque ice cream

TIP: To pry up a tile, you should pre-soak it. Moisten the gaps around the tile with wet cotton swab. Try to contain the water to around the tile. Cover the mosaic with plastic to prevent evaporation. Check every quarter hour and reapply. Within an hour you should be able to get the tile up with a dental pick or screwdriver. Wear safety glasses when prying glass. Always be prepared for breakage and shards, but it is possible to pry up glass without breaking if you are careful.

The following mosaic has some unfinished places in the base of the gumball machine and a few places in the background.

These large gaps in the machine and background will be more conspicuous following grouting, and so you have to address them before grouting.

stained-glass-mosaic-plaque gumball
stained-glass-mosaic-plaque gumball. Unfinished.

The Series

The following are some of the mosaic letter plaques and mosaic icon plaques that Sunshine has completed so far.

mosaic-alphabet-E-egg
mosaic-alphabet-E-egg
mosaic-alphabet-B-bear
mosaic-alphabet-B-bear
mosaic-alphabet-A-astronaut
mosaic-alphabet-A-astronaut
mosaic-alphabet-I-ice-cream
mosaic-alphabet-I-ice-cream
mosaic-alphabet-G-gumball
mosaic-alphabet-G-gumball
mosaic-alphabet-H-horse
mosaic-alphabet-H-horse

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Comments

7 responses to “Mosaic Virtuosity: Stained Glass Paintings”

  1. Julia Owens Avatar
    Julia Owens

    What do you use for adhesive if your glass is clear?

    1. Joe Moorman Avatar
      Joe Moorman

      We use GE Silicone II for glass-on-glass mosaics, but for glass on a porous surface, we use Weldbond, which is a white PVA. It is clear when fully dry and much preferred over silicone, which is a construction adhesive with a life expectancy of 30 years and not archival like the PVA adhesive.

  2. Carole Raschella Avatar

    Looking at the horse with the orange background, it looks as though she painted the backer orange to match the stained glass. Whether she did or not, it seems like a good idea for small pieces that aren’t grouted. Do you have any thoughts about that?

    1. Joe Moorman Avatar
      Joe Moorman

      No, that is an effect of the light shining through the glass. If you use a tight grout gap, the color of the backer is irrelevant because the stained glass we sell usually has enough pigment to completely hide the backer.

  3. Lynn McLeod Avatar
    Lynn McLeod

    Yes, imperfect pieces, but her outlines are perfect, as well as a detail here and there. So beautiful!

    1. Joe Moorman Avatar
      Joe Moorman

      Yes, the lines are perfect like all the visual details. There is a genius disregard for irrelevant things like fit and a razor focus on the important. The perfect lines versus the imperfect fits points out the secret.

  4. Karen Brow-Meier Avatar
    Karen Brow-Meier

    Delightful and beautifully rendered. What a treat to have a look at and learn from!

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