Saimir Strati's Toothpick Mosaic

Today’s featured mosaic is another odd one by Saimir Strati. He holds the Guinness World Record for this mosaic as well. It is the largest mosaic made of toothpicks. Unlike his nail mosaic, the image used is his own, not a copy of someone else’s art. It is a horse and is called Reinless Spirit.

The mosaic took 40 days of work. To create the different colors in the mosaic, Strati used toothpicks made of different types of wood. To see pictures of Strati in the process of creating the mosaic, click here.

Strati says he was inspired by Antoni Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia, an unfinished cathedral in Barcelona, Spain. In the picture below, notice that the building looks a bit like toothpicks set at uneven heights.

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David Alvarez's Post-It Mosaic

Since we’ve been talking about mosaics and mosaics made out of weird materials, David Alvarez’s Post-It mosaics seemed like a perfect thing to write about today.

Alvarez is a 19 year old student at Wenatchee Valley College in Washington who created the mosaic for an art show. He used a photo editing program on his computer to make a picture of musician, Ray Charles look like a mosaic. He then used the picture on the screen to create his mosaic out of 2000 Post-It Notes. He had to add glue to keep the Post-It Notes attached but the bottoms still flap the way they would if they were only attached with their usual stickiness.

Go look at the slide show of David Alvarez’s Post-It mosaic. Included is a picture of the way it looked on the computer screen. It couldn’t have been easy to turn it into a Post-It mosaic!

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Saimir Strati's Nail Mosaic

Saimir Strati holds the Guinness World Record for the largest mosaic made of nails. It took his 24 days and 500,000 nails to create the mosaic shown below. It is a copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s self-portrait, drawn in red chalk on paper in 1512 (also shown below).

If you’re interested in seeing more pictures of Saimir Strati’s nail mosaic, including pictures of the artist creating the mosaic, click here.

Many people do not consider this nail mosaic art because Strati just copied someone else’s image. They think what Strati created is no better than a paint-by-numbers using nails. It must have been difficult, though, to create the shading and depth by hammering the nails in at differing heights. What do you think? Is Strati an artist or just a man with a tired arm?

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Mosaics

A mosaic is a piece of artwork created by laying many small objects side-by-side to make a large picture. Usually tile is used but, as you’ll see in articles later this week, almost anything can be used to create a mosaic.

Throughout history, mosaics have been used for decoration in homes and public places. Many things can be decorated with mosaics including floors, walls, vases, and tables. Shown below are two pictures of the ruins of mosaic floors from the ancient Roman baths. In ancient Rome, people went to the baths to socialize while they bathed. You can even see the drain in one of the pictures.

When creating a tile mosaic, the artist begins by sketching the picture he wishes to create onto the surface he plans to mosaic. Then he lays out the colored tiles so he can make sure the picture is exactly what he wants. Sometimes he has to cut pieces of tile to fit into place. When he’s happy with the picture, he glues the tiles down with a special glue made for attaching tiles. Finally, the artist fills in the cracks between tiles with grout. This is called the “direct mosaic method.” There are other ways to create mosaics but they are more complicated and this is all you’ll need to know when you make your own later in the week.

Below are some picture of a tile mosaic my parents made for their bathroom. You can see the lines of the drawing in places that haven't yet been tiled. The picture was inspired by the sink you can see in the final picture.

Finally, I wanted to show you a few more examples of mosaics. The first picture below is the floor of the Curia, the Senate building of ancient Rome, which you can still visit today. The second picture is the floor of the British Museum. The third is a floor in the Vatican Museums. As you walk through the museum, this floor comes before the Sistine Chapel where Michelangelo painted the ceiling. The last picture is the floor of a church in Rome. I’m not sure which one. I took a lot of pictures of mosaic floors, as you can tell, and I lost track of which floor belonged to which church. I think these old, mosaic floors are beautiful. What do you think?

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Make an Edible Clay Sculpture

This clay tastes like candy! And you can play with it!

Materials Needed:

1/3 cup margarine
1/3 cup light corn syrup
¼ teaspoon salt
1 pound confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract, peppermint extract, or other flavoring
Mixing Spoon
Food Coloring

In a large bowl, combine margarine, light corn syrup, salt, and flavoring. Mix well. Slowly add the confectioner’s sugar. Stir until your mixture looks like clay.

Divide the edible clay into 4 or more balls and add a few drops of food coloring to each ball. Kneed the food coloring into the clay until the color is spread evenly. Make each ball a different color.

Now you’re ready to create a masterpiece. When you’ve finished, enjoy eating your sculpture.

If you have any extra clay, place each ball into a different Ziplock bag and keep in the refrigerator until next time. After two weeks, throw away the left over clay.

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