Workshop with the Institute of Mosaic Art
The Institute of Mosaic Art is the oldest mosaic institution in the United States, and they're just a few blocks away from us in Berkeley, California. We've picked up supplies from their store before, like tiles for the chessboard, and while there, we saw that they had some concrete projects going on, too. ShapeCrete is a great material for them to start working with, so we invited them over to our ShapeCrete studio-lab. Because they were familiar with different concrete mixes, they quickly got into it and easily make some neat projects.
On the first day of the workshop we covered the basics:
- What is ShapeCrete?
- How-To Make a Clay-Like Mix
- How-To Make a Casting Mix
- How-To Add Color
- Using Form Release
- Casting and Packing demos
- and then we De-molded some projects that were made beforehand
Each participant brought some supplies to work with, and we had some experimental projects along with some of the How-To Projects that you'll find here on the website, like the
- Simple Planter
- Decorative Leaf
- Draped Planter
- Something Thin
- and filled a few chocolate molds to fill with the leftover mix
On the second day we de-molded their projects and did some quick Finishing, Staining, and Sealing demos.
Day 1:
Day 2:
It was a lot of fun having them visit and bouncing new ideas around with them. We're looking forward to seeing how they incorporate ShapeCrete into the Institute of Mosaic Art's curriculum, and also how it'll influence their mosaic projects in the future. Check out their classes if you're in the Bay Area. As they were saying, mosaics aren't just two-dimensional anymore, the trend is to put them on 3D pieces, and ShapeCrete is an ideal medium with which they can build!
Jane Russell Dec 11, 2015
Very cool. I've been looking forward to using ShapeCrete at some point in my mosaics. Looking forward to seeing what IMA does with it.