When I started mosaics I would visit the gorgeous studio of Betsy Grury/Sugarloose Studio where there were jars and jars of sorted tile, beads, and more — all at the ready. I would walk around her table and shelves just looking at all the beautiful and fun tiles that were sorted into various glass jars.

Confession of a Scrap Lover

But, I have a confession: Betsy started to trade me the unsorted leftovers of her students. I suddenly had a large flat rate box full of goodies. The first time I brought a box home, I spent hours sorting them into color groups. But the second time I got a box, I kept the tiles in a random assortment. And guess what? I much more enjoyed the random, unplanned, and happy accident style that comes from working with a limited box right in front of me.

When I work with sorted colors, I do enjoy the mixed media look that comes from having different textures all together but united by color (see the brown bird below). In fact, my daughter was explaining this to her friend the other day as we were working on small projects and I thought it was the perfect way to describe how I work with solid colors: “When you do this you just pick one color and then you go crazy–just glue them down.” She’s seven, but very wise. 🙂

I have even started ordering scraps from online vendors like Skew.biz, Mosaics by Maria (she calls her offcuts), and Murano Millefiori. I like to think about the other hands that have held these “scraps” and what projects their “brothers and sisters” have gone into. Sometimes the pieces come with cut lines or other marks that have been ignored, sometimes they are blank.

So my thanks to all of you who love to have your precise cuts–keep it up and I’ll keep using the leftovers.