How to Arrange Mosaic Pieces Into a Design

Video Transcript

"OK, this is the really fun part. This is the creative part. This is where you get to be as daring, as adventurous, have as much fun as you possibly can. So what I like to do is lay out different pieces. Usually I'll go for certain color schemes that seem to work together. It's a very organic process. Sometimes it is very well thought out, sometimes I will draw a design. For example, this fish table behind me, the design was drawn out prior to actually adhering the shards. This piece that I am going to work on now is very free form and will incorporate different weights. I've decided I want to use the mauves and the greens and I've got some other pieces in here and I want to see exactly what's going to work for this piece. So I lay them out, I kind of see what works together and it is like a giant jig saw puzzle. And it is absolutely miraculous that things fit together as though they were meant to fit together that way. And you will see more when I adhere the pieces, which I am going to do now. Now that I have picked out the pieces that I like, the shards that I like, I'm going to lay them out in a decorative fashion right on top of this very flat piece and then I will be able to adhere them right in place. So, for example, this is what I mean when I say that it's like a puzzle that I'll fit together. You can see how these pieces look like they are going exactly where they are suppose to go. I don't know how this works. This is a very magical and mysterious process but that is the fun of it, is to just start putting the pieces in and seeing what happens with them. These pieces, some of these are very old, and this piece is going, as you see this piece is going to have a very antique look to it. Some of these pieces are very, very ornate and they are a very deep purple. This wonderful flower, this was from a vase that a friend gave to me. It was a piece that was on there and these little marbles that I showed you before. And, another thing that I like to do when I'm doing these mosaics is I like to leave some open spaces. I call those little windows. So that when I am grouting some of those places are actually left open. Next I'm going to show you the grouting."