Wednesday, January 26, 2011
New plates
I have made four new plates in two days and I´m more than satisfied - I have to admit that my mosaic work is not good for my sleep (I´m dreaming and daydreaming about new patterns and techniques all the time), but the result gives me pure pleasure. Damn it - I´m getting good at it :)
Monday, January 24, 2011
How and where it all started - my passion for mosaics
Welcome to my Mosaic blog. Dear reader – please don´t mind my hubbly English or it ´s grammar – I will write freely and without checking the translator all the time. So take it or leave it – this is my mosaic blog. Probably it´s going to be a bit like my mosaics, a colorful bit from here and there.
So how and where it all started – my true passion for mosaics?
It started in the beginning of February 2010 in Bali, Indonesia. Me and my partner Alan were staying in a town called Ubud. We rented a motorcycle and did a big tour in this very chaotic neighborhood. The traffic culture in Estonia (it´s where I´m from) is far from perfect, but in Indonesia it´s just absolutely crazy. Cats, dogs and old folks wandering around on the main road. It was nothing we hadn´t seen before, but so far it was our first trip on a motorcycle.
Luckily Alan is a great driver, but without any rules it´s hard to drive safely. Somehow we managed not to kill all of those chicken and cats (ok, we didn´t actually kill any), we headed to North to see some volcano. On the way there was a big colorful market with all kinds of beautiful arts and crafts. That was also the place where I discovered mosaics.
Me and Alan were amazed by the beautiful mosaic pieces. First I didn´t understand, how was it made, but when one of the sellers tried to explain us that all of those mosaic pieces are cut and glued piece by piece, I found it totally amazing and very crazy. Who on earth could have such patients!? But oh, how pretty it was.
We coudn´t buy anything from the markets because our back bags were quite heavy already and mosaics are heavy as well, so we left Ubud and Indonesia.
Our next destination was Philippines – a lush and green country with really friendly people, good beaches and great views. Our dream was to visit some islands and to stay few weeks on a beach, fishing and snorkeling, reading and dreaming.
We found what we were looking for – few uninhabited and truly beautiful islands. The time on those islands was the best time after Australia's West coast, where there is so much wilderness. No noise, no traffic – just Alan and me, a coral reef with colorful fish, hot white sand, sand-dollars and shells, stars, coconuts, tent, big hammock and few books.
It was a lovely time, and it was a time when I realized I was carrying something else than my back bag - something made me heavy inside and on the night with the full Moon when I couldn´t get any sleep in a tent I realized that it was the mosaics that were haunting me.
I started to figure out in my head how the mosaics are done, my mind was so involved with it. It was in Philippines where I bought my first glass cutting knife and few other tools, I started planning and couldn´t wait to get back to Estonia to try to make my first piece of mosaic.
After couple of months I was back at home. I started to experiment, but everything that could possibly go wrong, went wrong. It was impossible to cut the glass, find the right paint. When I finally found a good glass cutter and learned the technique how to cut glass, new faults appeared. Bubbles in the paint, uneven grout. But the will was strong and I didn´t give up. And I´m really glad about it today.
So how and where it all started – my true passion for mosaics?
It started in the beginning of February 2010 in Bali, Indonesia. Me and my partner Alan were staying in a town called Ubud. We rented a motorcycle and did a big tour in this very chaotic neighborhood. The traffic culture in Estonia (it´s where I´m from) is far from perfect, but in Indonesia it´s just absolutely crazy. Cats, dogs and old folks wandering around on the main road. It was nothing we hadn´t seen before, but so far it was our first trip on a motorcycle.
Luckily Alan is a great driver, but without any rules it´s hard to drive safely. Somehow we managed not to kill all of those chicken and cats (ok, we didn´t actually kill any), we headed to North to see some volcano. On the way there was a big colorful market with all kinds of beautiful arts and crafts. That was also the place where I discovered mosaics.
Me and Alan were amazed by the beautiful mosaic pieces. First I didn´t understand, how was it made, but when one of the sellers tried to explain us that all of those mosaic pieces are cut and glued piece by piece, I found it totally amazing and very crazy. Who on earth could have such patients!? But oh, how pretty it was.
We coudn´t buy anything from the markets because our back bags were quite heavy already and mosaics are heavy as well, so we left Ubud and Indonesia.
Our next destination was Philippines – a lush and green country with really friendly people, good beaches and great views. Our dream was to visit some islands and to stay few weeks on a beach, fishing and snorkeling, reading and dreaming.
We found what we were looking for – few uninhabited and truly beautiful islands. The time on those islands was the best time after Australia's West coast, where there is so much wilderness. No noise, no traffic – just Alan and me, a coral reef with colorful fish, hot white sand, sand-dollars and shells, stars, coconuts, tent, big hammock and few books.
It was a lovely time, and it was a time when I realized I was carrying something else than my back bag - something made me heavy inside and on the night with the full Moon when I couldn´t get any sleep in a tent I realized that it was the mosaics that were haunting me.
I started to figure out in my head how the mosaics are done, my mind was so involved with it. It was in Philippines where I bought my first glass cutting knife and few other tools, I started planning and couldn´t wait to get back to Estonia to try to make my first piece of mosaic.
After couple of months I was back at home. I started to experiment, but everything that could possibly go wrong, went wrong. It was impossible to cut the glass, find the right paint. When I finally found a good glass cutter and learned the technique how to cut glass, new faults appeared. Bubbles in the paint, uneven grout. But the will was strong and I didn´t give up. And I´m really glad about it today.
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