Creating the Straw Hat for Miss Dolphin

Miss Dolphin is based on a drawing by my then 10 year old daughter and she was my design assistant for the mosaic as well. She had major input, as well as veto power, on the choosing of the materials for this project. We were bringing HER drawing to life, afterall.

The straw hat proved to be a challenge to find a material she would be happy with.

When I broke the lid to a funky corn-on-the-cob themed pot in my kitchen I thought that would be ideal--no. Also rejected was stained glass. (There is a limit to how thin the pieces can be cut so as to mimic straw, plus she didn't like the shininess.) Hmmm. Vitreous glass tiles- not thrilled. Tiny thin long glass beads? Not sure, kind of shiny too.

An internet search was begun and I found TinyTileMosaics! A eureka moment, lol. This company has a variety of shapes and a rainbow of colors of 'mini, mirco and nano' sized ceramic tiles. The Ovals, 5x2x3mm, proved to be perfect to create the straw hat!


Click image to enlarge-
Micro tiles, 5x5x3mm, were perfect to add a touch of red to the hat. See them also in the red stripe along with a couple nano tiles.

Happy daughter, happy me!

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"Miss Dolphin" is in my own personal collection, but you can see available mosaics here:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/MosaicSmith?search_query=mosaic+art 

I create original design silver jewelry too!!

http://MosaicSmith.com