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Garden Jewelry - John's Saguaro Mosaic

Almost finished!
At last, I am sharing a sweet mosaic commission for a memorial plaque.
What a pleasure to hear from her and create this special memorial mosaic sign for her garden.

Knowing what my friend likes, I designed the mosaic with a generous amount of 'bling' in the forms of mirror and iridescent tiles.

I love adding a bit of mirror to all my mosaics, the way it catches the light day or night. Contrasting textures is also favorite method. Whether painting or mosaic, there is usually a contrast of textures, colors or both to bring focus to a subject.

Here I uses the mirror as a sort of rainbow bridge that will glitter in the sun. The iridescent red tiles are so pretty with the mirror.
Large ball chain surrounding the main subject, the banner, will turn into gold dots when grouted. The dull matt of the neutral gray tile lets the main colors, shine, and banner pop forward.

Ceramic handmade tile elements contrast nicely with the smaller tiles and save the time of hand cutting the stained glass. I love the tiles by my friend Carol Hedgedus at Handmade Tile Studio. They are so fun and I always spend more than intended when I go to her studio!

I added bright yellow hand cut stained glass flowers for more color, texture, shine and green leaves for extra color. Using the basic color wheel of red, yellow, blue, green gives it a cheerful feel.

This charming little mosaic is 6 3/4"x 16" and will go into a hand welded iron frame with a stake included for putting into the ground.
It will be put in front of a Saguaro in the garden, a memorial to cheerfully glitter and shine.

Installed photos coming soon!
















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