Sometimes Things Go Wrong!
Sometimes things don’t go according to plan. There are things that happen when making a mosaic that we often don’t talk about. Times where parts don’t look right and need to be changed, often resulting in a pile of mess like in the photo below.
These are the bits of my artwork that don’t usually see the light of day. But I wanted to share them, not only because I actually quite like the photograph of all the mess, but also because they are part of the process.
The process usually goes something like this… I get absorbed in working on a part of my mosaic. When I come to the end of the section I take a step back and look at the piece from a distance. I sometimes take a photograph as well as this helps me see things better.
Most of the time I’m happy with how things are looking but sometimes I’m not convinced.
A conversation in my head then goes something like this... ‘I’ve just spent all that time working on this and I don’t want to change it now. It’s probably ok, I’m probably being picky and no-one else will notice/see what I see’. And then: ‘But I’ve seen it now, I know it’s not right and if I don’t change it, it will annoy me forever!’
Mosaic making is time consuming which also means correcting mistakes is time consuming. Mosaics are also designed to be solid and long lasting, which means once the adhesive has set, it becomes much harder to change things. The decision about whether to remove a section usually has to be made within a few hours (depending on the adhesive!)
Sometimes I phone my mum (partly because mums know everything, but also because mine also makes mosaics) and ask her opinion, hoping that if she says it looks ok I won’t need to do the extra work to change things.
But as she has pointed out on more than one occasion, I already know what I need to do. Whatever she says, I’ll still do what I was going to do anyway and make the change. It does help to talk to someone rather than to myself though!
I have to admit, I have never regretted removing a section of mosaic and redoing it. At the time there might be some choice words muttered, but I am always glad that I have done it.
So here’s some tips for you
Take regular breaks to look at your work from a different viewpoint. Taking photos also helps you see things differently.
Know that making mistakes is part of the process and it happens to everyone.
If you aren’t happy with something, remove it while you can. It’s easier to redo it later if you change your mind, than try and change it once the adhesive has set.
And in case you are interested, here’s the before and after photo of one of the mosaics I changed. The one that resulted in the photo at the start of this post.
In the first image, there is a line of iridescent smalti in the middle of the mosaic, which I added to compliment the two other lines of the same material. However, I thought it just looked like a worm! It wasn’t grounded or connected to any of the other lines and was just floating in the middle of the piece. The second image is the finished work, with the ‘worm' removed, and I’m much happier with it!
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