Bodrum life: Mosaic making in Bodrum

I have had the recent fortune of working under the amazing mosaic artist Neslihan Zabci. I started working with her about two weeks ago and have helped with a public art project she is creating for Bodrum downtown. There are around 40 large tree planters that line the marina road and she is creating different Bodrum themed designs on each one of them. The project is funded by sponsors who 'buy' a tree drum and choose a design. Over the past couple of years Neslihan has finished just over half the tree drums. The mosaics are so beautiful and different and really liven up the area! I feel so lucky to be working under and learning from Neslihan and helping to create such great public art!
https://www.facebook.com/bukalemunart

The first mosaic I started working on were the bodrum flamingos. There is a lake just inland of the Bodrum Peninsula were Flamingos live throughout the year! If you are driving to or from the airport keep an eye out for them :)

I was pretty nervous at first because I was not sure how precise the pieces I was cutting needed to be and I wanted to make a good impression and show that I was an artist! But with mosaic work it can be as precise as necessary, leaving space for the grout (derz in turkish) is important! The pieces are more precise depending on the area of the mosaic. For example when creating the wings of the flamingos the tiles should be cut into shapes that resemble feathers, but for background areas its more important to find peices that fit well together rather than making them into the 'correct' shape.

I immediately fell in love with this process! my hands are very sore from constantly breaking, cutting and nipping tiles into the desired shape, but I think with time that will improve :)

Here are a few of the photos of the pieces before we placed them on the wall! These are not all my works, i helped mainly with placing background pieces and with one of the flamingos. Its Neslihan's design and a fellow worker, Başak did a good bit of work too :)

I helped to make this flamingo! (the back/wings)

watching it come together!

Neslihan made him fly :)

The tree drums are round/cone like shapes and inorder to create a continuous scene, Neslihan creates 4 separate panels that will be joined together during the installation process. The pieces are glued onto a type of mesh that will be eventually be adhered to the tree drums along with the tiles. Before attaching the mosaic we marked off the areas where we would place each panel to make sure everything fit properly. Then a layer of cement is put on the uneven areas of the drums to create a smooth surface. then cement is applied to the area were the first panel will be applied. Once the panel is on you have to press every single tile into the cement to make sure it is stuck. We did this process with each panel. We brought along extra tiles to make sure the panels flowed together in the correct pattern - making sure the different color layers of the water, sky and the mountains lined up. After that we have to let it dry for a little while so we went and had lunch :) Paris and Betül came to meet up with us and take pictures of the process!

The first layer of cement to fill in the gaps

Başak mixing the cement

One panel down, three to go!

Here you can see where we fit two panels together. We needed the extra tiles here to fill in the gaps

On site we add tiles to the top of the drum.

Picking out the cement that came to far through the empty spaces

Neslihan, Başak and Me before the grouting process

The team of the day!

After lunch it was time to do the grouting. Neslihan decided that a light grey derz would be used for every part of the mosaic except for the mountains. And for the mountains we'd use a dark grey derz. Applying the derz is pretty messy but a lot of fun. You have to make sure there are no area bubbles and that the derz gets into every crack and crevice. After we applied it was went through several stages of wiping it down. We'd remove extra derz that were over lower tiles and continue to smooth out the surface. It was a very satisfying process to watch it all come together! everyone who walked by throughout the day would say Kolay gelsin and compliment the work we were doing. it was a very satisfying day and I look forward to our next installation :)