Step 1: Drying The Leaves

I press leaves between sheets of clean paper placed between two boards and
place weights on the top board. Let the leaves dry for about a week.

Step 2: Preparing the base

Cut a piece of plate glass to the size you desire. Clean with glass cleaner.
Wrap the edges in copper foil tape and burnish them well.

Cut wire to fit three sides of the base with some excess.
Apply flux to the outside edges of the base. Tack solder wire to edges.
Attach chain to excess wire, bend wire back over itself and solder to
create loop containing chain. Finish base by tinning all the copper
foil tape. Wash off flux with soap and water (or whatever cleanup method
works on the flux used) and dry base.

Step 3: Laying the Tiles

Apply silicone glue in a thin coat to the back of each leaf and place
on the face of the glass base. Gently press the leaves down with a clean
paper towel or cloth to insure good adhesion. If excessive glue spreads
out under the leaves, clean it off before it dries.

Step 4: Laying the Leaves

I like to create a frame of opaque tiles around the edge of the base
to make the piece look more finished, but this isn’t necessary.

Applying the clear glass can be done by either back-buttering each
piece of glass with glue or by spreading the glue onto small areas
and working quickly to attach the glass.

Grout as usual.

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Juanita Canzoneri is a Colorado Springs resident. She’s been honing her
skills as a mosaic artist since 2001. Previous artistic dalliances include
costume design and theater direction. Not finding satisfaction in the
flexibility of fabric or actors she made the decision to turn her hand to
glass after a home décor project opened her eyes to the ancient art of
mosaics.

Juanita is a professional member of the Society of American Mosaic Artists
(SAMA). Her artwork is on display and for sale at various locations in
Colorado and New Mexico. Not content to suffer her addiction to mosaics
alone, Juanita teaches mosaics through Bemis School of Arts in Colorado
Springs and her own studio.

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Please, see our auctions for votive kits, or our supplier, mosaictilearts.com, for a large selection
of materials. Feel free to email me with any questions.