Andrea Leery, age 14, of Beverly, Mass,,
When was mosaic invented?
The story of mosaic begins in the New Stone Age and comes right up to date with the sinking of a modern luxury liner. Mosaic was part of life in ancient Mesopotamia, It was used in Crete from where it spread to the mainland and reached an age of glory in Greece and Rome. The Indians of Central America knew how to make mosaic and the native peoples of New Guinea use shells and stones to make decorative mosaic work.
A mosaic can be made from simple materials such as pebbles, shells and fragments of pottery. It can be made from chipped stones, such as marble, or colored stones such as turquoise, quartz, beryl obsidian, agate and heavenly blue lapis lazuli. Modern mosaics are often made froth ceramics or enameled copper. The fragments are arranged in designs or pictures onto a smooth surface. This base may be stone, wood, brick, adobe, metal or even leather. The fragments are fixed together with glue, varnish, cement or wet clay.
Through the ages, different peoples in different places have used whatever came handy to make their mosaics. The New Stone Age people strengthened their floors by setting smooth pebbles into soft clay. This was most likely the first kind of mosaic. It was useful, though not necessarily a decoration. Much later, the Mesopotamians used mosaic work to re‑enforce their adobe dwellings. This work was also ornamental, For they used red and black stones, shaped like lozenges, and set them in circles around adobe pillars. Similar stones were used to enforce and decorate their sills and ledges.
For some reason, mosaic in Mesopotamia went out of style about 4500 years ago. But meantime the people of Crete were using smooth white pebbles to strengthen their floors. Later, they used chipped marble to make handsome mosaic floors of black and white. The Greeks and then the Romans copied the useful sort and improved upon it. They started around 4000 years ago and through the centuries their artists learned to use colored stones and embroider them into mosaic desigi;s and pictures.
The American Indians tended to use mosaic for small ornaments. They used many‑colored stones, but their favorite was turquoise. Their cementing was done with resins and plant gums onto wood or metal and sometimes leather. Some of their most gorgeous mosaic was done with gay bird feathers glued to leather.
Today mosaic is big news in the hobby world ‑ which, Andrea, is how come the Andrea Doria got into this story. The ill‑fated liner was carrying a load of cut stones for us to take up the fascinating old hobby of mosaic making, But dontt give up your plans. As we know, anybody can make mosaics From almost anything that happens to be around. You may go outdoors and gather pretty pebbles or find those old white smoothies on the beach or by the river. Or you may buy fancy ceramic pieces especially made for the Job, You can fix them onto wood or metal with any strong cement or glue, Just one thing, make sure to arrange them into an original design of your very own. That way you are sure to enjoy this wonderful hobby and the ornamental tile hot plate, tabletop, tray or flower pot will be beautiful as well as useful. Whatts more, it should last a lifetime.