Studio Brief 1 - Mosaic

Studio Brief 1 - Design Practise, Professional Practise - Secret 7 

Development - Mosaic 

I decided to develop the concept for the 3rd thumbnail of my initial ideas. I wanted to create a physical mosaic as I felt this would be the best delivery method creating a realistic effect that could later be photographed and used as a digital image to be placed on my album sleeve. I started by visiting the ceramics department within the college to acquire more information on how I would physically produce this piece. With a basic knowledge of how to assemble the mosaic I then contacted local tile companies to see if I could source and free or discounted tiles that were broken to use for my mosaic. I contacted Fired Earth so sold boxes of broken tiles for a discounted price of £5.00 per box. I collected these tiles the same day in order to create the mosaic as quickly and efficiently as possible as the brief was only 1 week long. 

Following this I booked to work in the ceramics the next day during my studio development time, this worked well as it allowed me the majority of the day to focus on creating my mosaic. I started by drawing the eye image on tracing paper before transferring it as a template to the wood I would be assembling my mosaic on. 

With my template in place I could then began to arrange my mosaic. For this I broke individual tiles into small pieces and began to arrange then within each section of the eye, I started from the pupil and decided to work out as this seemed the most logical. I started by using a combination of blues and greens for the coloured section of the eye however after discussing this with other students working in the ceramics department we decided it made the piece too abstract whereas a working with tonal blues would make the image more identifiable as an eye, I left one green tile within the eye to contrast the blue and add diversity to the colour scheme. I placed a small amount of grout underneath each tile to secure it into place which worked well in creating the initial hold for the mosaic. 

I left this initial partially grouted mosaic to dry overnight so that the individual tiles were secure and did not move easily. Following this the next day I continued with the mosaic by grouting over the top of the tiles to fill in the gaps in-between creating the iconic mosaic effect. I decided to use two variations of grout with brilliant white grout surrounding the image I then added sand to the grout to change the colour, I feel this worked well as it complemented the sandy tones of the background tiles and created a contrast between the imagery of the eye and the background. 

I waited for the grout to fully dry over the the course of the day before using a damp cloth to remove the excess grout from each individual tile. This took longer than anticipated but created some good results as seen below. 

Having seen the finished outcome I like the quality and design of the piece however feel that it would not be an appropriate resolution to the brief. I feel that photography would not do the mosaic justice as a large part of it is its texture, using a range of different tiles that all shine differently under varying amounts of light.  I feel as though I was to enthusiastic and rushed into creating a mosaic before assessing whether it was the strongest concept.  I feel that the colours would flatten with photography and the eye would be difficult to determine as the background is of a similar colour however this could not have been prevented as I only had limited materials.  I think that I should have performed an informal critique before deciding to make the mosaic. I am disappointed that I will not be developing this concept further having invested a day and half to the manufacture of the mosaic however I feel it is important to find the most successful outcome to the brief and I do not feel this would satisfy the brief and stand out for the secret 7 competion. Following this I will perform an informal critique to identify the strongest concepts of which I will then develop to present in my interim critique.