Class Description

In this 2 day class you will learn how to cut stone with a hammer and hardie. After preparing a substrate and applying the hanging hardware, you create a design and lay down your small cut stone pieces with adhesive mortar.  Glass, rust and other materials can be added for effective colour and texture.

Porcelain tiles can be used for the background and after grouting, the pigmented wax is applied and fused. However, a non mosaic background with encaustic paint can look just as good and even better in some cases.  Additional options can be applied to the wax background to enhance the stone in the mosaic.

Encaustic medium is made from beeswax and damar resin.  It is applied molten and hardens almost immediately when applied to the tiles or substrate. Applications of colour are added and frequent fusing with a heat gun is used to bond each layer.  This techniques provides a dynamic background for the mosaics as the colours blend.

No previous experience is required and creating a design is simple enough as the mosaic comes together with one line laid down after the other, sometimes with intentional spaces.  Cheryl will guide you as each stone laid determines the flow as you intuitively allow the work to evolve.