10. Mosaic Making — Sixty to Sixty

Although you’d never know it to look at my messy house, I like precision. Only detail-oriented people like me find it satisfying to edit, for example - to think of the most fitting word and to review for grammar and punctuation. Ditto for sewing, where attention to detail means the difference between clean seams and a clearly home-made look. So no surprise that I found mosaic-making fun and relaxing.

Suzanne, the owner of Mosaic Oasis in Arlington and teacher of the Mosaic Taster class I took with my daughter, talks about “mosaic time” and cites the therapeutic value of the art. As you snip glass and fit pieces into your design, you really do lose a sense of time. Our class ran for two-and-a-half hours, but when the scheduled end time rolled around and we hadn’t completed our mosaics, Suzanne let us stay for an extra 45 minutes.

Mosaic-making wasn’t on my list of must-do’s by 60, but I saw a Groupon for the class and thought it looked like fun. Glad I did, as it made the short list of activities to explore more deeply once my adventure quest ends.

Suzanne gave a brief intro to the history and various styles of mosaics, showed us the variety of tiles, broken ceramic pieces, and stained glass remnants we could use in our 4.5”x4.5” tiles, and talked about different kinds of designs that make sense for our first efforts. She showed us how to use the glass cutters safely, and then we got to work.

With mosaic-making, you can get creative and make an original design right from the get-go. I chose to do something kind of corny, but apropos for this project: the number 60, in the Roman style (an object in the middle, a background, and a border).

Here’s the genesis of my (clearly novice-quality) piece:

Making mosaics turns out to be satisfying in more ways than one. You can be creative without necessarily having great artistic/drawing ability - although Suzanne and many of her Mosaic Oasis students clearly have talent, from the looks of the gorgeous work displayed on the studio’s walls (check out the Mosaic Oasis galleries). You can de-stress by losing yourself in your project. And you can work and socialize at the same time. I enjoyed doing the class with my daughter and our two classmates, Grace and Lindsay, sisters who gave each other the class for Christmas.

Still, it’s not for everyone. My daughter, who finds peace in the outdoors rather than in detailed handiwork, had had enough crafting by the end of the class. Even so, she created a lovely tile:

We had to let the adhesive set for a day, so we went home with a goody bag containing grout, gloves, a popsicle stick for mixing, and instructions. We’re both happy with the way our tiles came out.

Definitely a do-again …

Mosaic Oasis, Arlington, MA - $45 for a 2 1/2 hour “taster” class (I had a Groupon so spent $35).