The Next Step

Wow, I sent out an e-mail to let people know that I am doing this, and the response has been amazing. Thanks everyone for your interest.

So, the next step was to create, or in this case re-create the base. I have an awesome tile installer and all around handy woman working with me on this project and she took care of "truing" the enclosure. I then took exact measurements and set about drawing a pattern for the mosaic. This was no simple task. First off the project is bigger than any table I have. So, I brought in a 4 x 8 piece of plywood and screwed it to the top of a desk to make a table. The face, the horizontal hearth, and the front of the enclosure fills that. So, to connect/flow the circles onto the sides of the enclosure, I had to drape the front off the table and figure out at what point each surface connected. I had done all of this for the model so I had a better idea of where I was going, but at this scale your head and your eyes begin to play tricks on you.







Once the template is drawn it needs to be covered with plastic and a fiberglass mesh that the pieces will be glued to. The plastic is to keep the pieces from sticking to your pattern. On a large project like this it is typical to build it on mesh or paper (in reverse) so that it can be built and transported to the site for installation as opposed to building it on site.

I separated the bottom two panels from the actual front that surrounds the fireplace opening and put them on one board (so they can be moved around easily) and left the rest on the table.

I then pulled out the Karma tiles and started to figure out how I was going to put them in the different spaces. Of course I labeled each section with its appropriate color according to the model.

And then I began to cut.

First, I used black tiles to border the fireplace insert. These tiles will actually lap onto the metal fireplace and transition to the mosaic.













I decided that I would NOT lay the tile in the typical "grid" pattern. I felt that the strong "square" structure filling the circular shapes and lining up from area to area and color to color would be distracting. So, I intentionally skewed each sheet of tile differently so as to break down some of that structure.









And I cut . . .



and cut . . .



and cut . . .


for the last three days!

I am almost done with the glass tiles and will have more pictures tomorrow. Talk at you then.