Mosaic Garden Projects

January 5, 2015
Brody, who has been teaching mosaic in schools and art centers in Oregon for over a decade, built his first home out of tires, bricks, tin cans, and, eventually, mosaics. He writes for beginners who do not know grout from grime. Templates and tool lists are provided to make such projects as “friendly raccoon” faces and spiral stepping stones, and the reader is led through a maze of tesserae, substrates, adhesives, grouts, and the tools of the trade, such as clippers and nippers. These projects, suitable for those about to take a mosaic class or those who want a manual to refer to, are suitable for all skill levels. In summer, these pieces can provide color islands among the green of foliage. In winter, they brighten a dormant landscape. Even if your work is less ambitious than the glorious mosaics of the Byzantine empire, it will spruce up your garden with a bird feeder or a pagoda wearing a colorful mosaic layer.

Starred review from March 1, 2015
What a lovely book! Planting art in a garden is a creative finishing touch that brings colors, textures, and eye-popping vitality to the scene, especially in the drab winter months. And mosaics weather the elements beautifully; some still exist from 3000 BCE. In this superb how-to, Brody and Ashdown cover the fundamentals of a work space, tools, supplies, and materials (some available at home-building and hardware retailers), and design basics. They thoroughly explain a variety of mosaic processes and provide step-by-step instructions for 25 garden-oriented projects suitable for any budget and any level of crafterfor beginners, an address sign and a bird feeder, then on to a tulip-patterned plant box, a pagoda, and a birdbath. With richly detailed color photographs, illustrations, and reader-friendly page layouts, Mosaic Garden Projects is a pleasure, whether one leaves through it for ideas or gives it a thorough, cover-to-cover read. The back matter includes design templates for each project and a list of resources.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)