The mosaic gull

The idea of the gull was to add another feature, in keeping with the original design, that would extend the space on the wall occupied by the mural.

I made it using the direct method, sketching a rough outline on a piece of the same exterior grade wood as for mermaid. I traced the sketch on to paper and did a layout of pieces needed. The materials were white swimming pool tiles, red, black and grey glass tiles and small pieces of mirror. I cut them to fit the design using tile nippers.

I cut out the outline of the gull using a jigsaw. Then I transferred the cut mosaic pieces (tesserae) to the wood, sticking them down with blobs of the same exterior grade adhesive that I used for the mermaid. When this was dry I grouted the gull. Notice in the picture below that one central piece has been left out, to allow for drilling and screwing to the wall. I replaced this once the gull was in situ.

You can see the gull and the mermaid on the introduction page