New Mosaics [Hardcover]

Lark Books (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 31, 1999

This volume starts with simple mosaic projects using traditional materials before moving into creative ways using traditional and other materials, such as metal, buttons or recycled waste. The book includes step-by-step instructions and all the necessary patterns and templates. Projects include: fancy plant pots and vases, decorated table tops, ornamental mirrors, white-on-white lampshade, earth-cast birdbath and jewllery.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Exploring a number of unexpected mosaic materials and surfaces, The New Mosaics utilizes basic mosaic-making principles to create soft furnishings, journal covers, jewelry, and more; even the more common choices such as tabletops, frames, boxes, and vases often take a less traditional and sometimes downright funky approach. Besides stone, glass, tile, and metal, materials include fabric, paper, buttons, eggshells, cork, seashells, cardboard, magnets, and found objects. A business-card holder constructed from an old camera housing becomes a travelogue of souvenir plates accented with costume jewelry; a game table sprouts a multitude of playing pieces and small toys; hundreds of bottlecaps unite to form a tramp art wall hanging; tiny rhinestones and faux pearls adorn a delicate toiletry set. A gallery of creations by various artists provides further proof that mosaics can be taken to unusual and often interesting extremes: a staircase, a shower tiled to look like a library, clothing, buildings, and even cars sport a vast array of mosaic motifs, and then of course there's South Dakota's famous Corn Palace, entirely covered with elaborate mosaics of the state's history.

The instructions and illustrations are generally adequate, and in most cases the photographs themselves serve as enough of a guideline to assemble the piece. A few templates are included, but crafters less sure of their artistic abilities may be frustrated at the lack of templates for several of the projects with more intricate designs. Better proofreading would have helped, too: directions for a detailed set of faux-jade jewelry made of polymer clay refer to "the patterns on page 000," and no such patterns appear anywhere in the book. --Amy Handy

About the Author

New York, NY

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 128 pages
• Publisher: Sterling (December 31, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579901387
• ISBN-13: 978-1579901387
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 8.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,442,888 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

48 of 48 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars It's exactly what the title says!, July 28, 2000

By 

Leslie F. Miller "dogfaceboy" (Baltimore, Maryland USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: New Mosaics (Hardcover)

If you're looking to learn the ins and outs of mosaic making, if you're looking to glue shards of tesserae to boards and lamps and things, this isn't the book for you.

If, on the other hand, you simply love the "look" of mosaics, this book will teach you how to recreate it using beads, bottle caps, dice, and everything else listed in the subtitle. Though many of the projects are attractive (like the "Luxurious Journal," made of velvet squares), many are also a little tacky (like a clock made of beans).

A few of the projects involve creating mosaics with actual glass and tile tesserae, but these are generally quickies-for beginners. And although the gallery in the back of the book contains a few terrific pieces, almost all of them are in dozens of other books on mosaic.

It's a nice book for your mosaics library, but it's less than essential.

4 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars 40 Projects to Make With Glass, Metal, Paper, Beans, Buttons, June 23, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: New Mosaics (Hardcover)

This book show you that you can use many materials to do a mosaic. If you want differents ideas, this is the right book.