Creative Mosaics

Amazon.com Price: $9.99 (as of 03/12/2019 06:55 PST- Details)

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Description

Master the age-old art form of mosaics quickly, easily, and the usage of inexpensive materials. Turn into bizarre objects into beautiful, original “objets d’art” the usage of pieces of glass, cork and wood, ceramics, metal, wax, plastic, and paper. Breathtaking full-color photographs showcase more than three dozen spectacular projects that even beginners can create. Make a dazzling vase adorned with glass gems, a make-up box accented with bits of painted wood, a serving tray inlayed with broken tiles, a garden table decorated with various pebbles, a colorful mosaic candle, a whimsical tray made with an old vinyl record, and much more. Quite a lot of how-to help is included and no previous technical skills are necessary. Reinvent any item the usage of mosaic pieces and your imagination! 160 pages (all in color), 7 3/4 x 10 1/4.

Featuring all kinds of materials, Creative Mosaics offers ideas for adorning lamps, candles, candle holders, frames, vases, tables, trays, and boxes with glass, cork, wood, ceramic pieces, natural items, metal, wax, plastic, and paper. Many of the designs are moderately attractive, though nothing is particularly outstanding. Most of the approximately 40 projects are rather easy, but only about half have instructions; the rest are offered simply as photos of finished items with descriptive captions to “allow you to progress your artistic capacities.” And therein lies the real problem: originally published in Italian, the book’s very stilted translation was obviously never edited in English (as if further proof were needed, there’s even a note asking the editor to convert a price in lire to a dollar equivalent). Thus the text is fraught with awkward phrases that at times make deciphering the directions a bit annoying, though not terribly difficult. The biggest frustration to American readers will likely be the dimensions given entirely in metrics without conversions to inches, so some projects will require calculations before getting started. Also, quite a lot of items call for a protective coat of “flatting,” which is not defined in any of the explanations of materials; in spite of everything, hidden away in the final step of one project, comes the revelation that flatting is “paint for ships,” so it appears marine varnish is called for. More careful editorial attention would greatly have improved this book. –Amy Handy

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