Paper Provides Backup for Artist

Samalah Gray has been piecing together her mosaic artworks part time over the last few years, and a recent find on Waste Exchange has helped. It’s not the obvious choice – tiles - but paper. 

For those of us unfamiliar with the mosaic making process, paper seems like an odd resource to require but, as Samalah explains, it is a key element of the reverse mosaic method that she favours.

Samalah uses a water soluble paste to stick the glass tiles right-side down onto the paper (with glass tiles she can see their colour right through, and therefore see the pattern she is making upside-down). The base (e.g. a tabletop or sheet of plywood) is covered with a thick layer of adhesive which is then carefully spread out to ensure that it is even. The completed mosaic will be laid on that surface and rolled flat. Once the adhesive has hardened, the paper is wet until it comes off.

The result is a right-side up, totally flat mosaic, because any differences in the thicknesses of the tiles is counteracted by how far each one is pushed into the adhesive. Another benefit of the reverse method is that you can work on the mosaic remotely, creating it in one place and then installing it elsewhere, in its entirety, when it is finished.

The brown paper that Samalah found via Waste Exchange was just what she needed, as it is thicker and stronger than white, more porous paper. This is important as other paper can rip when the mosaic is turned over to be mounted. “Often it is difficult to get the correct type of paper” Samalah says. “Fibrous, thick paper does not work well, but the paper obtained through Waste Exchange has proved excellent!”

Samalah intends to mount her mosaic on plywood and then install it in her home when it is complete.