A sprinkling of Latte Creations makes an everyday coffee break extra special
Mosaic table
One look at Gaudi's extraordinary mosaic
sculptures in Park Guell, Barcelona, or a stumble
across a 1930s tiled courtyard in the Californian
or Mexican desert, and you'll want to know how
to mosaic. It's a timeless craft that you can make
as modern or as traditional as the materials and
patterns that you choose
A table is a good place to start. It's a
contained area (and therefore easy to plan) and
a little like doing a jigsaw puzzle at Christmas,
only you're making the pieces to fit. It's fun to
do with friends or family and the finished design,
with all its quirks, will bear the 'signature' of
the makers - a physical reminder of time spent
creating, gossiping and bonding with loved ones.
My mother, however, who worked with me until
the early hours on a few nights on this particular
table, may beg to differ on these points.
As a table requires a flat surface, you will
need to use the indirect method. This means that
you will create the design in reverse on some brown
paper and then transfer it onto the tabletop. This
method has advantages over sticking the tiles
straight on: you'll see the pattern develop as you
go along (giving you more time to rectify mistakes),
and the final surface will be completely flat - a
necessity if you ever want to place a glass on it.
Start by finding a table to mosaic on -
perhaps revive a piece you already have - the only
requirement is a smallish flat surface. Then work
out a design. As long as you steer clear of the usual
motifs, such as anything you see in DIY shops,
mosaic is perfect for making a statement piece.
Think of things you'd like in your garden - insects,
tropical fish, birds of paradise or an abstract
pattern - but don't rush the design process.
I used a table that my mother had bought years ago. We
spent months discussing a Missoni-like zigzag but never got round
to buying the tiles. Two years passed and she decided on a dragonfly.
Then my father produced a book of jungle scenes by Henri Rousseau.
Perfect for adding punchy colours to my parents' increasingly
tropical-looking conservatory. Half the fun is enjoying the natural
pace of the creative process, so don't just go with your initial idea.
This table took us three days. We worked at quite a pace and
my normally genteel mother swore fruitily on three occasions. So,
if this is your first attempt, choose a simpler design or an abstract
pattern using mainly whole tiles, for example - or use a smaller table.
On the subject of size, large projects don't require more skill,
but they take longer and are marginally more complicated when
fixing the tiles to the adhesive, as you need to cut the pattern into
pieces, because the tiles will be too heavy to flip over in one.
You will need...
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