How to transform an ugly, old wall into a striking mosaic garden feature?

I have a genuine compulsion to smash plates and cover things!!  My husband, Paul jokes that if you stand around for too long at our place you will get covered in mosaic! Mmm… that is pretty true so, an ugly wall in the garden was too hard to resist.

Transforming the wall is one of the many garden projects we have embarked on since buying our late 1950’s brick home 6 years ago. The garden and the back of the house was a mess to say the least but it had good “bones.” Paul and I love ‘sinking our teeth’ into a good project so the fact that it was neglected, run down and a bit of a fish bowl made it all the more exciting.

Over the warmer months we started by laying sandstone pavers onto the concrete slab. We did this all ourselves. Hauling 80 tonnes of sandstone from the front driveway, by wheelbarrow around to the back we laid them all down over the course of approximately 4 weeks. We got very fit and strong! Paul then rendered the brick wall.

Over the winter months I worked on the design for the mosaic deciding to go with a simple series of circles of varying sizes. In the warmth of my studio the circles could be worked on individually with the tiles being stuck onto fibreglass mesh. Eventually, I had enough circles to start playing around with their placement on the floor of my studio. Would I like them close together and consistent or more spaced out then fading out along the wall?

I opted for the latter and by October the sun was warm enough to venture outside to the wall. The circles were placed and changed several times until I was happy with the mix of colours and designs. This was quite a process in itself but I had my trusty mosaicing buddy (my cat) with me all the way.  Scrutinising my every move and making encouraging sounds of approval she was always quick to pinch my cushion to sleep on, leaving me at times sitting on the hard stone! No mercy…

The gradating blue background and black connecting lines were then applied. This was back breaking and time consuming.  Suffering for our art can make the final tile placement all the more sweet. But, there was more….we then had to grout.

Paul was quick to learn this skill. Having always looked on in horror as I toiled away grouting for hours on other mosaic projects he got into the swing of things and we slotted into a productive system. Grouting is a meditative process bringing the whole design together and highlighting and lifting the colours.

We are very happy with the result and proud of our achievement. With a glass of wine in hand or a piping hot espresso it’s the perfect place to sit, relax and contemplate the next project!

Kaye xx

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