Wednesday February 22, 2006 - Mosaic Mania

So main concrete Monday - Friday activities since being what a friend from Australia called a "house-husband" include getting "C" up and rolling in the morning, laundry, dishes, yoga, reading, blogging, exploring, dinner, mosaicing… In case any of you are wondering we have been bucking local tradition by successfully flushing our toilet paper our so "emptying the used toilet paper can from the bathroom" is not on the honeydo list :^) What started out as a once a week 3 hour class in mosaics has turned into come in whenever you want to the workshop. I finished up project #1 (a small 7" x 12" mosaiced towel holder sort of thing) and have now started on a table top. I'll post pictures of project #2 when I head back in.

Since becoming known in Limassol as "Pau_, the DaVinci of Mosaics" (yeah right), my teacher has noticed my inherent skill and has included me in a mosaic installation project at a chapel at a large resort (currently under major renovations) in the area. Actually, I'm just an extra set of hands interested in learning how to mosaic which equals free happy labor for her. She (Orea) is a Cypriot in her late late 30's and is very nice, very artistic, and very patient - all making for a great teacher. When Orea first mentioned how old she was, I was ready with the "you don't look a day over 40" until I heard 38 and I didn't have a reply- my brain wasn't quick enough with the "you don't look a day over 35" response. I think the years of smoking like a Cypriot might have added a few years. She along with her one new employee (Mike - 28 from the UK) picked me up about 8AM and we worked until 1PM installing the mosaic. Orea had already designed and adhered the mosaic to netting at her workshop so all we had to do was plaster it into the floor (a little harder than it looks). I'm heading into the workshop tomorrow to help with the mosaicing of the border that will be installed in the chapel as well.

This is the hotel where the "chapel" (for tourists). It is located right next to the pool so I'm picturing untanned wet Brits sprawled on the cold marble floors trying to escape the heat. The chapel is the small curved structure behind the truck.









The empty floor.

Mortaring the mosaic to the floor.

Plastering the face of the mosaic (filling in the spaces between the pieces) and cleaning up the edges.

The finished mosaic.