Paths Taken, Part 11

Just a brief video on finishing the edges.

Paths Taken, Part 10

In this video, I talk about various aspects of the smalti execution and finishing.

Paths Taken: Palette and Procreate

Previous posts on this project.

 Continuing where I left off, I talk about my palette and how I am using the Procreate app in my design process.

View fullsize

By importing an image of my proposed palette (at left) into Procreate, I was able to create swatches that I could use to refine my palette and play with design ideas around color and shading. 

Paths Taken, Part 7

Good progress in the past few days! I got to the point where I was really enjoying working on my drawing of andamento lines and working out how I needed to navigate the flaring and some of the trickier intersections and diversions of flow.

In this video, I will discuss how I got to this point and some of issues that came up.  

View fullsize

At left is my drawing as of this video. There are a couple of areas that I will be tweaking, and I talk about those in the video. Right now, I feel it is about 99% there.

I'm very happy with the flow and the overall size of the pieces, especially the shape and placement of the larger pieces which will be cut from smalti B-cuts and pizzas.

Next, I'll finalize my palette and how I want to work with the shades and values that I have. 

Paths Taken: Yet More on Andamento

In this video, I'm discussing some of my challenges in working out how to express the flow that I would like to express.

Paths Taken: More on Andamento

After reflecting on my previous discussion about andamento, I wanted to talk about it a little more and clarify my understanding of the term. 

To summarize:

1. The English translation of andamento is a/the trend. Mosaically, I understand andamento to be the way things go, the movement, or more specifically, the sense of movement.
2. There are multiple ways to express the chosen andamento for a mosaic, including cutting and laying techniques—different opuses, and material and color choices.

In the above video, I talk about andamento as it relates to my current project, and I offer a couple of examples of different andamenti and the techniques chosen to express those andamenti.

Anatomy of a Mosaic: Paths Taken

I started this mosaic about 4 years ago, but retreated from it as I was heading into a sabbatical of sorts. I had decided that I did not like the pattern of the pieces of shale that I had adhered to the substrate. I thought that, at some point in the future, I would remove the pieces or just throw it away. 

Now, 4 years later, I think it will make a great andamento challenge for me. I've decided to finish it, and to take you along with me as I go. 

I'm calling it Paths Taken, and I will blog the making of it, starting with this post. I'm not very good at making videos, but what the heck! I think even a so-so video can help explain things and be a useful accompaniment to photos and text. So, here goes!

The first thing I needed to do was to make a support frame for the back of the mosaic. Adding a support frame allows for more flexibility in hanging and framing decoratively, and takes care of the problem that Wedi creates in making such choices. With a support frame on the back, the mosaic can be decoratively framed or not, and hanging hardware can be installed on this back support frame.

I used 8 Kerdi washers, which are similar to Wedi washers, to properly bolt the support frame to the back of the Wedi board.

View fullsize

View fullsize

Let's just talk a bit about the materials:

Back when I started this mosaic, I printed images of it in which I whited-out the bare substrate so that I could play around with the andamento. Fortunately, I kept a couple of my attempts and I recently found them:

I'll take some time now to revisit and complete my andamento drawing, and I'll be back with you when it's ready to go!