Broken Dishes: Mosaic Forward

At some point in our lives, dishes break. What happens next is up to us. With mosaic art in my life I am able to move forward. Now when a fancy plate, my mothers depression glass, or my favorite novelty coffee mug breaks, my sorrow is only temporary. Essentially the more beauty the dish possesses, the shorter I will morn it’s loss. It has not been destroyed. Instead, it has started it’s transition. The beauty has not left the material. It has simply changed form.

Even if you have only thought of doing mosaic, the next time a dish breaks save the pieces and consider them your inspiration. Before you know it, you will be telling your friends to save their broken dishes for you.

When a special gift from someone who is no longer with us breaks, we can use it to mosaic a frame. Placing a picture of the love one in this frame will give new life to the heirloom rather than part with the pieces.

Going through my day keeping an eye out for trash that may be my treasure brings excitement to my life. My son is always amazed by what box of my finds I ask him to bring in from the car. Any mosaic artist can stock pile material for their art this way.

I have mentioned garage sales, flea markets, and even discontinued tiles from your local flooring shop. Imagine the options that can be added when you ask people to save their broken dishes. Next time you admire the flatware at a fancy restaurant ask to speak to a manager. Let him know that if he saves the dishes that get broken he can be sure you will be back for dinner.

So, the old expression that there is no use crying over spilt milk, can be altered to there is no use crying over chipped china – so long as you are a mosaic artist or know someone who is.

- Mosaic Madness

My positive out look on broken dishes gets put to the test:

After seeing some of my mosaic art my sister expressed how fond of it she was. I wanted to make her a mosaic piece as a gift. I started with a pink vase as a base (rhyme not intentional). Although this pink would be mostly covered it would act as a theme color. The mosaic vase was to be a groutless piece. This would require lots of extra time and detail. When I gathered the tesserae that I would use I included an ample supply of tiny pieces to fill in the spaces left by the absence of grout. I put many hours of careful gluing and intense love into the vase. My sister often travels to Las Vegas to see family so I added a small model of a bright Las Vegas sign.

The piece was beautiful, one of a kind, personalized, and almost complete. And then it fell to the ground. The beautiful glittering work of art laid on the floor in several pieces. I began to cry. If it had been a priceless family heirloom I may have not been as upset. Some of the pieces were small enough that it could not be reassembled. Plus it was a vase it needed to be able to hold water. I was able to move on but still felt the loss. My son who knew the extent of the project was almost as upset as I was. However he did manage to start making plans for the pieces right away. This reminded me of moving forward. I may not know what it will become yet but I don know it will be made into something that shares the beauty of what it once was.