Friday, April 1, 2011

Flat Fish Extravaganza Mosaic!

This is my latest sculpture-for-mosaic. 
I began this project indoors back in November.
  I created the armature out of styrofoam that I then covered in 
fiberglass mesh dredged through a cement slurry. Its a messy process.

After the fiberglass mesh set, I covered the whole sculpture 
with cement - molding and shaping as I went. 
I had envisioned a flat-shaped fish jumping 
out of the water.


As the sculpting progressed I knew I needed 
more room to work on him. I also knew I needed to move him closer 
to where he would be finally displayed - because as I added 
Thinset, glass and grout, he would become heavier and heavier. 
So I moved him out to my front porch and worked on him there 
when the weather permitted. It being winter, however, 
I had to stop for many days at a time. 
Slowly, though, he took shape! 
So here he is finished from many angles.


I cut each piece by hand and laid them specifically in relation 
to each other - to make the colors blend in the viewers eye.



The lay pattern on the back is my first attempt at the Opus Vermiculatum style of mosaic. 





 The underside of his tail is a swirling freeform mosaic style.

 Flat Fish Extravaganza
Finished April 1, 2011
30" tall x 29" wide x 34" long




3 comments:

Mybinki said...

This is one of the most amazing mosaic sculptures I have ever seen. Congratulations on the completion of another fantastic project.

Unknown said...

This is just unbelievable! WOOT! I'm in love with your work. This would be fabulous by my pool HINT! Huge new fan!

Unknown said...

I'm just starting attempts at 3 dimensional mosaic sculptures and am trying to determine the best way to build armatures and mounting techniques to be able to hang the mosaics on the wall.

I had been using plywood covered with cement board, with hanging wires on the plywood but would like to find better substrates for outdoors that I can easily hang without having to use wood with hangers.
Do you have any suggestions for substrates and means to hang them other than wood with eye bolts?

For this amazing fish, were you able to find a single piece of Styrofoam large enough for the fish or did you glue several pieces together before carving the form?