Jeanne Selep's Selep Imaging Blog: tree: mosaic

Showing posts with label tree: mosaic. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 29, 2026

Autumn Tree Mosaic

The final tree in my mosaic tree series wasn't even an idea until last fall. I had made three flowering tree mosaic stepping stones and I considered the series done -- until the fall colors of Wisconsin trees "planted the seed" for one more tree in the series.

Image 1: Fall Tree Mosaic Stepping Stone

Mosaic tree #4 is a fantasy tree in full autumn glory, the same size as the other stepping stones - 18 inches (46 cm) in diameter.

I had fun with the china used in this stepping stone. Buried in the tree is a piece of china with a snowflake, which hints at and symbolizes early morning frost. The snowflake is also a nod to the flowers in the other three tree stepping stones.

autumn fall tree mosaic detail by Jeanne Selep

Image 2: Fall Tree Mosaic detail

Finding the china to use for this tree was challenging for me - A. Orange isn't common in china patterns, and B. the colors aren't my usual palette (blues and pinks and florals). Orange especially was hard to find, and I felt orange was necessary for my autumn tree.

Mosaic stepping stone detail by Jeanne Selep

Image 3: Mosaic Stepping Stone detail

An improvement in this stepping stone was the "cutting edge" edge treatment. Some of my other stepping stones are showing edge wear, so on this project I used one inch commercial tiles to help stabilize the edge. The edge doesn't necessarily enhance the work, but I'm hoping the change will make the stepping stone last longer.

Mosaic stepping stone edge detail by Jeanne Selep

Image 4: Mosaic Stepping Stone Edge detail

Below are links to the posts on the other three stepping stones in the series.

Mosaic Tree #3

Mosaic Tree #2

Mosaic Tree #1

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Mosaic Notes:

I create picassiette mosaics, which are mosaics made using broken china. (Picassiette comes from Pique Assiette in French.)

You can see all of my mosaic posts by clicking here.

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Earlier sunsets and cooler nights, Autumn's here with all it's sights !

I hope you have a great Autumn...

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Click on the images to see them enlarged.

I have three large categories of posts:
Travel, China and China hutches, and Mosaics.

Comments encourage me, and I like encouragement. Please leave a comment if you have time!

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Post from the past ...

This Autumn Wreath Monoprint is probably the best Monoprint I have ever completed...

Click here for my Oak Wreath Monoprint Post

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Recent Posts ...

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If you enjoyed this post you might also like 2:

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Blogger "Apple Street Cottage" has a getting started mosaic tutorial here.

Sunday, August 31, 2025

Fantasy Flowering Tree Mosiac

Trees and flowering trees appeal to me. So as a mosaic artist, I decided to create a stepping stone that combines multiple loves and interests - trees, flowering trees, chintz china, and mosaics.

Image 1: Flowering Tree Mosaic Stepping Stone

As I looked around for a mosaic project inspiration, I found brown mugs with dimensional bark, of all things. That mug needed to be broken! Whimsical, but dare I say, ugly? Maybe ugly is the wrong word, perhaps unique would be better. (Maybe OK for hobbits?) Let's just say using the mugs daily would be a strong choice.

Image 2: Mosaic Flowering Tree Detail

I also had a large circular stepping stone mold (18 inches in diameter) that I had purchased full price ($93) around 2008, and never used. It bothered my that years later I was making mosaics, wishing I had bigger stepping stones, and yet had never used my large mold.

With the help and encouragement of my concrete unafraid and unfazed mosaic artist friend, and after watching her encourage other friends to use concrete (concrete pumpkins, anyone?), I mixed the concrete (in her basement!), adding chicken wire in the middle of the concrete for support. I used the mold! (Which I then gave to her, but have used twice more since, making that mold cost only $31 each use.)

Image real 3: Mosaic Stepping Stone Detail

I also had many floral dishes I wanted to use. There is a style of china called chintz, which I love, that has inspired me in multiple mosaics. Using small bits of floral patterns mimics the chintz look. See bunny mosaic here.

Image 4: Flowering Tree Mosaic Stepping Stone

My Flowering Tree mosaic stepping stone No. 1 was the result. I hope you like it!

Unrelated, but... for our USA Labor Day holiday weekend, (Monday off, 3 day weekend!) we (the family and I) planned to grill out. But my area in Wisconsin, USA had flooding about 2 weeks ago. The extra water everywhere resulted in an exponential quantity of hungry mosquitos per acre. So we didn't grill out, we cooked inside and used the stove top and the oven, because we didn't want to be eaten alive while cooking our dinner, and I didn't want to use a ton of bug spray just to cook outside. First world problems, I know.

I hope you had a good weekend, and if in the USA, Holiday weekend!

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Totally skippable Notes (for those with more time):

Ah, blogging!. I photographed my stepping stone on the lawn, thinking the flowers in the grass would add to the spring like image. Instead, the grass photographs really dark and the lawn looks weedy. (I used photoshop to lighten the grass. So much work.) Do magazine photographers avoid using grass as a background? Do you have lots of color correction problems?

So then I took the photo on my front step against concrete, but my concrete is in terrible shape, snow and winter and salt having eroded the surface, and it's expensive to fix. (And not a priority, either. My travel budget would take a hit.) And guess what - I don't really enjoy concrete work! My Dad re-surfaced the concrete more than 15 years ago, but that has worn considerably.

A recent plumber fixed some plumbing for less than an hour and charged me $358. Given that, what do you think new steps, or concrete repair, will cost? I'm not getting a quote any time soon. (Still paying off the plumber...)

Mosaic Notes:

Mosiac work using broken china is sometimes called Pique Assiette, or picassiette. It's my favorite style, and the one I work in the most.

Mosaic Project Notes: Reflecting on the results of achieved when a project is completed, I try to answer these 3 questions.

1. What went well,
2. What could have gone better, and
3. What would I do differently if I could re-do it.

Applying these questions to my stepping stone:

What went well:
I used my large mold.
I made my own concrete stepping stone base.
I'm happy with the materials used - clear silicon caulk, sanded grout, grout sealer!

What could have gone better:
The project took so long. The results could be better.

What would I do differently if I could have a do-over?
I'll show you in this post.

Answering these questions for completed projects is something I encourage people to contemplate. Skills are improved by practice and reflection!

Click on the images to see them enlarged.

I blog for fun and my blog is ad free. Comments encourage me, and I sometimes need encouragement. Please leave a comment if you have time! Anonymous comments and comments months/years later are welcome!

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