Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 November 1868 — How Mosaics are Made. [ARTICLE]

How Mosaics are Made.

A traveler, writing from tho Continent says: "The irioaaics seem to absorb the most tjnie and money in the least space, unless it- be-Uto-g'fid deeorutrtnrtk -Wu Ttnw h table lost week less than, six fetit in diameter, •aid to have cost two hundred thousand dollars, requiring the labor of a largo number of men for fifteen years. On entering tho hull where ibis kind of work is done,' I eould not doubt these enormous figures. Suppose, for instance, a thousaniUof the hardest and most expensive stones which will tako on a high polish, to be cut into pieces throe-eighths of un inch thick. These pieces aro cut the other way ixjto snjall pieces like shoo pegs, and whore the shading from one color to another is sudden, these pegs must not be larger than a needle. Now the artist cuts and puts in these littlepieces elected according to their coloi:, so ns to give the coloring wanted by the workmen as distinct as" though painted. Those pieces or p<>gs must be fitted so closely 131111 lines of separation will not show, and set upon end,, side by side, like typo. Theyt litin) that ton thousand shades of cotoFiire and inorder to do this kind of work u man must be skilled in colors and shades ns a painter, in order to place the colors properly; then be ths most careful and accurate mechanic in order to place the pieces, and then he must have patience enough to work on the cheapest nud'coaTsest'picturea oiie year, and upoh a tine one from ten to twenty years.—,s'cien- - diffe 4»iw'ftric _ ~