Tree of Life Mosaic made of stained and dichroic glass and beads.

Tree of Life Mosaic made of stained and dichroic glass and beads.

A couple of years ago, I created this papercut design inspired by Baltic style folk art:

Actually, the first one was simpler and had roosters below. The second was close, but I had the peacocks facing out, and after some time went by, I cut this one, and it felt right.

In 2020, we welcomed some spectacular new friends to our menagerie:

Introducing Argos and Hephaestus. (Hephaestus has a bad leg, in case you are a mythology buff. This is also a contributing factor in their coming to live with us.)

So, as I almost felt I’d been manifesting these guys by making so much artwork with peacocks, and pairs of peacocks in particular, I felt compelled to finally transform the papercut design into a mosaic to celebrate these amazing birds, and my own sense of place within Nature, cultivating this little homestead that I nurture, and which nurtures me. Each evening, after dinner, I spent about 4-5 hours working on this piece. On the second day, I took the first snapshot, and I decided to document the work with a picture at the end of each day. It not only demonstrates to others the amount of work and time that goes into each mosaic, but it also helps me to be aware of it as well, and to create pricing structures that are sustainable for me, and in keeping with the effort and skill required to execute a quality mosaic. Below, I’ll post the photos I took over the 11 days I spent on the initial fabrication portion of the project:

I started documenting on day 2. I used dichroic, iridescent and opalescent glass for the peacocks, to get as close as possible to the incredible, surreal color and shimmer in their feathers.
On Day 3, I finished the birds and started working my way up the tree. When I work, I have a sketch, but I do not choose colors ahead of time. I make it up as I go, which is more fun for me than planning ahead.
Day 4: cutting these teeny pieces to follow curves and spirals is very painstaking, but I knew it would pay off in the end.
I recall that I worked until pretty late on this day. I was on a roll and excited to see it really coming together.
Day 6: This was a day where I kept trying different colors and glass, and changed my mind a few times. Then I took a while to locate and choose the beads I wanted in the dress.
Day 7: On this day, I made good progress completing the tree, but got stalled on the background. I had originally planned to go with green for the background. But I felt it didn’t let the focal point stand out enough. Then I tried bright teal, but again, it competed too much. I have a ton of textured clear glass, so I decided to go with white thinset under clear glass in a very classical pattern to create visual interest, but still give impact to the tree and birds. I remembered to add my initials in the corner (win!) and spent a lot of time cutting the little squares before starting the background.
Day 8: Just making progress on the background. This part is exciting in some ways because it’s the home stretch. But it’s also kind of boring because it’s less challenging, and a bit like setting tile.
I think this was a day I had less time, and only put in about 3 hours, including cutting more squares.
Finally completed, pre-grout. This is at about 54 hours of mosaic work.

So, after letting the adhesive cure for a couple of days, I was ready to grout. I originally planned to use one neutral color to make it easy on myself. But, after messing around with dry grout, I decided to use two colors. Here’s how that works:

I decided to use two grout colors, so I had to meticulously tape off the edges, leaving only the central image exposed.
I applied Permacolor Select grout to the central image, with a combination of Raven and green tint.
Carefully taping off the second section in order to use a lighter grout that will unite the background, rather than emphasize the grout line, which would distract from the focal point.

Not documented, is the process of cutting a substrate to fit a frame that had been waiting to be used, and then securing the finished project into the frame. The substrate is 1/2″ Kerdi, which is a foam-core tile board. It is very lightweight, so this piece is not heavy. Also, the whole panel could be removed from the frame and installed as a tile insert in any environment. It is waterproof and weatherproof.

So, that’s the process of creating a mosaic like this one, start to finish! I really love it. It reflects me and my sense of place in the world, interconnected with nature and constantly pursuing growth and balance. 🙂

*This mosaic has been featured in multiple gallery exhibitions over the past few years, including Northwind Art in Port Townsend, Childhood’s End Gallery in Olympia, Bainbridge Arts & Crafts in Bainbridge and the Washington Center Gallery in Olympia.

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