About my Mosaics

In July of 2008 my wife Pam enticed me into taking a mosaic class from a local store owner. Her name is Mara Wallach. Her shop is called "225 Water Street Creative Arts & Holding Company". A must place to visit if you ever get to Jordan, or click on the link http://www.225waterstreet.com/. It's quite an incredible place. The evening of the class I brought a bucket of polished agates with me and made my first mosaic out of them. Everyone loved how it turned out and soon it became an addiction for me. Making stone mosaics out of agates and other gemstones turned into a passion. So far I have made over 400 and never get tired of it.

Since Minnesota is mostly noted for Lake Superior Agates Jasper & many varieties of Quartz, that is what I had amassed over the years. To get some variety in my work, I started to purchase other varieties of Agates, Jasper, & Quartz from a company in South Dakota called "The Rock Shed" http://www.therockshed.com/. They have a large variety of tumbling stones, grit and all of the essentials that I use. I've found their quality of product and prices the best. From them I've purchased all of my tumblers and stones and made mosaics out of Mexican Lace Agates, Blue/Gray agates from Brazil, Citrine Crystals from Brazil, Ocean Jasper from Africa, Queensland agates from Australia, Desert Jasper from Madagascar, Green Moss Agates from India, Amethyst from a variety of countries, Montana Moss agates and several other gemstones from the U.S. Most of my mosaics are set on 8" x 10" glass picture frames, but I have some larger ones, mostly 10" X 12" and 11" X 14". Each mosaic also has a border set with mosaic tiles of either glass, porcelain, or ceramic. The prices of my mosaics range from $50 to $150 depending on the type of stones that I use and the size of the mosaic. It's a hobby so they're priced just about to break even. I have done a few custom made mosaics from designs requested by individuals. I will continue to do that if I have the right materials. It may take 6 - 8 weeks to complete them, if I need to polish the stones that are selected. There's a 5 - 6 week process to take a rough stone through the polish stage.

When I started out I purchased all of the flat Brazilian slabs in a variety of colors. I have recently started to buy large Brazilian agates (2#-5#). I can now cut and polish many of my own slabs. They are usually a natural brown or reddish color which is my favorite. I still purchase the purple, green, pink, and blue slabs because they are dyed and I haven't acquired that talent. I run 4 agate tumblers 24/7 with a total capacity of over 50 pounds of stone. I have a 14" diamond slab saw, a 10" diamond trim saw and a diamond band saw. I have face polishing equipment, because I also sell individual polished stones. I use a Dremel high speed diamond drill for drilling holes. I also am well stocked with various picture frames and mosaic tiles.

Most of my mosaics are transparent. They look beautiful in a window, on a table or counter top with a light above it, or with a small lamp behind it. Below are a few examples:

If you have any questions or wish to purchase one of my Mosaics please e-mail me at;

theagateman@gmail.com

You can also call me anytime at 612-719-9806