I have been fascinated with mosaics for many years and had always wanted to learn how to do it. A couple of years ago, a visit to Fishbourne Roman Palace rekindle my dream to do this but my ambitions seemed doomed from the start when I couldn't get a mosaicing kit from the gift store there (I am sure they used to sell them somewhere). One of the ladies that worked their suggested that I look on Am
azon for kits and that is where this whole dream took shape. One of the things that really interested me was the fact that throughout history Mosaics were almost only owned by the rich and high status people of an area. You certainly wouldn't see a poor person heading home with a nice mosaic under their arm for their loved ones at home. I decided that I wanted to change this thing and make mosaics that were available to anyone, no matter your age, status of financial resources, or where you live. Functional Art is about creating pieces of mosaic art that can be used by all kinds of people throughout their day to day life. So for example the heart keyrings I make can be used by anyone over the physical and mental age of three. Give them one of these keyrings to put on their school bag. I use the same methods to mosaic as have been used since mosaicing began, although I use smaller beads to grout rather than actual grout on all the small items. As I complete more and more things the functionality of the art will include:
Coasters
Keyrings
Wind Chimes
Jewellery Boxes
Bird Feeders
Decorative Bird Houses
Candle Holders
Picture Frames
Key Hooks
House Numbers
Door Signs
Bracelets
Plant Pots
Christmas Decorations.....
Well more or less anything I can get my grubby paws on that can be mosaiced one way or another. Anything that is used in a practical way that can also be made beautiful. I eventually want to get onto restoring furniture with mosaics but I am concentrating on the small stuff to start with until the shop has a good stock base. So I hope you like what you find here, if there is a piece of work you would like creating, send me a message on here and I will let you know if I can do it, how much it will cost to make, package and posting costs and how long it will take to get ready for you bearing in mind that I will be making it alongside all the other work I am doing and there is a lot of work I am doing right now. Right now? Always lol. So order in plenty of time for when you need your Functional Art piece to be ready. If you got to the bottom of this, thanks so much for your patience! Nici and the crew at Byzantine Crafts # # #
