How to make mosaic art on a budget
by Juanita Canzoneri
I have been making mosaic art since 2001 and over the years I’ve played with a variety of materials and media. For several of those years I was selling my work in an artists’ co-op and I learned several lessons on how price points will affect some buyers decisions. I came up with several ways to keep my prices at a point the market would bear while still making pieces that would draw customers to my wall display.
Make the most of your expensive materials
Using a more expensive material to create a focal piece in your design is a good way to draw the eye into a piece.
Enhance boring/cheap materials
I love to use clear tempered glass over a paint or collage background. It brings an air of “how did you do this” into my work.
Build your art supply stash
Over the years I’ve invested in many different materials and have worked to figure out how to incorporate them into my mosaic work. The list includes:
Alcohol inks
Colored pencil
Acrylic paint (if you get the chance to take a workshop with a Golden instructor, do it!)
Resin
Pearl-Ex pigments
Gold leafing
Polymer clay
Fused glass
Pigmented wax (Rub & Buff)
Found objects
Lava rock
Beads
Crochet and other fiber work
Paint markers
Don’t be afraid to learn new skills outside your main medium
I have taken classes in drawing, Viking weaving, clay tile making, and faux paint treatments as well as a workshop on Golden paints. These, and many, many how-to videos have sparked my imagination on ideas I’ve carried over into my mosaic work. It’s my theory that any class you take feeds ultimately into your main artistic medium.
Decide how you want to price your work (if you plan to sell it)
To sell my mosaic artwork I price it by the square inch or the square foot, depending upon the size. During the 2008 economic recession where I saw my art sales dwindling, I created a series of larger works that had smaller areas of mosaic work within them and priced them by the size of the mosaic work. This allowed me to have a wider selection of works in the lower price range. I also came up with a range of small, incidental work that I priced at $20.
Find your artistic voice
Through the years I have struggled, at times, to “find my style.” I’ve always gone to places my imagination pulled me where my artwork is concerned, yet while my work doesn’t all look “the same” it has my mark on it.