Day Trip

Yesterday, I took a long-anticipated day trip.  

So, where can this be?  A castle on its hill, an Old Town?

Different money?

Distinctive, monuments in Victorian Gothic style?

I went to Edinburgh, as did George 1V in 1822.  I imagine he did not attempt to do the return trip in one day as I did - that's a round trip of 760 miles.

 So, how was this possible?  Well, if you catch the 6.25 from Kelvedon, a strangely silent commuter train into London, and then the 8.00 London to Edinburgh from King's Cross, that will get you to Waverley station by just after midday.  A quick trot across streets crowded with Festival visitors takes you to George Street, a noble thoroughfare now exclusively housing upmarket clothing chains such as Hollister and White Stuff.  On the second floor above White Stuff is a gallery space rented by the crafts council for a selling exhibition and workshops.

I was here for a class in mosaic-making given by Helen Miles, daughter of Jean.  Helen is an expert mosaicist; her website is a delight and an inspiration.  The tutorials on there would enable you to have a go yourself.

This is an example of Helen's work, using ceramic tesserae.  We were introduced to the idea of halving and quartering the glass and ceramic pieces for use on the pre-prepared designs.  I could not get the grip on the ceramic pieces, so made my sample piece using glass.

Helen had set up the mesh on a backing board, taped down over the design so that the lines were clear to follow.  We had three hours but were massively helped by all the preparation having been done ahead for us.

I chose the bird design and set to work to fill in the outlines.  Others were using a fish design and I could not help but note that my effort increasingly looked like something a six year old might have done, whereas others made more sophisticated choices.  Helen was constantly at hand to offer reassurance and suggestions as to how to introduce more variation into the line to create a more nuanced effect.

Helen finished the session with a demo on how to use tile adhesive and grout to place the sample into a location at home.  It was obvious that she had done this many times before.

My finished piece:  I was quite pleased with the more muted colours in the second wing and the yellow tips to each section.  I was also happy that it held up to the journey home in a carrier bag.

Then it was back to the station for the 5.31 Edinburgh to King's Cross train, round to Liverpool Street on the tube and out to Kelvedon by the 1037.   The whole journey went like clockwork, thankfully, because I was very tired by this point.