This heart mosaic is a birthday present for our daughter. It began as a wish for her to follow her heart. As it progressed, I realized that you can't give a gift with such a huge caveat. Instead, this mosaic heart is simply given with our love. Happy 16th birthday Cece!
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| Finished Italian smalti mosaic of an anatomical heart |
When I began work on this mosaic I started by reading through the heart section of my husband's anatomy books. I'm a pretty literal person and wanted to make sure that the heart was mostly anatomically correct and my color choices didn't stray too far from how the heart works. I spent quite a bit of time thinking and planning the project, finally painting it in watercolors to get comfortable with the shading and color gradients.
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| The watercolor inspired by my reading |
This was my first time working with Wedi board as a substrate. Wedi board has a foam core and is much lighter than the wood. It was a little difficult to sketch on but very easy to apply thinset to. It was amazing to work with all of the colors of Orsoni Italian smalti and larger rotti. I tried to really pay attention to the flow and size of each of the pieces, changing up the shape when it came to the background.
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| My progress on the anatomical heart mosaic |
It's finished and I hope she loves it and I hope she knows how much we love her. Happy Birthday Cece!
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| Happy Birthday Cece! |
