Post #428528 by MadDogMike on Tue, Jan 13, 2009 12:24 PM

Thanks Aloha!

I love the mosaic artwork posted here by Cheeky Half and other artist but it looks like so much work! Especially cutting and shaping the pieces out of hard, brittle ceramic tile. Then I thought, why not cut the pieces to shape out of a slab of clay then fire and glaze them? But how would you fit that jigsaw puzzle back together again, you can’t number all the pieces. That’s when I came up with the idea for Faux-Zaic:

Roll out a thick slab of clay and draw your design into it. Using a clay tool, cut channels into the clay between each individual “tile” of the faux-zaic. After the clay is dried and bisque fired, glaze the tops only of the “tiles” and fire the glaze. Fill the channels with grout and you have a faux-zaic that is practically indistinguishable from a real mosaic.

I must admit that this idea was conceived in a sleep-deprived state, but what do you think? Has it already been done? Would it work? Does it undermine the value of real mosaic?