What does the evolution of one of my pieces look like? Read on to discover how a favorite piece comes to life!

I love the look of this collection! It has a stunning art-deco design of triangular and square tiles to draw the eye to its blinged-out sparkle. Then a “river runs through it” of colored sand to give the impression of a fissure opening up in the mosaic to reveal the river beneath.

This hurricane lamp began life (at least when I “adopted” it from Goodwill for $1.99) as a plain glass piece. I began by taping off — blue painter’s tape has been become my best friend — the “river”. Then I began applying the rose, lilac, silver and white tiles.

When I first started creating this type of mosaic, I quickly learned why most mosaic artists choose to work in 2D. It is much more time-consuming to work in 3D where you have to wait until a section dries before rotating the piece to do the next section. Try to do too much and tiles start sliding off. Luckily the glue I use has a long working time…if things do start sliding, I can re-position them.

As I learned years ago from tiling walls, the most important part is “setting the first course”. This means getting the first (bottom) row set. On walls as on 3D designs, the rows above will take advantage of gravity to stay in place.

However, again painter’s tape is a trusted friend, holding tiles in place when they are in danger of sliding. It looks like the piece had a fight and been bandaged up with blue band-aids!

3D pieces are also prone to rolling while you’re trying to work. My husband came up with the idea of using small bean bags to stabilize the piece…yes, I bought cornhole beanbags!

Once the tiles are set and dry, it is time to pull off the blue tape and prepare to apply the colored sparkle sand.

I spread glue evenly over the “river bed” and then pour sand, shaking it to move it around. After allowing this layer to dry, it’s time for the “waves”….applying swirls of glue and then another layer of sand. Finally a few sprinkles of silver glitter pull the piece together. A clear sealer is applied to hold everything in place and violá!

This design is particularly transferable to other bases. Don’t want a hurricane lamp? It can be a vase of just about any shape. Want a different color scheme? No problem! So if you want to own your own A River Runs Through It piece, let me know and we can get started!