My First Piece

What Inspired Me

I think I saw a picture of a wood mosaic on Pinterest one day and the idea of making art using different types of timber to create patterns and puzzles immediately resonated with me. I love symmetry and geometric reoccurring patterns, especially the symmetric patterns in nature fascinate and intrigue me. Have you heard of the Fibonacci Sequence? Look it up, it’s so fascinating and beautiful. Creating art on a big scale, using power tools to create something delicate and intricate, and working with natural materials combined many things I love. I had to give it a go and my husband Paul was quick to convince me to go and buy a few tools and give it a go. He had no idea how our lives would be turned around 😉

 

How I Started

So I bought a little mitre saw and got to work, making every possible mistake, from not understanding how the angles work, using the wrong kind of timber (spent soooo much money), to trimming the whole thing with a jigsaw (still makes me shiver) and eventually having to attach beading to the frame to cover my mistakes and the wonky frame. It was a bit of a fight, I’m not gonna lie 😉

BUT! I absolutely loved every second of the process, even all the parts where things went wrong. It felt so good to use my new tools and create something tangible, unique, and beautiful. That’s what geometric patterns are for me, they are calming and relaxing, even the intricate detailed ones give me this sense of serenity, of things being in order and structured.

This was all long before I had a workshop, I set up my tools on our garden table and covered our entire backyard in sawdust. It was a bit of work to clean up but it was so worth it. I was hooked and haven’t stopped making wood mosaics since. My new hobby turned into a successful 6-figure art business, I retired my husband and am now running a creative company. I have my own Pinterest account and have inspired many other people to make and create along the way.

 

It’s been an exciting, exhausting, but most of all rewarding journey from that first piece. It’s still hanging on my patio and is my beautiful reminder that all big things start small (and wonky).

A lot of dust on my patio.

Never got those angles right at the beginning.
Chuffed with my very first design.

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