Regular readers will know that earlier in the summer I did a voluntary project in the half term holiday with OPEN Ealing and the local children. We collectively made a mosaic tree and then donated it to O’Grady Court sheltered housing in Ealing. It was a great community project to be involved in and O’Grady Court invited us all over for an unveiling session providing a delicious buffet brunch.
I was so impressed when I met Birgit and Gasper and they told me all about O’Grady Court and the facilities. They obviously loved the mosaic tree so I offered to make them another mosaic as a present. I returned a few weeks later and discussed options and eventually we came up with the idea of one of my sun/moon mosaics. I wanted to give them a piece that was nice and bright and would sit in their lovely outdoor garden.
I had made one sun/moon before for my garden shed but this one was going to be much larger and brighter. I started by drawing in the face and the first things I mosaiced were the eyes. I am really pleased with them because they are the most realistic pair I have done so far. I then did the nose and slash of a mouth. Then 
the fun part starts, putting in all that lovely colour and bling. For this I used a lot of coloured stained glass so I that I could have really large, bright coloured sections. I then “filled in” the gaps with iridescent tiles, glass beads, metalic tiles and anything else that I thought would add to the piece and make an impact.
So having completed and delivered the mosaic, I went along on Friday for the unveiling. As well as Birgit, Gasper and all the residents, Maud from Open Ealing came along and proceedings were introduced by the regional Manager. After a lot of compliments were made and photos were taken, I talked about the inspiration for the piece and how I went about making it. It was a beautiful, bright morning and the mosaic glittered and sparkled in the sunlight – exactly as I had hoped it would. We then went inside for a lovely buffet and I had my first mince pie. I was presented with a beautiful bouquet of stunning autumn flowers – my perfect colours. I really enjoyed making the piece for all the residents at O’Grady Court and I know from their reaction and kind words that they really like and appreciate their sun/moon that will look down on them for many years to come.
Although I know it is a very basic version of what Jane was trying to teach us, it has given me a good start and has enabled me to grasp the basics of cutting and shaping the glass. It seems to be a very, very messy process and no matter how neat you try to be, you get tiny shards of glass everywhere so I am forever tidying up after myself. The ‘rule’ of never going into my studio barefoot is even more relevant with glass bits hiding everywhere. I really enjoy making these glass pieces, I love the long ‘slashes’ of glass and the dramatic effect they create. I will now need to perfect cutting the smaller pieces and shapes to make up the pictures.
Normally at Crafty Beggars I would have been demonstrating but as I was at the Conference I decided in true Blue Peter style to ‘take something I had made earlier’. So there I was at 7.30am going into Waterloo on the London Underground for the BAMM Conference with Rufus Reindeer. Despite a lot of stares, not one person on the train said anything – talk about the elephant / reindeer in the room! It was the same going on the overground to film later on. However, at BAMM he received lots of compliments and pats on the head!
However, when I made the sun/moon mosaic, I knew it needed a face so I had to give it a go. With this mosaic the main focus was the radiating rays and the face was the ‘link’. I am quite pleased with the result even though it does have ‘piggy eyes’ ! So far it is one of my favourite pieces.
We have now completed 7 stages of the Capital Ring and have crossed the river to north London. Combining stages 4 & 5 took us from Crystal Palace to Wimbledon Park via Streatham, Tooting and Wandsworth Commons. Stage 6 was probably one of our favourite routes starting at Wimbledon Park with its massive boating lake and overlooking the City skyline, passing the famous windmill on Wimbledon Common, lovely walking over Putney Heath which took us up into Richmond Park. Now we felt we were on ‘home territory’
On the day 10 children arrived and were immediately attracted to the beautiful glass tiles, shiny ceramic beads and glittery adornments. Working in pairs, they selected the sections they wanted to work on and then, armed with their handfuls of ‘coloured treasure’, started to design their section before placing and sticking them in the main piece. They were totally engrossed and were determined that the mosaic would be finished within the session, so all of them were working flat out. Each section is very individual – some of the children were incredibly neat, others were colour focused, many had an abstract slant. The end result is a fantastic ‘mix n match’ of different styles, all very distinctive but they all work in harmony as a whole.
Rosanna's Mosaics and Glass 