More art from recycled stuff...

A few months back I did a post on a mosaic made almost entirely from recycled materials - a little bit of a passion of mine as I love the satisfaction of creating something beautiful from things that would otherwise be thrown away. (I was so pleased when the blog post was  published as an article in the last copy of Grout magazine, published by the British Association for Modern Mosaics!)

Here is another way that I use recycling in art making which, happily, also involves a trip to Ikea :) Have a look at this mosaic - Four Seasons - which I made in November (and sold in December).

The base and frame are actually the fronts of kitchen draws. The inner panel is a recess which makes a natural place to mosaic and the rest of the draw frames the finished work beautifully.

In this case, the inner panel is frosted glass which  added an extra special effect to the pieces, as it picks up light and reflects it through the gaps in the tiles. It looked so good I decided to leave the pieces ungrouted.

The back of the draw

These bases cost around £1.25 from Ikea's bargain basement - the stuff that is destined for the rubbish heap. You can also get end of line kitchen doors as well as draws and use them to make larger pieces.

I have a couple lined up which are clear glass doors with a frame - using stained glass as the mosaic material, there are some lovely effects to be had, particularly if they are hung as large sun catchers in windows. And as with all bright ideas, before you all think I am an original genius (which sometimes I am!), the maxim on originality that I hold to needs to be stated here "There is nothing new under the sun" by which I give credit to Brooks Tower, awesome mosaic artist (and king of Opus Sectile for you mosaic officionados).  His mosaic, Busy Signal, (which I am proud owner of) inspired this clever use of old kitchen draws as I swear, when I inspect it, that it is made on an old draw front, though hard to tell for sure as its a pretty solid bit of wood!

And if you are not up for mosaic making with old kitchen doors and draws, you can use them as frames for collage or stained glass painting too.  Let me know if you have any other ideas...

Art and recycling - such a wonderful combination.