Creative Mosaics Blog x 5

Before I start my next big mosaic project, a water/beach scene, I decided to blog about my creative process. If you are a creative person already a lot of these tips on creativity might sound obvious to you. I am trying to advise people who say to me, “I can’t draw a straight line.” Well, neither can I but I find that the crooked, meandering and asymmetrical lines are more interesting. The imperfect, happy accident, soulful burst of creativity is what I am aiming for but it takes me a lot of coffee, donuts, brain work and observation of what is around me.

Materials & Tools: cinderblocks (preferably free), stained glass scraps, marble gems, vitreous glass tile, found objects, latex paint, adhesive, sanded grout, wheeled nippers

You can create a beautiful flower/herb garden planter out of cinderblocks! I created the planter in photo at left with 6 small cinderblocks excavated from my yard. Since these blocks were relatively shallow I stacked them two high to make a deeper area for plants and soil.

The design I created is a meandering olive branch pattern that wraps around the whole container to unify the six parts. The white glass used for the background is from an unattractive amber and white 1970s-era glass lampshade. It most likely hung over a pool table in a finished basement with orange or green shag carpet… lovely!