Discover the Materials and Methods Used to Create Mosaic Art
How Mosaics Are Made
First some technical terms, because there are technical terms for everything. Any of the words that don’t look familiar are Latin.
Tessera – the stuff (a small block of stone, tile, glass, or other material used in the construction of a mosaic)
– Marble, Granite, Quartz, Minerals, Stone
– Smalti, Glass, Ceramic, Clay
– Found Objects: Shells, Buttons, Beads
Interstices – the space between the stuff
Cutting – how you make the stuff smaller
– Hammer & Hardie
– Nippers
– Wet Saw
Substrate – what you stick the stuff on (wood, wediboard, floor, mesh)
Adhesive – how you stick the stuff together (thinset, weldbond glue, silicon)
Grout – the stuff you stick in the space between (sometimes, maybe, it depends...or not)
Andamento – the “flow” of the stuff as you lay it out
Methodology – how you do the sticking (direct, indirect)