I was fascinated by this video of artisans creating terra cotta tiles. It’s such an involved process to make a single tile, especially shaping each one. This makes me appreciate mosaic tile artworks much more!
From Moroccan interior design company Habibi Interiors, watch as maâlems (master craftsmen) take their time and skill to create terra cotta tiles: From Clay to Mosaics. From The Kid Should See This
The art of zellige flourished at the Hispano-Moresque period of Morocco. The art remained very limited in use until the Merinid dynasty who gave it more importance around the 14th century and introduced blue, green and yellow colours. Red was added in the 17th century. The old enamels with the natural colours were used until the beginning of the 20th century and the colours had probably not evolved much since the period of Merinids. The cities of Fes and Meknes remain the centers of this art.
Patrons of the art used zellige historically to decorate their homes as a statement of luxury and the sophistication of the inhabitants. Zellige is typically a series of patterns utilizing colourful geometric shapes. This framework of expression arose from the need of Islamic artists to create spatial decorations that avoided depictions of living things, consistent with the teachings of Islamic law. from Wikipedia
I was inspired to create a paint chip mosaic art project based on Islamic tile designs.
Islamic Design Paint Chip Mosaic Art Project for Kids
I started with a few paint chip strips, stick glue and scissors. I used index cards to paste the designs onto. I used the smallest index sized cards but I also tried it using copy paper.
Cut the paint chips out into rectangles.
Cut the rectangles into shapes. I made trapezoids and triangles.
One easy way is to cover the index card with stick glue and then place the paint chip pieces directly onto the cards.
You can also arrange your shapes onto the index card or paper and then move them over one at a time to glue them onto another index card or piece of paper.
Getting perfectly symmetrical designs is hard, so my hat is off to Habibi Interiors in the video, but even if your pattern is asymmetrical, it still looks interesting.
Links to Explore Islamic Geometric Art:
Islamic Geometric Patterns in Art
Metropolitan Museum of Art: Islamic Art and Geometric Designs, Activities for Kids
Tile mosaic artworks at the Rhode Island School of Design Museum
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What a fun art project!
maryanne recently posted…Spring Tree Coloring Page – Pi Inspired
Thanks so much MaryAnne,
I had to think and think about a mosaic art project to go along with that video. I really love mosaic tiles, even more so now that I see the labor involved!
Pragmatic Mom recently posted…Win Nintendo Yo-kai Watch Game #YOKAIWATCH
That’s really cool! 🙂 Looks like a fun thing to try!
Erik – TKRB recently posted…Perfect Picture Book Friday! Who Needs a Bath? by Jeff Mack
Thanks so much Erik!!!
Pragmatic Mom recently posted…Win Nintendo Yo-kai Watch Game #YOKAIWATCH
I agree with all above. Looks like kids will njoy this and mumma’s too
Thanks so much Abhi!
Pragmatic Mom recently posted…Win Nintendo Yo-kai Watch Game #YOKAIWATCH
What a fun idea! I think I have a few paint chips in our art bag… I’ll have to give this a try!
Shecki recently posted…Our St. Patrick’s Day Week
Thanks so much Shecki! I really appreciate your kind words. I thought the video on making mosaics was so fascinating that I wanted to create an art project to go with it, but this doesn’t seem like a very popular post so far! 🙁
Pragmatic Mom recently posted…Earth Day: No Trash Town in Japan
What a cute and fun project. We have some paint chips lying around from our simile and metaphor writing project too.
Mother of 3 recently posted…Nature Journals & Beach Days