Frontier: Arts

BADGE: Pen & Paper Arts

LEVEL: Tenderheart

REQUIREMENT 1: Mosaics

What is a mosaic? Find five examples of mosaics. Create a mosaic with at least five colors of paper; make it at least 8 ½ inches by 11 inches in size. Tear or cut the colored paper into pieces and glue the pieces to a paper base. 

What is a mosaic?
A mosaic is a piece of art or image made from putting together small pieces of colored glass, stone or other materials. Most mosaics are made of small, flat, roughly square, pieces of stone or glass of different colors, known as tesserae. Some, especially floor mosaics, are made of small rounded pieces of stone, and are called pebble mosaics.

How do you make a mosaic?
Mosaics made with tesserae are often set onto the surface using mortar (cement) which dries hard and holds the pieces in place. Mosaics made with pictures or stamps can be glued into place.

History of Mosaics
Some of the oldest mosaics were found in Mesopotamia and date back to 3000 to 2000 BC. Mosaics were a popular way to decorate churches in Italy with Bible stories during the Medieval period (500 to 1500 AD). They were not popular in England, France, Germany and countries of Northern Europe because they preferred to use stained glass windows as decoration. Mosaics fell out of fashion in the Renaissance period (1300 to 1600 AD), though artists like Raphael continued to practice the old technique. Nowadays mosaics are still used in many ways but most often to brighten up public places in cities. Modern mosaics are made of all sorts of materials: mosaic tiles, bathroom tiles, broken roof tiles, broken dishes, broken mirrors, bits of metal and old bricks.

  • Phrygian Mosaic 3: An ancient mosaic of pebbles from around 800 BC.
  • Christus Ravenna Mosaic: A Byzantine mosaic from Ravenna, Italy showing gold tiles done around 330 AD.
  • Madaba Mosaic: The Madaba Mosaic Floor Map from Madaba, Jordan depicts Jerusalem with the New Church of the Theotokos, which was dedicated on November 20, 542.
  • Roof Hafez Tomb: Iranian glazed ceramic tile work, from the ceiling of the Tomb of Hafez in Shiraz, Iran. Province of Fars.
  • Mosaic Borth 01: A modern mosaic made of bathroom tiles on a pavement in Wales.
  1. Lay out the square mosaic tiles in the desired pattern on the white cardstock.
  2. Glue each square down to the cardstock using a glue stick.
  3. If your girls could benefit from having a grid to layout their tiles, print this gridded template on the cardstock.

Download a PDF copy of these instructions.

Mosaic-Pattern

Mosaic-Pattern

Mosaic-Ladybug

Mosaic-Ladybug

Mosaic-AHG

Mosaic-AHG