YSCP - Mosaic Mural Update

It was an exciting Friday when I finally had the YSCP mural transported to State College.

To my surprise it was about 55-60 Lbs. Using Wediboard (super-light and super-strong) to build the mosaic was the best idea. 

The mural now is waiting at the Frame Factory shop and getting a frame added on. We decided to go with a beautiful black metal satin frame almost like a box around it. This will protect it from any spray of rain that the wind might blow in.

Now I hope it goes on the wall without any issues. 

My construction friends Ray Sekula and CJ Daley are so nice. They did not charge me anything for this service. They were delighted to be my partners in doing this work. I learned a lot from them in the past because they are master tile layers. So they think they have a share in my mosaic making!Thank you.

Mural in State College 

Mural in the frame shop. 

Frank Ayata from YSCP joined to welcome us, and I appreciate that. 

The mural will be installed on the wall at the entrance of the YSCP School on 16th of March, 2016, and unveiled on culture day on 18th of March, 2016.

If you see any of the students who helped to put this together as part of our most creative Mosaic Tribe, or if you see Mrs Ayayta (in the picture below) who helped the children to make it, please give them a high five. Students made the flags that you see in the picture and I kept the rows and tiles pretty much as they made it. I did have to tweak the shapes before I installed it on the mural to make sure that they are straight.  

It was important that I do not mess up the flag colors with the usual grout being gray. So I decided to use colored grouts. As you can see I used red, green turquoise, black and white grouts to keep the colors sharp. The blue corners around the circle are showing the grey grout with blue tiles and that was to show the beauty of the mosaic. The children (little Young Scholars) in the picture represent people that are not reflected in the flags.  I hope I captured the school's international spirit.  

You can see where we started in September (left picture), we where we ended (the right picture).

It has been my pleasure working with everyone at this wonderful school, they are all like a one big family. Anju Jolly

 

Hello Friends,

Have been working on mural for YSCP for last several months. This is a 21 Square feet mural. A group of 3rd-6th graders (They called themselves the Mosaic Tribe ;) ) made the flags of their choice which you see it on the border in the main picture.

I have experienced many hurdles in this process. One of them was to color or not to color the grout.
As I created the flags it was important to maintain the authenticity of the flag colors and and also keep the patterns as close the students' work. So I decided to color the grout for red, orange, green, turquoise grey and white. This added more work but I am pleased with it.

This week I am adding finishing touches to the mural. Although I used a high quality Laticrete indoor-outdoor grout my mosaic mentoring group strongly suggests that I should seal the grout. So I am off to sealing it this weekend, I just want to be sure it will not discolor the color of the grout now or later. So I am being cautious.

Finally the piece will be taken to the frame shop to be framed and then unveiled on March 18th on the culture day