Birth of a Tapestry Mosaic

Laying out the bling. Always take a picture on your cell phone before starting. You can change your mind, but at least you have the main layout!

Starting with colored thin set. I used powdered colorant and I had to wait for moisture to really get into the thin set.

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What, you ask, was my inspiration for this one? First, I had a lot of silver and dark bronze or black bling. I had a lot of flower-like pieces, as well as tear drop shapes. The challenge was that I had square and oblong tesserae (very non-organic looking) and just as much round (more organic) bling.

So, I decided I needed to have sky, rain, clouds, and then flowers and a garden. But what about all of that rectangular bling? Ah, a building! Then I remembered from MANY years ago my visit to Central Park in New York. What was next to the park? Awesome art-deco style buildings! Thus was born, "Spring Rain, West Central Park"...a bit cool and a bit warm, all at the same time.

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Moving from bottom and left: I'm right-handed so I stayed out of my own way!

Final work but color in the thin set will darken with time.