The Craft
A labour of love
Each Maggy Howarth mosaic is a labour of love for our artists requiring incredible patience and skill. The craft takes years to master. Unlike traditional mosaic techniques, artists work upside down and therefore somewhat blind, placing pebbles face down into sand so that their final appearance is only revealed once the mosaic section has been cast and turned out.
Search for perfection
Artists must search for the perfect shape and size of pebble to fulfil the design pattern which means that, even working with our long standing pebble partners, we reject approximately 80% of the pebbles we receive.
“It may seem crazy and demented to be searching repeatedly for similar tiny stones of a particular shape or fiddling about trying to blend different colours but [it’s this that] transforms an ordinary collection of pebbles into a thing of beauty”
—Maggy Howarth
“It may seem crazy and demented to be searching repeatedly for similar tiny stones of a particular shape or fiddling about trying to blend different colours but [it’s this that] transforms an ordinary collection of pebbles into a thing of beauty”
—Maggy Howarth
Pebble placement
As each pebble is placed, artists surround it with sand to a depth of 8mm using a thin brush. This is what creates the rebate within the perfectly flat surface that can be easily walked across.
Cut, cracked & carved
There are some things you just can’t do with pebbles. The artists work with Burlington slate strips and flat slabs of stone which are then cut, cracked and carved before placing alongside the pebble work.
To last for centuries
When ready, specialised grout is poured before a final layer of concrete creating an incredibly durable finish fit to last in the ground for centuries. Once set, the moulds are removed, the jigsaw-like sections turned over and the sand brushed and washed away to reveal the final result.
Master of the craft
After curing for up to 28 days, each piece is laid out in the yard to ensure they fit together seamlessly. Master Craftsman, Mark Currie, leads the workshop team having been working in the art form for over 35 years.
