Glass Art Techniques

We’ll be going over two glass art techniques that are used to construct the projects you see on our website. When it comes to glass art design and construction, we’ve developed techniques to make the process simpler and easier for you to learn. They are the direct and indirect (or reverse) method.

Direct Method

Each tessera is positioned and secured directly to the base/support structure with an adhesive, allowed to set, and then grouted. This method is used for free- form work, when mosaic materials are not consistent in size, shape, and thickness, or when the base structure us a three-dimensional object. The project can be viewed as it develops and changed to use other mosaic pieces for play of light and texture.

Indirect (or reverse) Method

It provides a smoother. more level surface. The tesserae are arranged face down and adhered to a sheet of clear adhesive-backed vinyl that is positioned over a reversed copy of the pattern. A  thin layer of adhesive is applied to the base/support structure and the sheet of vinyl with the attached tesserae is then turned over and applied to the adhesive. Once the adhesive has set, the vinyl is removed and the mosaic is ready for grouting.

A variation of the indirect method is also used for garden and patio stone projects where tesserae-covered vinyl is placed at the bottom of a mood or form and topped with cement. The mosaic is revealed once the cement has hardened and the garden stone is released from the mould.

I hope you’ve found this post useful and have learned a little bit about the direct and indirect (or reverse) method, of mosaic construction.

If you have any questions or need help with your project, please feel free to contact us! We hope to see you soon!