Le 1er Mai, Fete du Muguet.

Today is May Day, French tradition is to offer a sprig of Lilly of the Valley to the woman  (women ?) you love... 

Yesterday I completed Mariam's eyes - Well, I lied... I simply completed the laying of the tesserae, it is far from finished, as I have still to flip her, grout her, frame her...

But, from the stone cutter standpoint, it is a done deal...

Here is a reminder of the different phases of the work...

The beginning...

Mariam's Eyes, Le 7 Mars 2014

First tesserae laid - Border, and sandy background.

Mariam's eyes, le 19 Mars 2014

More Sand, and started the red veil

Mariam's Eyes, le 29 Mars 2014

Completed the Sand, and started the Blue Veils

Mariam's Eyes, le 15 Avril 2014

Completed the Red Veil

Mariam's Eyes, le 21 Avril 2014

And the Blue Veils...

Mariam's Eyes, le 26 Avril 2014

Finally, all the tesserae laid

Mariam's Eyes, le 30 Avril 2014

Today, Mariam has been pre grouted, 

Mariam's eyes, le 1er Mai 2014.

And is ready to receive its support...

If you are interested in my work, please contact me by email at frederic.lecut@gmail.com, or by phone at (334) 798 1639.

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A bientot ...

Le 21 Avril 2014

I decided to concentrate on Mariam's Eyes only. I need to complete the laying of the tesserae as soon as possible to get her framed and take her to France in June !

Her twin sister will have to wait.

I completed last week the vertical part of the blue veil, and this morning I finished the bottom Red Veil.

We now have at least 20 different types of materials used on this piece ! Glasses, Mirrors, Stones...

To take these pictures, I sprayed the mosaic with water. Doing so better shows the colors of the finished piece. 

Tomorrow I will complete the irises of the eyes and get back to working on the top blue veil. 

I believe she will look gorgeous ! 

Mariam's Eyes mosaic is a commission to be delivered in June, but I am also working on her twin sister, which should be available in July 2014. 

If you are interested by this piece, or by a different mosaic, or simply would like to discuss mosaics, their techniques and history,  please contact me by phone at (334) 798 1639, or by email at frederic.lecut@gmail.com

Mariam's Eyes Twin Mosaics

A short introductory Video of Mariam's Eyes twin Mosaics.

Mariam's Eyes are made after one previous work of mine : Green Eyes, who flew to Dubai last winter.

Green eyes was the first one of my Mosaic Eyes portraits.  2 years later Mariam's Eyes are bigger, and differently centered. I am also using different materials. 

I am actually making 2 mosaics on the same design. One is the mirror image of the other. Twin sisters ! 

One of these mosaics is a commission for a dear French friend of mine.

Mariam's Eyes will be flying to France in June, and her sister will be available for purchase in July 2014. 

If you think you might be interested, please contact me by phone at (334) 798 1639, or by email at frederic.lecut@gmail.com.

I will be posting more pictures of Mariam's Eyes on my Mosaicblues Facebook page, this blog and my regular mosaicblues blog.

Le 29 Mars 2014

I figured out that Mariam being going to France (the Lucky one!) I might as well date this post in French.

I have been adding lots of materials and colours this week. Blue glasses and ceramics - from France and Italy for the upper veil, Orange American glasses and Beige granites for the hair... 

Mariam's eyes - March 29, 2014

At this stage, I have used quite a few different materials and colors, and it is beginning to be very interesting... I have approximately laid 10 % of the tesserae.

Mariam's Eyes on Mesh, March 29, 2014

You can see the Tablet used to display the original model. It is indeed very useful to be able to visualize the bright colors I am trying to achieve in this piece. 

Technology rocks ! 

Mariam's Eyes, March 22

I finally got to bring the bright red out. Yesterday I laid the first line of the Red tesserae. These mark the top of Mariam's veil.

I also marked the rims of her eyes with black granite, and added to the sand on the side. 

Once you have a few uninterrupted lines of one color it becomes easier to work simultaneously on several areas of the mosaic, because you can use this line to glue other tesserae against it. 

Mariam's Eyes. March 18

In the winter, glue may take 36 hours to set. In a dry day of summer. it may take 2 hours.

You have to wait until the glue that holds a tessera to its support is set before you can glue another one beside it. UNLESS, something else already holds that tessera... Which could be either an other tessera, or a whole line of them...

DUH !

It sounds stupid but it is not. If, for example, you have one stable row of tesserae solidly glued to its support, you can use it to hold several parallel rows of tessera. This then allows you to work faster.

So at the beginning of a project, I lay long lines of tessera, each line of the same color and I let them dry up. Then I use these original rows as bases to build up wider area. As I have built several lines, I can simultaneously work on several areas of my mosaic and progress faster.

This why I always begin with the outer contour of a project. 

 

As per today Mariam's eyes is 2 to 3 % complete.

A long row of black granite is now separating the face from the veils. It does not look black but grey because you only see the unpolished back of the stone. (The shiny black face is glued to the support)

I also started the sanded area on the side. Please remember that one is the mirror image of the other.  Mariam has the sand to her Right and Mariam's sister has it to her Left...

This sanded area is made of 3 different stones : Gold Travertine, Beige Travertine and Crema Marble.  

 

 

After 15 hours of work, 5 different materials are involved on the bench: 

Black Granite, 

Green slate, 

Golden Travertine, 

Beige Travertine,

Crema Marble

Many more will follow ! 

 

First tesserae laid...

This week end I laid the first tesserae on both Mariam, and her sister's eyes.

The inside edge is of gold travertine, the outside one of a beautiful green slate I found last week at the local Habitat for Humanity store !

Originally I had planned the outer edge of black granite, but I changed my mind, I believe the green slate and gold travertine together will be gorgeous.

Although it barely can be seen here, I have been using long strips of stones on the regular Mariam's Eyes. However, because of what I am trying to do with Mariam's Sister Eyes, I only can use small tesserae.

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