Mosaics with FIMO - #1

Here's how our FIMO mosaic adventure evolves. I had my FIMO mosaics cut, baked and ready-to-go, as well as a couple of second-hand frames, which I was talking about in a last post on mosaics. 

That one was thought as a pretty simple mosaic project - we've put glass nuggets evenly spaced over the frame, and FIMO colorful mosaics around to suggest flowers. I've been thinking about filling the resting space with mosaics, but after a couple of evenings watching those mosaic flowers, and playing around with different options, I didn't do this. 

It was really a no-brainer - all you need is actually to place the nuggets first, then you simply help your child to place the petals of FIMO mosaics around. That's it. We've let it dry over night, and then I put plaster around, washed, cleaned, put another coat, evened out as much as I could, washed, dried and sanded. 

It still looked unfinished, I sanded more, and painted the drawing mount, the frame boards (thrifted second-hand frame) in light old-rose shade, and also the borders of plaster - simply rubbing the paint with a sponge. It makes the flowers pop-up and stand out better.

After that I've started thinking that filling the entire surface with mosaic, carefully planning how to cover it all completely up is just not the way I want the mosaic to look like. I guess it's more fun just making some colorful statements on a surface in that technique. It's not that it's necessarily faster or easier, because afterwards you need to be more careful with putting plaster, sanding it, maybe painting/shading it. But at the end there's that fun not-really-mosaic-y piece, but rather something in mixed technique.

I love how the glass nuggets catch light, I love how the plaster looks neutral and makes the whole piece look undulating, rounded and irregular in kinda organic way. Filling it completely with mosaic pieces would possibly make it look rigid, maybe less interesting. 

Now about that project in particular - a simple ink drawing -#1, obviously not by me, then a drawing mount (cut, painted and patinated in old-rose by me) - #2, a frame with mosaic elements (made by us) - #3, then sanded and patinated by me, a name made in FIMO by my little girl - #4, and a bit patinated with acrylic color by me to soften the entire look.

That's it! I agree, that looking easy-n-simple project is quite demanding in terms of time, but think about how many fun steps (#1, #3 and #4) of working with your kid it involves - there're no fussy equipment, the techniques are simple and it just makes FUN. Go make it!