Helpful Hint: Using Square Tiles on a Round Table Mosaic

In doing mosaic tables over the years, whether they be small side tables or a kitchen dining table for two or three, my main objective was to maintain as much of the integrity of the vintage tiles I was using. Of course color coordination and pattern were important, and I made sure the design I came up with 'felt right,' but i wanted to keep as many of the old tiles whole as possible, even when the table base was round.

These are all tables that I have made in the past. In each case working with these antique wrought iron bases, the top of the frame would have a lip that I cut plywood for, enough to sit just inside that lip, inserting screws from below which where drilled into either the metal lip or the crisscross metal supports.

On the plywood I drew in pencil crisscrossing diameter lines and mark the center where they crossed; this is my starting point. I then worked my way outward until I could no longer fit a whole tile into the remaining space, and either cut that tile down to have as close to a whole tile as possible, or just take a hammer (and protective eye wear) and break up the tiles into smaller pieces in order to arrange them into the remaining spaces.

When the finished design is grouted (I'll do a tutorial on tiling down the road), what I always enjoy seeing is that when you are able to join the corners of four tiles, what you immediately notice is that the intended design extends way beyond the four sides of each tile -- the design continues beyond, and I find that fascinating.

La Maison Picassiette, A True Inspiration

I will be mentioning this house repeatedly in the future, because La Maison Picassiette is an incredible example of creative expression reaching and surpassing the point of obsession. Located in Chartres (yes, the cathedral), about 50 miles southwest of Paris, this very quaint house was owned by built in the 1930s by Raymond Isadore for himself and his new wife Adrienne who happened to be a widow 10 years older than him and with 3 children. In the later part of the decade he began decorating the house with mosaics of broken pottery, glass & china. Over the next 20 years he would leave not one spot of the house uncovered with his art: tables, chairs, beds, the stove, the walls, everything. For me it seems clear that this was some extremely strong religious calling, since there are crosses and religious imagery everywhere, and the garden includes an amazing depiction of the town of Chartres, complete with the cathedral at the top of the hill. Amazing.
*Source: The Joy of Shards site.

Tropical Mosaic Table

This is a mosaic table in which I was allowed to create the design myself. I have a fondness for those clients in the past that have such a faith in one's talents that they just say "create something, anything..." All the information I was given was that she loved tropical flowers, and the colors red and yellow. No blue, no birds, and basically that was it. We found the extremely heavy antique iron base from an antique dealer, the top of which was four feet across, the perfect size for the breakfast nook in her house. With her color suggestions in mind, I chose four well known flowers - hibiscus, bird of paradise, plumeria, and anthurium - and arranged them 'in the round' so that no matter where one sat at the table, he or she would still have a flower pointing in their direction. Combined with various greeneries, I thought it came out quite well, don't you? I'll cover various aspects of my mosaic process as well as techniques I learned along the way in future posts.

david k.'s background in brief...

we'll go further back later...i'm from hawaii, love my family. after graduating kamehameha in 1986, i went to uc santa barbara and studied art and art history, from early on felt a lot of creative juices flowing through me. great art history program there, i learned a lot about art from many different times and places, and i'm thankful to have gotten that educational foundation. after graduating i lived in santa barbara and had a great time. nothing too wild and crazy, only just starting to think about who i was as a person. i had visited l.a. several times, my uncle and his wife lived here, and in 1991 they invited me to move and work with them in the beginnings of their antique business. there are certain element i'd rather not spend too much time reflecting on, such as waking up super early to work the weekend flea markets; that combined with clients coming to their house to look at items was how we did it in the beginning. at least i can say with a chuckle that i did it, waking up in the pitch of night to head to the rose bowl is no picnic.

it was at this time that i discovered sewing. the unusual element to my aunt & uncle's business was that she was from france and not only knew a lot about french/european antiques, but also about antique textiles and fabrics. little did i know then but it would open up a whole new world to me. i had mentioned somehow to my grandmother back on maui that i would be interested in learning how to sew, and it was at this same time that she bought me my first singer machine. i had no idea at the time how i was going to learn other than jumping right into it. that i was learning about and being exposed to antique fabrics at the same time created the perfect opportunity to learn how to sew. it started with very simple pillows working with scraps of 1950s fabrics (which i love!), and led to, well, you'll see... we're talking 1991, so wow this will be all sorts of crazy "flashbacking" over the last 17 years. this will i think, also be a good starting point to 'put myself out there.' as we are building our business i'm thinking that doing a blog at the same time will share what i have designed and made over the years. i hope for it to gain attention across the web and connect other creative minded people to us, and to what we have to offer.

my next several posts will revolve around my picasa portfolio of my designs. these are separated into six major categories:

1. pillows & bedding
2. window treatments
3. upholstery
4. mosaic & tilework
5. lampshades
6. bags

you can preview the portfolio here by clicking each category, and i will also go over each one in the following posts. keep in mind that this is a major sampling of what i have both designed and made, from all the sewing and tiling and upholstering etc. lovers of antique textiles will hopefully find some of this interesting, and i'll talk about several other very special projects as well, including an amazing shellwork commission!