Embedded Files
Object: Sun & Moon Bench Commission
Materials: Vitreous Glass Tesserae with Pewter Grout on a Concrete Bench
Dimensions: 3 Foot (37"x14")
Method: Indirect (applied to contact tape in reverse and then transferred to the bench)
This was a birthday present from Carlos to his wife Jolanda. They were very clear about the subject matter, because of the symbolism it holds for their family. The Sun and Moon refer to the parents as a unit. The 3 stars represent the number of children within the family but also has had special meaning for Jolanda throughout her life.
Close-ups & Process
Close-ups & Process
01 Detail
02 Detail
03 Start of work: color swatches worked out with grout color, quantity of tiles cut and initial sheet of contact paper placed on reverse drawing.
04 Almost done with the body of the work. The tape made it a simpler process to make color adjustments to get the gradation just as I wanted. The border is always a more organic process, I prefer to do it last so I can pickup and accent the colors in the rest of the piece.
05 Trimmed and ready to be cut into manageable sections. As you may notice, I altered the background to flow over the border so the center emblem would read better. Intermingling the border with the rays proved too noodle-ey and unclear.
06 Contact paper trimmed into 3 pieces and concrete bench top prepped.
07 Since I had a fair amount of very small pieces, this meant careful embedding of the tiles in the mortar. It was important not to have the mortar quish between the tiles since the grout color was of a very different shade of grey.
08 All is ready to apply the grout. One of my favorite parts is to make a nice smooth clean edge on the outer edges. The devil is in the details you know.
09 Once I get the surface nice and clean, I shroud it in plastic for a nice slow cure. When I see it again, the mortar will have softened in color and look like my test swatches.
10 Detail
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