Mosaic Craft kits

Creating Mosaics – a Thousands of Years Old Tradition Rediscovered

When you hear for the first time you hear of doing handicraft with tesserae, you are probably quick to imagine the typical patterns composed of countless, tiny stones. Mosaics have been accompanying the long history of humanity for several thousand years. Small stones were already used in antiquity. Back then this method of art creation was used as a way of painting. In early history, the multi-colored disks made from glass, wood, paper, stone or textiles were used to create decorative patterns – nowadays, doing handicraft with tesserae is a popular hobby. The arts and crafts appreciate this method of design, too. The word mosaic, by the way, is derived from the Latin term musaicum opus, that means “dedicated to the work of the muses”.

There are plentiful possibilities to create elaborate and decorative new designs with the help of a mosaic and their composed tesserae. For example, you can decorate lanterns and glasses with mosaics or give used furniture a new look. Starting from old cabinets to bland flower pots, there are multitudinous objects and furniture to try out the technique of creating mosaics.

The basics of mosaic design – what do you need and how do you do it?

The material – what you will definitely need

In consideration of the many possibilities of design while working with tesserae, there are also many things to keep in mind. Here the advantage of the mosaic set comes into play – it is already complete with all the materials you will need, so you don’t have to buy them additionally. A mosaic set is therefore especially convenient for starters who have to learn the technique first and are not sure yet if creating mosaics will be a worthwhile hobby.
Basically, you will need the following utensils to compose patterns and images with tesserae:

• Beaker
• Stirring staff
• Joint compound
• Contact adhesive
• Tesserae

Are there differences between the materials?

With the mosaic set you already have everything that you’ll need to do handicraft. Using the mosaic set, the differences between the materials are depending on their usage. There are various producers of the necessary joint compound or contact adhesive, so in choosing the right kind of adhesive it is good to know which kind of substrate it will be used for. The joint compound serves the purpose to turn the numerous tesserae into one, smooth surface. There are all kinds of stone styles you can use, sorted by their composition, color and shape. You can use glass, acrylic, wood, stone or textiles – your imagination knows no bounds.

Doing handicraft with a mosaic set – how does it work?

Doing handicraft with a mosaic set is a quite simple, but unbelievably creative hobby. Even with basic knowledge, it is possible to develop pretty decorations and patterns. At the beginning, it is important to think about which object is to be decorated with a mosaic. There are various, different tesserae on the market, this enables you to use rounded tesserae for round objects, like a lantern. Rather even, angled tesserae are used for smooth surfaces with a straight margin. Those who do handicraft with tesserae usually already own the suitable stones in a set and do not need to worry about their shape and composition.

For practical usage, the tesserae are applied at the margin to achieve a smooth edge and to avoid unsightly ridges. You then work your way down or inside. The difficulty while doing handicraft with tesserae or a mosaic set, especially for starters, lies in the problem that patterns can only be recognized as accomplished or failed when the mosaic is nearly done. With a bit of practice this is not too much of a problem and doing handicraft with tesserae turns out to be a creative pastime for pupils, resulting in a lot of joy.

Composing the colorful tesserae is a lot of fun, especially for pupils. Teachers can use the mosaic set to do handicraft in class and thereby teach motives of antiquity, like a fish, a temple, the helmet of a gladiator and all other kinds of motives.

Mosaic sets – suitable for whom and which advantages and disadvantages are there?

Working with small stones which create patterns when composed and thereby lead to beautiful mosaics, is suitable for all ages: From the young pupils up to the elder generation, this creative pastime brings joy to all kinds of people. Thanks to the manifold ways of doing handicraft with a mosaic set, there are just as many interesting fields of applications in school. Dealing with tesserae, which can be composed to new patterns, trains the children’s senses for colors and shapes. Additionally, the created patterns can be put into a historical context.

Although doing handiwork with readily compiled mosaic sets can be delightful, there is a catch:

Tesserae should never be available to children without supervision, as they could easily be swallowed. A careful treatment of the materials should go without question, to avoid accidents. Mosaics are not flexible, often only the end result will show if the work was successful or not.

As there are disadvantages, there also exist many advantages of doing handicraft with a mosaic set:

• Children can learn how to handle colors and shapes
• It encourages a creative streak as well as concentration
• Doing handicraft with tesserae is suitable for all ages
• A mosaic is robust and durable
• The finished mosaics are water-resistant
• There is hardly any abrasion
• There are many templates and mosaic sets

Doing handicraft with tesserae turns into inimitable fun that makes pupils of six years and older learn interesting facts about the antiquity in a creative and playful manner.

The sets available here are ideal for planning lessons and are not only useful as a way to start a new hobby, but also well-suited for pedagogical use at schools.

Create mosaics in class

We offer mosaic craft sets for whole classes or groups. Detailed instructions are included, in order to guarantee the success. The set consists of 20 or alternatively 25 mosaic wooden boards, ten by ten centimetres which can be filled with colourful stones. 1600 mosaic stones in all colours come with each set (you need about 30 stones per board or mosaic). Templates with a variety of twelve motives are included: A fish, flowers, an elephant... Students, however, will quickly learn, how to design their own template and transfer the motif on to the wooden mosaic board. And of course you can also order complementary stones.

Teach the art of mosiacs

The students will learn what particular form of art mosaic creation was. In antiquity, it belonged to painting technique. Artists were using and mixing coloured or differently shaped stone or glass pieces, sometimes added parts of paper or fabrics, and created geometric patterns or full images. The the term ‘mosaic’ derives from the later Latin ‘musaicum (opus)’, it was the work of dedication, of inspiration, namely of proximity to the muses.

The mosaic is a popular genus known from ancient times, the painting technique of differently coloured or shaped parts made of stone, glass, paper or fabric to yield a picture or pattern was liked all over in Antiquity. They existed as black and white geometric patterns, but soon were further developed into a highly sophisticated iconography which was as detailed as mural paintings. There are well-known late antique mosaics, especially those that can still be seen in Ravenna, Italy.

Easy art

Already from the age of six, students can learn this mosaic technique. The stones are easy to cut with scissors or pliers (all of which you can find on our store). Simply draw the template or your own design and transfer it on to the wooden board, place the tesserae stones on the board and can start to stick them on. The wood glue is included in the set. Once the colourful tesserae have dried on the wooden board, you mix the grout and apply it to the mosaic. Let it try a bit, wipe the excess grout from the stones and your mosaic is finished. You will be amazed what impressive works of art your students have achieved.