My fascination with mosaic gold began shortly after my trip to Venice for an Orsoni Master Class in 2006. While there, I purchased kilos of colored golds, and a nice selection of whites to yellows. In 2007, I began working with them and I have not stopped.
I love the way that the many shades of Orsoni white through yellow golds are so responsive to light. As I walk around a mosaic with several shades, they seem to change in depth — and of course reflectivity — as though they are alive. The deeper yellow shades actually change to rich burnt umbers when viewing from a side angle, as you can see below in one of my early explorations.
© 2014 Jacqueline Iskander. Gold Rising (2007). 13" x 15" | 33cm x 38cm. Smalti, 12 shades of mosaic gold.
I remember Maestro Lucio Orsoni being amused by the common reference of gold smalti: "It isn't smalti; it is nothing like smalti," he said. Of course, it is nothing like smalti. Although the term seems to be more commonly used all the time, I remain a holdout and call it mosaic gold.
For an informative article about golds, check out Going for Gold — 10 things you should know about gold smalts from Mused, a very nice mosaic blog that I follow.