Broken for you
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Breaking up is so NOT very hard to do!
If you are considering attending my weeklong workshop in January, we will have a smashing wall!
I will also set up the big wet-saw! Imagine making the mosaic of your dreams, what will you do?
Have you read? Broken for You - author Stephanie Kallos - a good read for mosaic artists
Thanks to a very close friend and mosaic addict/artist Janet Hutchinson, I am up to page 143!
Janet said "I think you will enjoy this novel, it mentions china a lot!".
So I took a couple of hours "break" (I have been working very hard and felt like resting my mosaic bones). With a cooling breeze, curling through our Queenslander bay windows, allowing itself, uninvited (but appreciated) to caress me as I flopped on the comfy bed....I sank myself into the book. Himself brought in a lovely milk coffee and the dunking Anzac biscuits. Further reading of this novel will encourage a glass of champagne and chocolate for sure. I also like the mention of coffee in the book and the feelings the book provokes in me. I guess I get it.
I never blinked an eye when the Lady of the House smashed vintage china. I actually got up on my bed and jumped with joy. I have been there and done that.
....2 hours later - I have more work to do now, so I decided reluctantly to stop page 143 but also felt an overwhelming desire to share this book here in my blog as it has mosaic meaning....Yes, the story line is rather lovely and stirring, but the China smashing going on, from page 132 really appealed to me! Many years ago, OzMosaics studio and a gathered group of mosaic addicts (including my mother) were featured on Brisbane tv. I will dig out the video clip if I can my my recording and share it in due course.
It was great fun, we had a trampoline set up, and we all jumped on the trampoline and smashed plates against an mosaic arched wall in OzMosaics studio courtyard. The cameraman had a great time, the reporter had a jump or two and it was hilarious! The story line started "behind the tall walls surrounding Studio OzMosaics" something special is happening.....and it was and still is!
Anyway, Janet the book really is fabulous as it reinforces what I tell my students when they worry about breaking china, whether cheap, junk, precious, heirloom or whatever. How long has some of it sat, dusting away in a cabinet....the grumps it has had to hear from it's many dusters over the years???!
Why is a chipped piece of china less precious than perfection? Same as human beings. The cracks, bumps, lumps, bruises along the way build the person/character and more. A bit of polish, even cracked up things can gleam and be special.
So, it's definitely fine to store the precious china and pass it down, over the years but it's awesome if it's used. If it isn't and it doesn't mean a thing to the next generation (not all, you know what I mean) then why not break it up and put it into a mosaic wall or mosaic arwork. Give it a new beginning that still has a history and a purpose.
I tell my students in mosaioc class that I listed to the china, the cups, bowls etc. I almost bless them and their makers and I hear the whispers, the tea towel fights, the conversations, secrets, tears, stories of joy and misery - I appreciate then break.
I take photos first, sometimes write the story...bless it and appreciate it........that's enough for now, the rest is for mosaic class and people who care......and a special workshop coming up in 2013. Just know, people who scoff and ridicule pique assiette or mosaic using china are simply not getting it! It's the way you lovingly and gently shape the pieces, the somethings incredible smashing thrill or intricate nips...it's a mosaic ceremony that binds the mosaic maker's heart to the mosaic art.
...and using mixed media mosaics, china, smalti, mirror and more....there is no end to the mosaic joy, creativity and unique art works that emerge. Join us and experience more than meets the eye, with mosaics.
I have a double garage stacked with china and bric-a-brac, lots spilling out to the garden and elsewhere. Each calls to be included in a mosaic mural and will do so in the Great wall of mOZ 2013. I also have china cabinets with precious china, valuable china....and it will find it's place in due course...in a mosaic or across a series of mosaics for family and friends.
Everything has it's season.
Thanks Janet! I will read on and know that my mosaic addict mates and students "will understand" and those who don't, that's their loss. xxxx Share your feelings, share your mosaic stories, share your adventures in mosaic "china".
Lock up your china! You never know when a mosaic artist is nearby! LOL! I hear the cups a-rattling...
PS My studio secret STASH room is off limits! No-one goes in there but the wizard of mOZ, the Mosaic Bug and sometimes Polly from the Trolley.
PPS - I rarely am invited to wash up or dry the dishes!!! I wonder why? I know what to do with broken glasses too, do you?
