Meet Caramella

Caramella weighs in at 37.5 pounds, a pretty hefty little number for her size: 18 x 10 x 9 inches.

Sometimes you get an idea in your head and it won't get out until you make something of it. This is the case with Caramella, a "chocolate truffle pig." Ever since I started making mosaic "chocolate" sculptures, I've wanted to create a truffle pig.

Caramella is an homage to the celebrated French and Italian truffle hunting pigs, now being replaced in favor of dogs, which have more stamina and greater agility. Dogs also are much easier to transport, and --- shhh --- when you have a pig on a leash, everyone knows you're headed towards your secret truffle cache. With a dog, they just think you're out for a stroll in the woods. 

According to Charles Lefevre, president and founder of New World Truffieres, there are multiple reasons why dogs have surpassed pigs.  "Dogs are much less likely to try to eat the truffle once they find it. You don’t want to wrestle with a 300-pound hog when it’s interested in chowing down on a truffle." “The lore,” says Lefevre, “is that truffle hunters that use pigs don’t tend to have all their fingers.” ~ Modern Farmer

She doesn't bite. Retired to the sculpture park at a tender young age, Caramella is suitable for outdoor display. $1800  

Tower of Unmelting, Chocolatey Truffled Goodness

One of my first "up cycling" projects is finished. For years, I was required to save a percentage of the Bisazza Opus Romano glass I used to create the Terminal D mosaic medallion for the DFW International Airport Gate 38. Now that the deadline has passed, I can use the bright oranges, yellows, reds, purples and caramels in whatever way suits me. 

Add to that several cases of the brown and tan "chocolate blend" that my friend Rafa gave to me after cladding his restaurant bar in the material. This color blend has long been my inspiration for a series of "chocolate mosaics," including a large, heavy garden rabbit who finds his home at Dallas' Dude, Sweet Chocolate.

Substrates for this sculpture are wine and food shipping containers that arrived at my home of the past few years. They're too strong and useful to throw away (plus, styrofoam in the landfill - yuck!). They've now been "up cycled" into a colorful, tactile tower.

Tower of Unmelting, Chocolatey Truffled Goodness, 2016 60 inches tall. Private collection, Dallas, TX.

Enameled glass, styrofoam, plastic, steel and cement-based adhesive. Suitable for outdoors. Inquire for purchase and display information. julierichey@mac.com.

The Upcycle Mosaic Project

Mosaic artists are well known for their tendency to be magpies: we are attracted to lush, shiny, colorful tesserae that can be incorporated into our work. We tend to purchase "inventory" because we love the color, the texture or shape of it; someday, eventually, when the stars and the muses align, we will use it to create an inspired work of mosaic art. Our studios (and garages and closets and sometimes cars) are filled with bags and boxes and Ziplock containers overflowing with baubles, glass bits, and hunks of rich marble colors waiting to be cut, chopped and shaped.

Mexican and Italian smalti stored in every kind of recycled plastic containers. 

And then there are the leftovers. During the planning and budgeting process, we're reminded to order 5 - 10% more material than we need, due to cutting waste, revisions, and innate flaws in the materials. This stuff is expensive. We try to calculate close to the exact quantities needed, but there will always be leftovers. These precious bits and shards get stored for later, because they can't be returned and are too good to throw out. Sometimes "later" comes after more than a decade of storage. Which, in my case, also entails a good deal of "schlepping." To the garage, where I gave up my parking space to add shelving for all of my extra materials. Then to a public storage cubicle. Then to another, larger cubicle in a cheaper zip code. Then back to the garage. And in between, one or two rented studio spaces. My back hurts just thinking about the process of moving all that heavy stone and glass, along with the Gorilla Racks that hold my loot.  

Each time I start a new project, I have to order more materials because the existing ones are just not quite right...

I've been claiming for awhile now that I could work for a five years creating mosaics in my studio without having to buy any new materials. And that's what my new Upcycle Mosaic Project is about. Trying to recycle, reuse, re-implement materials I've been hoarding for years, and putting them to work in new ways. I'll show you the original project - the "provenance," to use an art historical term - of the materials. 

One of my favorite materials, Opus Romano by Bisazza, is an Italian-made enameled glass. 

Going with a chocolate theme here - can you tell? Stay tuned for the final blog post on this sculpture, with the "First Use" and "Upcycle Use" photos. 

Once the project is finished, you'll see the first and end use. My ultimate goal, besides producing some fun mosaic art to show and sell, is to empty my garage storage of these materials before it's time to move again. Wish me luck! ~ Julie

Genesis Mosaic

We've recently completed a 100 square foot Italian and Mexican smalti mosaic for the church of St. Frances Xavier Cabrini in east El Paso, TX. As we await installation dates, here are a few photos of the process.

Laid flat, the mosaic will be installed with three steps on three sides of the font. A cast bronze font bowl will be placed over the white paper square on the lunette. (Vertical wall mosaic not shown, as it was still curing in the studio).

One of four lunettes in 24k gold, Italian and Mexican smalti.

Lynne Chinn shows off a thinset panel from one of the font stairs.