The rise of Yoga Mosaics | Kitsap Week

By LESLIE KELLY

Kitsap Week

It was an old, leaky birdbath in her yard that led Louise Martin to the art of mosaic.

And now, four years later, shes created garden stepping stones and benches, mirrors, and fine art made with Italian smalti tile.

I wanted to fix my birdbath, Martin said. So I asked my friend what I should do. She lent me her materials and her tools, everything I needed. I had so much fun making that old birdbath beautiful that I decided mosaic was for me.

For that project, a cement fountain-shaped birdbath, Martin used colorful stained glass and created an orange and blue design. It wasnt long before shed finished off a trio of cement stepping stones with bright yellow sunflowers, purple lilies and red roses. From there, she topped cement garden benches which her husband Clyde Muirheid poured with stained glass flowers and fish.

In the stepping stones, there are about 100 pieces of glass in each design. Theres more than 250 pieces of glass on each bench.

Each piece of glass she uses she hand cuts and arranges on the base. She then hand grouts and seals the work. Quite often, shell add gemstones or glass beads to make each of her works unique.

Her most recent project is a round patio table topped with 3,009 pieces of stained glass in the colors of the seven chakras.

There are blue and green starbursts, with a bright yellow sun pattern in the middle of the table top.

Link:
The rise of Yoga Mosaics | Kitsap Week