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THE MAKING OF THE TOPPS TILEMOSAIC TREE
by Concetta PerôtGlittering Shards Mosaics
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THE CONCEPT
The mosaic was commissioned tocelebrate 50 years of Topps Tiles plc.
The tree represents history, growth
and the relationship between thecentre and branches. The 326 leaveseach represent a branch of ToppsTiles. The mosaic celebrates thebeauty of the materials, the tiles that
are the core business of thecompany.
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As with much of my work, recycling plaid a large element. Ma
the tiles were old Topps stock destined for landfill. Not only
this allow us to incorporate history into the mosaic by using
from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s, it also illustrates one of the magicqualities of mosaic - that things that are considered ‘rubbish’
be turned into a thing of great beauty.
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THE PROCESS
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As soon as I was given the commission,
I had a clear image in my head of whatkind of tree this would be - bold and‘together’ but with whisps of branchescoming out.
The challenge was fitting 326 leaves
into the whole!
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The design was then scaled up onto afull size sheet of paper, using an OHP inmy daughter’s darkened bedroom (she
wanted us to leave the drawing in her room!)
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We used the oldschool trick of a thick
pencil mark on theback of the image and then pressing hardwith a pencil to transfer the image to
its final base - which isa special, light boardcalled Wedi. Wecemented 3 sheets of Wedi together tomake the panel.
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A special steel frame was
commissioned and thewedi board glued and
bolted into it.
Finally it is time to startsticking mosaic pieces!
7/27/2019 The Making of the Topps Mosaic Tree by Concetta Perot, Glittering Shards Mosaics
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We organised our tiles by colour and broke themwith tile nippers and the
traditional hammer andhardie.
Each leaf was made asaseparate piece, whichwould later allow us tomove them around,play w i th co lour ba l ance ,
texture and 3d effects.
7/27/2019 The Making of the Topps Mosaic Tree by Concetta Perot, Glittering Shards Mosaics
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The tiles - a mix of ceramic, vitreous tiles
and coloured mirrors -were hand cut andplaced close together onto cement adhesive. When dry, the cement
was peeled off thep l a s t i c l e a v i n gindiv idual ly formedleaves. We made someof the leaves concave,
some convex and someflat.
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In the centre of each leaf I wrote the name of each store -326 in total.
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We placed the leaves and moved them many times to get the
balance of colour and proportion.
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T h e a m a z i n g texture of thism o s a i c w a s
created by theway we stuck theleaves - we used the cement tobuild some leaves
h i g h e r t h a nothers and to tilt them left, right, upand down. Thismakes the wholepiece move!
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Working on sucha l a r ge s c a l e
means that youcannot get thereal perspectiveuntil the piece israised vertical. I
kept checking theperspective froma fi r s t fl o o r w i n d o w a n dagainst a vertical
axis.
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The next part requirea LOT of patience, we filled in the gabetween the leavwith green ceramic. was very fiddly due
the height of the leav- we were workin
cement and tiny sharof tile into small spac- challenging and VER
time intensive.
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The trunk and branches were made with large and small pieces anwith cement with some tiny irridescent shards embedded.
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The ground was made with stones from my allotment...
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...and the hedgehog was made by embedding thin strips of ceramiin cement adhesive...s ik !
7/27/2019 The Making of the Topps Mosaic Tree by Concetta Perot, Glittering Shards Mosaics
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This picture shows the reality behind the ‘glamour’ of being an artistmum!
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Next the background - pale blue with shades of grey getting lighteyou go upwards...
7/27/2019 The Making of the Topps Mosaic Tree by Concetta Perot, Glittering Shards Mosaics
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...and in the sky a mix of irridescent pink, white and blue mixed in the ceramic tile.
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The whole of the background only was grouted. This is a longprocess as there are many grout lines and different height tiles. T
clean up took several days.
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The whole mosaic was checked for sharp edges and these weresanded down.
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Finally, after 6 weeks of work, thewhole mosaic was lifted vertically, witha lot of help from lovely neighbours!This was a great moment - we got tosee the mosaic in its glory for the first
time.
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The big clean up - removing all the tiny loose shards in the mosaic, cement residue and polishing.
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THE FINISHED MOSAIC
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The finished tree -92 working daysfrom concept to
finish
1000’s of hand cutpieces...
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THE UNVEILING(S)!
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Thanking my wonderful team of helpers - Michela,
Doina and Izabela (not pictured)
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At Topps Tiles HQ...
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