Stone Mosaic Transition

One Thing Leads to Another

Last month I resurfaced the granite path through my garden, observing that “one thing leads to another”. And now, I’ll tell you about the "other". As I worked at wetting and tamping the freshly laid decomposed granite around the concrete patio in back, I thought how nice it would be to have some stepping stones off the patio to step on to. But my vision wasn’t just a simple stone or two, or three…I envisioned a work of art: you know, the beautiful stone mosaics using a variety of shapes and colors you see on Pinterest.

A few years ago, I made one similar on the other side of the patio. I placed large flat stones together with smaller stones in between and filled in the spaces with even smaller stones and fine granite. This time, I wanted to kick it up a notch with concrete and a more elaborate design. This project took hold of me.

Halting the nearly finished tamping, I gathered the flat natural rock I had stacked in a corner of the garden. These were intended for future use in a sitting area, but I called them into service for this newly inspired idea. Along with the flat rocks, I gathered the assortment of stones I had left from other projects. These would fill the spaces between, creating a mosaic. As I laid them out for a mock up, using their unique features to create a design, it was clear I needed more. One can randomly place stones together, or one can be intentional about it, depending on the look you want (or your level of insanity).

Nearly finished, I needed a few more flat rocks. I scoured the garden for any spares that would complete the design. I looked on Marketplace and asked neighbors (because I only needed a few!), but still had to go to the nearby landscape supplier. Stone is sold by the ton or by the pound. For my small projects, I buy stone by the pound. This allows me to be selective and buy the shapes, sizes, and colors I need. I loaded a wagon with an assortment of flat rock, and a bag of larger smooth, colored stones to supplement what I already had.

With more options, I began an experimental layout using different sizes of stones in between the large flat ones. The design looked somewhat like a sun with long “rays” coming from the center, but the “filler” stones in between the “rays” didn’t look right. To my mind’s eye, they needed to be smaller—pebble size. So began the quest for small beach pebbles.

Five years ago it wasn’t hard to find pebble-size beach—nearby landscape suppliers had it; but after making numerous phone calls, I realized things had changed. I finally found some past Oak Hill, almost an hour from where I live. I left early, after morning traffic. The extensive construction, new roads, and unfamiliar territory made especially grateful for the technology of navigation! When I arrived, I was glad I could speak Spanish, as almost everyone did. We're fortunate to have the labor force of the Hispanic community—it’s hard to find more hard-working, capable people in landscaping. The yard was full of trucks picking up supplies for the day.

When I got home, I felt I’d been “to the ends of the earth”. Two hours to pick up a box of stones for a small experimental project: granted, one that I was invested in and committed to finishing. As he often does, God reminded me that he’s invested in and committed to me. If I’m willing to search high and low, drive two hours through Austin traffic to carefully choose just the right materials for this insignificant stone mosaic, how much more is God willing to go “to the ends of the earth” for me? I am his workmanship, and he’s committed to providing all that I need to become his special made-in-his-image mosaic. This was a very comforting, reassuring thought, because I often feel very far from special.

Now, with all the variations of rock at hand, I could begin to assemble the mosaic. I have

very little experience with concrete and mortar, and, like everything else, it requires practice to understand the ins and outs of a thing. I learned a lot: like small pebbles don’t work well because they need to be at least halfway buried in order to stick; like you need to keep the mortar wet while working or it will dry too fast and not set; like remember to check slant so water will run off instead of pooling on the stone; like being on your knees for hours is hard! Like creating a beautiful stone mosaic is not easy!

It started raining just before I finished, so I had to stop and haven’t had a chance to get back to it as of the picture taken for this story. I will have to re-do the section of small pebbles since most of them fell out, and I still need to add larger rocks on some of the edge, and granite all around. Now that I know more, I’m considering making a nicer one using my hard-won knowledge…because one thing always leads to another.