Pique Assiette Mosaics – Summerhouse Art

New Mosaic Class hours now available!

Posted on October 18, 2018April 21, 2019 by Helen

Student Jude, with her lovely mosaic mirror, summerhouseart.com

Usually, when I offer my Fall/Winter classes, I’ve had to limit my available hours to weekday mornings. I’m happy to announce that due to some changes I’m able to offer more choices. So you can now book a weekly class either in the morning from 10am-12:30, or an afternoon from 1:30-4pm or an evening class from 6:30-9pm. Just call or email to see if the time and week day you’d like is available, and we’ll go from there.

The class would be 2.5 hours per week over 4 weeks. Lots of time, lots of one on one instruction and a chance to create a project of your own design, something unique to you. Have a look at my Mosaic Class page and also the FAQ page for all the details.

Student Jane, cleaning grout on her mosaic, summerhouseart.com

Student Irina, cleaning grout, summerhouseart.com — Student Irina cleaning grout for a lovely finished mirror

A Little Gif of a Small Mosaic Pot

Posted on June 3, 2018 by Helen

Another pot that hasn’t been seen on the blog before. The thing with pots is that you can’t see all the sides at once, so we thought, why not show it as a gif so it turns?

This one is set on a fancy little stand I found in Chinatown here in Victoria which just happened to fit it perfectly and add to it’s look. It’s made from a selection of thrift store dishes. It’s a small pot, just 5.5 inches by 7 inches or approximately 14 cm by 17.75cm.

Small mosaic pot on stand by Helen Bushell, summerhouseart.com

Bobbi’s Romantic Floral Mosaic Table

Posted on February 11, 2018February 11, 2018 by Helen

Mosaic Student Bobbi's table, summerhouseart.com

In my mosaic classes I teach Pique Assiette Mosaic, which is a type of mosaic made from broken dishes. This romantic floral table is the creation of my latest mosaic student, Bobbi. Most of the dishes were found in the “Shopping Class” where we poke through thrift shops looking for good dishes to break. By the second class we had a good start on a design. But before the 3^rd Class, Bobbi had discovered while out shopping, a lovely little plate with a floral design that just begged to be featured as a focal point in the center of the table. The only problem was, she needed something to outline that focal point to set it off. A rummage through my stash of dish fragments presented a perfect dish, a pale green dish with embossed flowers, that I’d forgotten I even had! Continue reading “Bobbi’s Romantic Floral Mosaic Table” →

A Foray into Fabric Design

Posted on September 11, 2017September 11, 2017 by Helen

A while ago I created a mosaic from broken dishes, in a few of my favourite colours and patterns, all the pieces were Triangles.

Mosaic in Broken Dishes, Helen Bushell, summerhouseart.com

Now we are a couple who do NOT just sit around doing only things we already know how to do. Oh no! We sit around in front of youtube and watch tutorials on things like creating seamless patterns for fabric design. And eventually we’ll manage to make a lot of designs, because it’s kind of fun. Zazzle, which is a great Print on Demand company, happen to have fabric by the yard in Print on Demand.

So, after much work and learning, we created a seamless pattern based on the above mosaic. We are rather pleased with the result. We called it Triangle Treat. We’re offering it by the yard, in Combed Cotton, and you can also order Swatches and Fat Quarters of it for the Quilters.

Triangle Treat fabric, close up, Zazzle, Summerhouse Art

BTW, it’s really worth it to check out Zazzle and get on their email list because they are constantly having sales. Check out a little sample of what we have on Zazzle in our Zazzle shop page, where you can click directly to the shop itself.

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Two Mosaic Studies Created With Broken Dishes

Posted on January 28, 2017January 28, 2017 by Helen

Studies are like sketches or perhaps experiments. I quite like the idea of doing studies, just to see where an idea will lead, curious to see what it will look like when done.

Just working on small 6 inch by 6 inch pieces of wood as a base for the mosaic studies, I went through my many many containers of dish bits and put together a small set of colors and textures that appealed to me. The first piece was made using bits of dishes that I’d cut into only rectangular or squarish bits. The pieces aren’t exact or tidy rectangles or squares like you’d get with normal mosaics, but the uneven, variances that you get when cutting up dishes which I think adds to the surface interest.

I arranged them in an intuitive order, balancing the colors and textures as I went.

Mosaic in Broken Dishes, Helen Bushell, summerhouseart.com

Then, looking at my work table, I realized I had quite a few triangular pieces scattered about and decided that, as my next study, I would use only triangular bits of the same dishes. An entirely different composition but still fun to look at.

Mosaic in Broken Dishes, Helen Bushell, summerhouseart.com

Looking at them now, I’m quite enjoying them and seeing many possibilities as well. We’ve become interested in surface design in the last few years and Will and I have been having a bit of fun teaching ourselves how to make repeat patterns. And we’ve also been applying our work to all sorts of other products from prints to pillows on our various online Print on Demand shops like Society 6 and Red Bubble. Looking at these studies, I can see some fabric design ideas, prints and other possibilities. It’s a whole new avenue to explore. Watch this space to see what we make with these…..much more to come.

(BTW, if you’d like to make a comment, just click on the title. It’ll take you to comments….and we do appreciate comments )

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The Lucky Finds of a Dish and a Fish

Posted on August 22, 2016August 22, 2016 by Helen

Mosaic Student Dianne's mosaic dish, summerhouseart.com

This very beautiful mosaic is the work of my Student Dianne. As the title of this post suggests, it’s the result of a couple of lucky finds; a lovely pewter dish and a dish sporting a fish.

In my mosaic classes, I teach a type of mosaic called Pique Assiette, which is making mosaics with broken dishes. On the first class, after I’ve totally overwhelmed someone ( in a good way of course ) with all the mosaic possibilities, given them a very brief taste of how dishes break, and what to look for, we set off to Thrift stores to shop. And that’s when the fun begins. First, it’s all about looking for dishes and colors that spark something for you. Then second, it’s all about luck and finding something that makes it all happen. Dianne was very lucky. On the shopping class she found the very unusual pewter dish. The design on the edge was fantastic and we both agreed that the dish itself would make a great place for a mosaic. Then, during the week, she was lucky again and snapped up a dish with a crackle design surrounding a fish.

The first class was a time of trying out all sorts of ideas. From creating a totally abstract design, without the fish and then finding a way to incorporate the fish at the edge of the plate and working all the other colors and textures around it.

A lot of designing is just about trying things out. Laying out pieces and looking and wondering. You have to follow your instinct. And sometimes, I’ve even taken up pieces I’ve glued down and started over. When Dianne returned the following week, the first thing she said was that she was glad I’d told her about removing pieces and starting over even after gluing them down. Because she’d done a lot of that. I could totally understand her progress since it is much like mine. I’m slow and thoughtful and I just keep rearranging until it “feels” right. So it was great to have a student who gets that idea. And as you can see, all that rearranging and listening to whether it “felt” right had a wonderful result.

The last week, we grouted and again were lucky as I’d just tested a grout called silver and it was perfect to pull together the silver of the dish with the mosaic itself. Here it is ungrouted.

Mosaic Student Dianne's mosaic dish, ungrouted, summerhouseart.com

And here is a pretty happy Dianne with her lovely mosaic…

Mosaic Student Dianne with the finished mosaic dish, summerhouseart.com

I happen to know that Dianne is already planning another mosaic and I can’t wait to see what she does next.

(BTW if you’d like to comment, and we do appreciate comments, please just click on the title to bring up the post with a spot for comments at the bottom.)

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A New Direction: Creating Small Mosaic Studies

Posted on August 11, 2016August 11, 2016 by Helen

Floral mosaic study, Helen Bushell, summerhouseart.com

Lately all you hear is declutter, declutter, throw out, lighten your load, etc, ad nauseam. Recently, I even saw a book that claimed your health would improve by throwing things out. It’s the latest trend.

Well, I happen to be one of those people who hardly ever throws things away. You may think you are throwing something out but it has to go somewhere, like the garbage dump, if it can’t be recycled. As they say, there really is no “away”. We do, however, recycle a lot. In fact, we hardly ever have any garbage for the garbage people to pick up.

I make Pique Assiette mosaics, which means, creating mosaic surfaces from broken dishes. So, essentially, I’ve been making art from all those dishes that others got rid of. I suppose I really should be thankful for all those people who donated all that “clutter” to thrift stores.

Over the years of making mosaics, I’ve accumulated quite a lot of leftover bits and pieces that didn’t make it into the latest mosaic. It’s not clutter. It’s all sorted by color and pattern and stored in recycled salad containers. As I say, there is a lot of it. I just can’t throw it all out. I always have a feeling that someday I might need a certain color or pattern. Of course, whenever I can, my students benefit from my stash of broken bits should they need some color or maybe a floral pattern to augment their pieces.

Which brings me to this latest little mosaic at the top of the post. Looking at all my lovely stash of bits and pieces, I’ve decided to start creating small mosaics. This one is just 6 inches by 6 inches. For the time being I’m planning to make little studies, putting together all those small and precious bits I’ve been saving. It’ll be a nice change from the larger projects I’ve done before. Who knows where it will end? Or how many I’ll make or if maybe I’ll have a show of small mosaics somewhere or maybe post them on our Etsy shop.

This little mosaic, with it’s floral design, will be a gift for a niece’s wedding. Something small and I hope, precious, that she can enjoy in her new home.

Floral mosaic study, Helen Bushell, summerhouseart.com

(BTW if you’d like to comment, and we do appreciate comments, please just click on the title to bring up the post with a spot for comments at the bottom.)

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An Experiment in Too Many Stripes

Posted on August 1, 2016August 1, 2016 by Helen

Stripe mosaic, by Helen Bushell, summerhouseart.com

I do have sort of a weakness for the black and white stripes. I like to add just touch of stripes here and there, in a lot of artworks. They just jazz up a pattern or surface. We make a type of mosaic called Pique Assiette, made with broken dishes. So you can imagine how excited I got on spying a whole stack of dishes with black and white stripes in the thrift store. But, believe it or not, I actually left them behind, on the shelf, when on a dish buying trip with mosaic students.

In the end, of course, I just couldn’t resist. I did get exceptionally lucky when I went back on the seniors discount day and found them still there and promptly snapped them up and also got 30% off! Always nice to get a discount, you know.

So now I had this huge stash of black and white stripes to work with. It occurred to me that instead of using them for just an accent here and there, that I could go mad and also have some fun experimenting with using way too many black and white stripes, just to see what would happen…. especially with a few other dishes to take it right over the top! That’s me, just an artistic rebel, ha, ha.

I’d started with just the stripes, the black and white with a “river” of colorful stripes and it just needed something. Which was when I noticed I did just happen to have a few of these bits of cups with black and white bulls eye on them.

Choice of dishes for mosaic, summerhouseart.com

Finally, almost done with the tedious breaking, gluing and fitting. You’ll have to excuse the glue everywhere. There’s just no way to avoid that messy gluey stage.

mosaic, pre grout, by Helen Bushell, summerhouseart.com

And now a new decision to make. What color grout? And here Will came to the rescue, by Photoshopping a few choices.

Grout color test, summerhouseart.com

Since I was already over the top, I did consider really colorful grout. Then black too, but I decided that the uneven black paired with the very straight black on the dishes just wouldn’t work. In the end, I came to the conclusion that the pale grey set off all the pieces and that I really couldn’t/shouldn’t push the composition any more than I already had.

Here it is again, Finished!

Stripe mosaic, by Helen Bushell, summerhouseart.com

And a side view too.

Striped mosaic, by Helen Bushell, summerhouseart.com

I’m quite happy with it, oddly. I know it’s over the top, too much pattern, eye popping, on the verge of looking like camouflage, but it has a nice sense of fun to it. The size, by the way, is 8 in x 8 in. Still haven’t come up with a title….

Oh, Will just came up with a perfect title…..”One, Two, Many”

(BTW if you’d like to comment, and we do like comments, please just click on the title to bring up the post with a spot for comments at the bottom.)

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Two Very Different and Unique Floral Mosaic Table Tops

Posted on June 17, 2016June 19, 2016 by Helen

What I like about my mosaic classes is the way it’s never boring for me, as a teacher. Unlike many instructors, I’m never constantly teaching the exact same project, over and over again. With my classes, each student gets to pick their own project and I just basically facilitate them in their plans. However, that said, students sometimes do pick the same type of thing to create, but I find that they never ever do the that same thing in quite the same way!

For instance, quite a few students do pick a table top as their first project, since it’s a nice sized first project. But, I have to add that each one ends up creating something totally unique and very different. And that’s what keeps it all interesting. For instance, Gail and Jane, two students who took classes separately this spring both decided to make mosaic table tops.

Gail had actually come to her first class with just one thing on her mind, which was to reconstitute a treasured plate, that had been accidentally broken. But I knew that she would have lots of time after doing that and I urged her to do something more in the classes, and create another project. After our shopping class where she’d found lots of floral themed dishes, she decided to create a table top. Hers is a lovely floral arrangement that incorporated whole plates surrounded by a mixture of colors and textures. Turned out great didn’t it?

Student Gail's Mosiac Table top summerhouseart.com

And yes, we did come up with a scheme to resurrect her other treasured plate too. Luckily, I found another wooden plate to glue it on to and she surrounded the original plate with a complimentary mosaic border. She was happy to be able to display it again. A success, we think.

Student Gail's scenic plate with mosaic border, summerhouseart.com

Now Jane, my last student, also ended up deciding to do a floral table top. But, here, the similarity ends. Her design is unique to her own vision and very different again. Jane came to the 2nd class after the shopping class with a plan of action. She’d sketched out a garden picture, complete with flowers springing up from grass and dirt, all against the backdrop of a blue sky. It all came together beautifully. Each flower, a distinct set of floral dishes and the sky is a mixture of dishes in all sorts of textures but all various shades of blue. The whole arrangement worked brilliantly! So there we have it, two floral Pique Assiette table tops but each totally and beautifully unique.

Student Jane's mosaic table top, summerhouseart.com

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Another Student Enjoying Mosaics

Posted on March 15, 2016 by Helen

Summerhouseart Student Tanya's mosaic mirror

The first class in my mosaic classes is all about possibilities. First, I like to show students as many possibilities of what they can do with broken dishes as I can. I give them a tour of all my mosaics, then I show them lots of books of mosaics and for about 10 minutes I give them a taste of actually breaking dishes in my studio with my two wheel cutters. And then …. we go Shopping at Thrift stores for dishes to break! Everyone’s favourite part!

Some students are overwhelmed with all the possibilities and some just get even more excited to start. Tanya was the latter. In fact, between the 1st class and the 2nd one, she made a couple of small mirrors on her own at home! For her project she chose to make a pretty good sized mirror, which was going to be bit of work. But Tanya, who has her own studio/gallery in the Yukon where she makes jewelry, is quite used to getting down to work. And that she did.

As you many have gathered, I teach Pique Assiette mosiacs, which is a type of mosaics made with broken dishes and I always encourage students, when we go shopping, to look for color and patterns they’re really attracted to. I’ve always found that you tend to actually use those dishes, and may ignore the ones that you don’t have quite the affinity for. Tanya chose a lot of blue dishes, in a variety of patterns and I threw in a little donation of one of my hoarded abstract plates to use too.

She had the mirror ready for grouting for the last class. This is us cleaning up the grout and glue from each piece of mosaic. And yes, that is an old toothbrush I’m using, works really well for this task.

Summerhouseart Student Tanya's mosaic mirror

We’d chosen a grout that would set off every piece. A little comparison here to show the finishing touch the grout makes.

Summerhouseart Student Tanya's mosaic mirror

One of the things Tanya wanted was to create a mirror that could be hung either horizontally or vertically as a diamond. And for that we devised a pretty balanced design so that it would look great either way.

Summerhouseart Student Tanya's mosaic mirror

Tanya had a far reaching plan too. She wanted to offer more than jewelry in her gallery. When she posted her little mirrors and her finished class mirror on her Facebook, she was already getting orders for more! And no wonder! I think she’s a natural at mosaic.

She’ll be heading back to the Yukon in the spring and has been busy finding more dishes to take back to her studio there to create more mosaics. She creates some lovely jewelry too at her gallery/studio Motherlode Jewellery.