Spiky, Pokey, Shardy: Shag Rug Mosaic with Margo Anton

Saturday, September 25, 2021
9:30am – 3:30pm EDT
Hands-On/Make-Along
$349 (includes LIVE Fall Artist Gathering Registration)

Non-traditional use of smalti is all the rage! Learn how to create fun colourful smalti “shag” mosaic in this hands on, full day workshop. The day begins with a comprehensive lecture and slide show on the “whys and wherefores” of smalti, followed by an examination of suitable bases, adhesives, and design possibilities for this technique. The cutting of the matchstick sized “shags”, a process that requires some finesse and precision, will be demonstrated, and practiced. Shag rug mosaic has its own laying style and andamento technique that is both fascinating and complicated. Margo will show you how to navigate the various decisions required for each section and piece. Expect lots of great tips on how to both create your piece and make it even more interesting. Class participants will receive individual attention as they work on a small smalti shag rug style mosaic. A course handout will be provided, and students will depart with the skills to make creative shag rug style mosaics on their own. As always with Margo’s workshops, students are welcome to contact her afterwards, particularly as students should not expect to finish their project in the 6 hour session. This course will particularly benefit those students of all levels who want to try working with smalti, learn to cut more precisely, or want to learn a crazy, unusual, spiky type of mosaic. Students in this workshop will be provided a supply list.

Margo Anton has been working as a professional mosaic artist and mosaic educator for 18 years creating fine art mosaics, mosaic jewelry, and teaching classes. She has exhibited her texture focused art work in her native Canada, the USA, Ireland, Italy, and France. When not creating mosaics, she shares her knowledge and love of the mosaic medium by teaching, from regular classes in Canada, to workshops in the USA and Australia, to artist residencies abroad. You can find her work at margoanton.com and mosaicaday.com.

Materials List

All students will source their own materials for this course.  (Download PDF of list)

  • wheeled glass nippers (Breda/Lepponitt brand preferred, Montolits good for some of the cutting, but not all the cutting)
  • Dap Kwikseal or Kwikseal Plus in transparent. Available at Ace Hardware or Home Depot. If you are not from the USA, please contact me to figure out an alternative if this product is not available in your country
  • a small (4” by 4” minimum/5” by 7” MAXIMUM) frame. See examples below. Maximum rise between glass and front of frame 3/8”, minimum 1/8”. (This is fairly standard with most frames, but you mainly just don’t want the frame to be flush—there needs to be a small wall to encase and support the mosaic.
  • approximately 1lb (500gr) of mixed smalti. I recommend Italian or Mexican smalti or a mix of the two. Chinese smalti is not suitable for this technique. If you already have a supply of smalti, don’t feel you need to buy more (I mean, unless you want to)! If you do not have any smalti, I recommend ordering 2 x 1/2 lb colour blends.
    Suppliers for smalti include:

  • Some sort of adhesive spreader, preferably metal or plastic
  • your favourite tweezers (I prefer thin straight pointed tweezers for this)
  • masking or blue/green tape
  • knife/boxcutter to open adhesive
  • paper towel
  • plain white paper
  • bandaids (if it’s any consolation I usually am the first to cut myself)
  • any protective eyewear you usually wear when cutting