Mosaic Garden Projects: Add Color to Your Garden with Tables, Fountains, Bird Baths, and More

Book Preface

My interest in mosaics grew out of my adventure with building a house. My wife, Jo, and I built our starter house out of tires, tin cans, and adobe brick in the high desert of New Mexico. We built an Earthship—a house made out of recycled materials—and learned which surfaces could stand up to the ever-changing elements of the seasons. We tiled our adobe walls (a failure), bathroom showers (very inspiring), and kitchen countertops (very practical), and soon mosaics spread to our home’s outdoor features as well. Tiles provided an ornamental and protective surface to the form underneath and, in our garden, became a colorful accent that could outlast any coat of paint.

A wealth of materials and surfaces can be covered with mosaic, and knowing the possibilities of mosaic as well as the limitations is vital to confidently making an art piece for the outdoors. I taught myself how to mosaic, learning techniques from one project to the next, and I relish the puzzlelike quality of mosaics—putting many pieces together to make a whole. I’ve been teaching mosaic for more than 12 years, and in each student I see an innate fascination with putting together shapes and color in a unique way. In this book, I provide an introduction to the tools, materials, designs, and basic methods or techniques for a variety of projects that will get you started. While there are specific techniques to laying out a mosaic, there is also room for innovation. After completing your first two or three mosaic projects, you will likely develop a style of your own.

Mosaic and garden design have similar characteristics. They are each made of an assembly of pieces laid out in a certain way. You can give 20 gardeners the same list of plants, and they will each design a garden in their own style. So, find a mosaic you would like to make and don’t worry if you change a color here or a size there—this book is just planting the seeds for your next garden creation.