My First Beaded Mosaic

Once I decided I wanted to create mosaics using just beads I was a little overwhelmed. Not because I didn't like the idea or didn't think I could do it, but because of the choice and selection of beads that are now available. In addition, this was not going to be like making a mosaic using stained glass or tile. I couldn't cut the beads, so I had to work very carefully to ensure the beads would fit in the right place, of course I discovered this by making one huge mistake!I

In the 80's I took a couple of vacations in Greece and loved the white churches with cobalt blue domes. The way they shone in the bright sunlight was so beautiful and that vision has always been with me. I decided I would like to make a mosaic of the sea, the distant hills and place a domed church in the foreground. I looked at all my photos and came up with a design I created from several pictures. I selected my substrate and using three colors of blue sponged the entire base and then transferred the drawing onto it.

Then I ran out to buy my beads. I found some really lovely rectangular beads in shades of brown, gold, green and blue that I thought would work perfectly for the land mass. I also selected some cobalt blue beads for the domed roof and left it at that. I wasn't sure which bead I would use for the white buildings or patio and thought I could deal with that later, and that's where everything started to go wrong, although I just didn't know it yet!

I was so keen to start, the beads I had chosen for the hills were perfect and that part of the mosaic was completed very quickly and I was incredibly pleased with how it looked. In mosaics the artist is always trying to convey movement and texture and these beads did just that! The next thing I completed was the dome, the blue beads I selected were perfect! I loved my Greek picture. And that's when I hit a BIG snag. I went out looking for beads for the building and the patio area and couldn't find anything I thought would work properly. Some beads were just too big and I hadn't planned for that, the smaller ones worked, but the space I had left for them was too small, so I couldn't fit them in. I debated trying to cut the beads, but that didn't work. I went out and bought small pearls, and started to glue them in place, but hated the way it looked. I tried adding white and pearl small rectangular beads to part of the church and it looked terrible. I couldn't figure out how to fix the mosaic without removing everything and starting over.

The mosaic sat on my table for many months gathering dust! I occasionally looked at it, looked at beads in the stores and online but found nothing that resolved my problem. I was learning the hard way that when you work with beads, you have to select the beads first, then put the drawing on your board into a position where all the beads will fit!

Eventually I decided I had to remove the domed roof and the walls of the church I had already covered with beads. I sat at my work table with a tiny hammer and chisel chipping everything but the land off. (At least I knew the glue worked well!) Then I cleaned all the excess glue off the board, repainted the base and started over. I bought white mother of pearl square beads for the walls of my church and measured carefully to ensure that they would fit exactly into the space. I added some land into the foreground and after finding some lovely blue/green stone chips added in a couple of trees. The picture truly was a labor of love, I learned a lot about making beaded mosaics and also how to correct the errors I made. The finished work is really nice, and I am very happy with it.