Mosaic creation - a challenging yet gratifying journey

First and foremost, I would like to dedicate this post to Ruth, better known as @natureofbeing, for these 2 reasons:

The first one being that thanks to her nomination, I was selected to be a part of the @sndbox fellowship. I am so honored and excited to be a part of this project and look forward to the future now more than ever. Thank you for the opportunity Ruth!

I'm also incredibly grateful to @meanmommy33, whom I met at Steemfest and instantly bonded with - partly for her crazy personality and love of languages but mostly for her enthusiasm and drive... She has the type of energy I cling onto, and has just recently brought together an eclectic group of Steemit women (including @natureofbeing) to create @steemsugars. If you're interested in learning more about this project, click on the banner at the bottom of this post.

The second reason and the topic of what is to follow, is that for a while now, I've been wanting to share one of my creations with you and most importantly @natureofbeing.

Ever since I took a trip to Pompeii in my very early twenties, I have been fascinated with mosaics.

One rainy June day in Burgundy France, soon after my return from a long expatriated life in Vietnam, I sat in my parent's garden and noticed they had (again) done some work on the house. They had cleared out an area formerly used as a stable and poured concrete over its entire surface.
Intrigued, I asked my mom what their plans were for this massive new floor.
"Not much for now... maybe turn it into a cozy summer hangout" she replied.
This is when it hit me - why not make a mosaic? So here I went, embarking on an artistic journey filled with its ups and downs, that would take me 3 months from beginning to end...

...and this is the story of its creation:

SURFACE: 6m x 5.5m = approximately 33 m2 (108 square feet)
MATERIALS: mainly recycled/reused tiles from unfinished batches leftover from previous house renovations, broken plates from my great grandma, old bricks, broken mirror, leftover tiles from hardware stores and secondhand markets, rocks of various shapes and sizes found in craft stores
TOOLS: buckets, cement, sponges, spirit level, metal mesh, and whatever tools we could find in my dad's workshop.

The initial idea was to make 12 squares that were each to house a unique mosaic. I soon realized that coming up with 12 different designs was not going to be easy... so I brought it back down to 9.

I started by placing the tiles, bricks, and various ceramics in the shapes I had envisioned would make an interesting geometric design. Geometry and symmetry - as I would find out later on - were going to be a key element to the overall success of this massive venture... they were my allies in helping me fill in the gaps. You see, the area is far too big for me to even consider doing some freestyle mosaics and letting out my "inner Pompeii", considering my drawing skills are next to zero.
All I had at the time was the passion, the drive, and the need to make something beautiful with my hands, which would hopefully be admired by a few handful of friends and family members for decades to come.

After setting up the square enclosures and having a clearer vision of the overall design, I set out to create each individual mosaic.
As you may begin to notice, the thickness of each material used varies greatly from one piece to another. This is problematic if you want to create a "walkable" floor piece where chairs and tables can be placed.
One thing that helped a lot was finding a giant roll of metal mesh in my dad's workshop. I cut 9 pieces to perfectly fit inside the brick enclosures and cemented my mosaics directly on top.

*****

The idea was to create 9 square designs (approximately 40x40cm) which would each hold a special meaning related to the house and its region.

*****

Here, I am creating a little creature which is often found roaming around the house in the hot summer months - a lizard.

*****

This creation is to honor my great-grandfather who lived in this house from 1947 to 1979 before passing it on to my mom. He often used this Chinese symbol as a signature in his writings (poems, observations, essays...). If I am not mistaken, I believe it represents wealth (cái 財), one of the 4 blessings in Taoism (the 3 others being happiness (fú 福),professional success or prosperity (lù 禄), and longevity (shòu 寿)).
"Ruris Amor" was his motto - translated from Latin meaning "love of the countryside", which is what represented him best: a great lover of nature and farm life.

The outer frame made with the Oh-so-famous Pierre de Buxy, a local limestone found in a nearby quarry, was cemented on first. Followed closely by the brick enclosures and its colorful frieze (notice the great disparity in thickness between the tiles, rocks, and bricks... I think I pulled all my hair out trying to make sure each piece was leveled with the rest).

_{The main "frames" were cemented on next}	_{Then the individual mosaics}

The bricks used to frame each mosaic had been piled up in the cellar for quite some time. I had often walked passed them growing up, not making much of this pile of "junk". So as I was looking for materials to use, I asked my mom if I could possibly take some of these bricks.

It turns out they were removed from an old kitchen floor in this same house. They had quite possibly been reused a few times and were made in the 19th century. Perfect addition to my creation!

By that time, a few weeks had already passed by. This project was taking way longer than intended! And I still had a huge area to fill between the 9 mosaics and the outer frame. I was getting a bit discouraged (ok, maybe a lot) and tired. How could I fill this massive area? My creativity level was at its lowest... so I went for what I felt was going to be easiest: ROCKS! (another brilliant idea from yours truly... I'm sure you've figured out why by looking at the photos)

The frog was a suggestion from my dad. There isn't much meaning behind it other than there used to be a pond in the backyard where frogs would hang out a few decades ago.
And also, we are French, we like froggies :)

To the left are the details of a butterfly's wing and on the bottom right is a checkers or chess board, which I figured we could use to play on in the hot summer months.

Once each of piece of tessera (mosaic) was placed and the cement underneath was fully dry, the grout (mortar to fill crevices) had to be applied to consolidate, seal and unify the entire design. After so many long hours/days/weeks/months of back-breaking work, we decided to improvise a technique which consisted in pouring the grout in great quantity directly over the mosaic and spread it directly into the crevices.

*****

Of course somebody you may now know as Boudinette, my cat, had to leave her signature in there somewhere. Can you see her little paw print?

*****

_{Compass pointing to Magnetic North}	_{Flowers and lizard}

The final part of the work consisted in wiping the grout residue left on top of the mosaics using a wet sponge and whatever scraping tool we could find in my dad's workshop, such as sandpaper.

TADAAAAAAAH!

Here is what the mosaic looks like today, 7 years after its completion. Apart from a few wet patches which accumulate on the sides when the rains get a bit heavy, it does not require any maintenance or specific care - just a few eyes to admire it every once in a while :)

I believe that professionals apply a sealant over the top of the finished mosaic in order to waterproof and stainproof the final piece. Needless to say, after 3 months of sweat and back pains, we decided to just kick our feet back and relax (!) - the mere thought of having to continue on and put 2 more coatings of sealant was enough to make us go into a nervous breakdown.

The amount of patience, endurance, creativity, and back muscles needed to do such work is so unbelievably intense. I have not yet had the courage to create another big piece (but did do a smaller version as a communal art project with the children in my class). Before undertaking another similar project, I would definitely look into learning a bit more about the different techniques and tools to use, as well as making sure I have a team of brave helpers by my side (Thanks mom! ---> I know you're reading this)

If you like mosaics and wish to learn more about them, please go check out @natureofbeing's amazing work. She is truly an inspiration.

Have you ever started an artistic project and realized mid-way it is way more work than you had initially imagined?

Have you ever created something not having an idea of the outcome, improvised your way through it and ended up being super proud of it?