We all like reminders of our precious holiday breaks. One of the best memories you take with you, is strolling along a sandy beach looking at shells and pebbles, turning them over and picking up driftwood. So, making a mosaic from these typical items seems to be an innovative idea.
It may be just that you return from your holiday with them as a reminder of that lovely break you had, no matter what the weather was like.
Using pebbles for mosaics is an interesting idea, being not only easy to make, but they are very effective and quite popular.
How you assemble them is another thing! Thought needs to be given to the design and subject of your picture. Creating this type of work you really need to have an abstract look. Bear in mind the colours chosen for your pebbles will make or break your mosaic.
If, like me, you are inspired by the seas, here itself you need to choose your colours accordingly. So you would require some sand coloured for the shore, and whites and different greys to a sort of a maroon colour.
The darker colours will be right at the top of your picture and moving downwards greys to white finishing with sand for your shore at the foot of your work.
So what is the damage? What will I need? Quite a list I am afraid, but it will be worth it! matt acrylic varnish, a deep picture frame, panel pins, whitewood primer, blue emulsion, white paper, medium grade sandpaper, a decorators brush, some half inch MDF and some PVA adhesive glue.
Added to the above you will need some driftwood and some gravel and pebbles. These extra items can be put to good use. At all times you need to keep your picture image in your mind before you now begin to arrange your treasures, driftwood and pebbles into sizes and colours.
Eliminate anything you do not require for your design and, if you have a few bits of gravel to hand, this is good for filling in any gaps.
Now remove the back of your frame plus the glass and the mat. Rub down the frame with sandpaper, then paint the frame with white primer both inside and out and let it dry.
Once this is dry take out your blue emulsion and paint your frame. Let this dry, then you can rub this down with sandpaper so that you have glints of your white primer coming through, in what I call, a distressed look. It would be better then to apply an acrylic matt varnish to the frame to seal it.
Put your white paper on to the back board of the frame and proceed to draw round it. So we have an area to work on for your design. Place your driftwood and pebbles on this, working out your design as you go.
The back of your picture frame needs covering with MDF, cut to the size of it. You then need to place your backing board on to the centre of it to get your work area for your mosaic and simply draw round it.
The tricky job now is moving your mosaic to the MDF. Do this carefully. You need to put a splodge of PVA glue on each pebble or bit of driftwood before you position it on the MDF.
You have to think about the pebbles colours as you form lines with them. You can alter these fairly easily, but it needs to be quite a tight fit. So, now everything has been glued down. Just do a final check that it is really tight fitting.
Maybe now you will find you need to fill in a few spaces. Don't bother with small ones, but bigger ones you can use a fine gravel on. Any other driftwood can then be glued into place. You will now need panel pins to pin the frame into position. Start at the back and go through your board to your frame.
It may be just that you return from your holiday with them as a reminder of that lovely break you had, no matter what the weather was like.
Using pebbles for mosaics is an interesting idea, being not only easy to make, but they are very effective and quite popular.
How you assemble them is another thing! Thought needs to be given to the design and subject of your picture. Creating this type of work you really need to have an abstract look. Bear in mind the colours chosen for your pebbles will make or break your mosaic.
If, like me, you are inspired by the seas, here itself you need to choose your colours accordingly. So you would require some sand coloured for the shore, and whites and different greys to a sort of a maroon colour.
The darker colours will be right at the top of your picture and moving downwards greys to white finishing with sand for your shore at the foot of your work.
So what is the damage? What will I need? Quite a list I am afraid, but it will be worth it! matt acrylic varnish, a deep picture frame, panel pins, whitewood primer, blue emulsion, white paper, medium grade sandpaper, a decorators brush, some half inch MDF and some PVA adhesive glue.
Added to the above you will need some driftwood and some gravel and pebbles. These extra items can be put to good use. At all times you need to keep your picture image in your mind before you now begin to arrange your treasures, driftwood and pebbles into sizes and colours.
Eliminate anything you do not require for your design and, if you have a few bits of gravel to hand, this is good for filling in any gaps.
Now remove the back of your frame plus the glass and the mat. Rub down the frame with sandpaper, then paint the frame with white primer both inside and out and let it dry.
Once this is dry take out your blue emulsion and paint your frame. Let this dry, then you can rub this down with sandpaper so that you have glints of your white primer coming through, in what I call, a distressed look. It would be better then to apply an acrylic matt varnish to the frame to seal it.
Put your white paper on to the back board of the frame and proceed to draw round it. So we have an area to work on for your design. Place your driftwood and pebbles on this, working out your design as you go.
The back of your picture frame needs covering with MDF, cut to the size of it. You then need to place your backing board on to the centre of it to get your work area for your mosaic and simply draw round it.
The tricky job now is moving your mosaic to the MDF. Do this carefully. You need to put a splodge of PVA glue on each pebble or bit of driftwood before you position it on the MDF.
You have to think about the pebbles colours as you form lines with them. You can alter these fairly easily, but it needs to be quite a tight fit. So, now everything has been glued down. Just do a final check that it is really tight fitting.
Maybe now you will find you need to fill in a few spaces. Don't bother with small ones, but bigger ones you can use a fine gravel on. Any other driftwood can then be glued into place. You will now need panel pins to pin the frame into position. Start at the back and go through your board to your frame.
About the Author:
If you liked this guide by Anna Meenaghan then you can find a great lot more at her internet based interactive art community website. There you can discover anything related to art ranging from realism to abstract paintings, as well as interviews with artists etc.
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