Tiny Stories:  Micro-Mosaic Jewelry in Stone and Glass with Rachel Sager

Wearable Art by Rachel Sager

Tiny Stories:  Micro-Mosaic Jewelry in Stone and Glass with Rachel Sager

Session 23: Wednesday, April 24, 2019, 8:00am – 5:00pm
Workshop: Hands-On 
All Levels
Price: $350 (Includes $55  Materials Fee)

Jump down the rabbit hole of mosaic jewelry making with Rachel Sager, The Forager Mosaicist. In this one- day workshop, you will learn many techniques that will help you to create wearable art.

Your focus will be on learning the delicate art of cutting filati, the smallest of the tesserae sizes and setting them into a pendant with precision. You will be encouraged to make choices about materials that are meaningful and communicate more than simply color and texture.  Filati is the anchoring material in creating micro-mosaic but there are so many other options out there that, when used effectively, can take your mini-composition to a deeper level. As part of your materials fee, you will have access to Rachel’s filati color library which consists of vintage rods and also her own hand-pulled originals.

As with all of Rachel’s learning environments, you will explore the power of andamento as the building block of the classical mosaic language. You will be encouraged to join the conversation about what makes a good mosaic and how to create tiny art that delivers a POP that demands attention. Through demos and plenty of hands-on individual instructions, this workshop will cover all the standard Sager teaching points, just scaled down to the size of a quarter.

In this workshop you will be supplied with one silver-plate pendant and one wood pendant, filati in a wide range of colors and sizes, smalti, geologic curiosities such as Marcellus shale needles, Red Dog, and iron ore pellets, appropriate tweezers and apoxie sculpt adhesive. You are encouraged to bring your own tiny finds from home to bring personality and meaning to your project.

Students are required to bring their own wheeled nippers.  You may also look into the bigger investment of Starrett nippers but this is by no means necessary. The trick for micro work is to have nippers whose wheels come very close together.

You are also free to bring additional bezels if you work fast and think you might finish more than two pieces in the full day. If necessary, also bring glasses for close work.

Rachel Sager, The Forager Mosaicist, works on the cutting edge of the contemporary mosaic fine art movement. Her innovative work has been represented in cities throughout the U.S. and internationally and has been awarded multiple bests of show in juried exhibitions. Her Marcellus Shale Series stands as a true Pittsburgh success story and her work is collected with passion by private clients and corporations all over the world. Rachel’s commitment to the classical language of mosaic paired with her intuitive andamento style has shaped a strong voice in the mosaic world. She brings these classical techniques home to the here and now of the present American mosaic movement. Rachel proudly hails from the foothills of Appalachia and passionately preserves her storytelling, hillbilly roots as she weaves the colorful tales of family, nature, self-reliance, humor, and the legacy of coal through the lens of mosaic. Whether she is digging into the earth of her native Pennsylvania, traveling the world as a teacher and speaker, or working as the pioneer of The Ruins Project, her mission to build the line continues to inspire new generations of mosaicists.  RachelSagerMosaics.com

Professional Development Seminars

Broadening the Understanding of the Business of Art.  Providing professional artists with best practices and tips to transition from non-art related field to an art business.

Artistic & Technical Development Workshops

Increasing an understanding of general art concepts in relation to a mosaic artwork. Increasing the technical skill of the mosaic artist through the exploration of materials, techniques, and tools.