
In progress images of our butterflies glass mosaic mural, 26’x5′, glass, mirror, and fused glass.
The Piedmont High School graduating class of 2020 wanted to leave a positive mark of hope and beauty. The design theme we developed for the project was of a swarm of huge glass mosaic butterflies flying off into the future.

Two views of same butterfly mosaic to show reflection and iridescent stained glass.

Mosaic Design Inspiration
The Piedmont High School graduating class of 2020 wanted to leave a positive mark of hope and beauty. The design theme we developed for the project was of a swarm of huge glass mosaic butterflies flying off into future. The art project was spearheaded by student leader Tammi Zimmerman.
The students are all graduated and on to new wonderful endeavors. They wanted the mosaic mural to represent transformation and evolution through the time of COVID19 and a brutal wild fire season in California. The symbolism of positive transformation out of calamitous change was a fitting healing design theme for responding to the fires as well.


A ribbon of cut mirror mosaic gracefully ties the butterflies together and provides a frame for the words.

Our CMO (Chief Morale Officer) in the mosaic studio – Jasmine makes us smile.

Mosaic butterfly wings for little angel dog Jasmine. This butterfly’s beautiful iridescent glass is shown in the next pic taken outdoors with more light and a different angle of reflection.

I chose a mandala pattern for piecing the mosaic butterfly wings – inviting the gaze to rest and the spirit to calm.

I chose iridescent glass for parts of the butterfly mosaic to mimic the natural beautiful iridescence of some butterfly wings. The mural will be installed on it’s concrete wall in March, 2022. Here are images of the mosaic making process. My dog, Jasmine, enjoys modeling for me. Here she is a butterfly dog.

the largest glass mosaic butterfly requires two tables in the studio.

Adjusting the full scale print before cutting glass for the butterfly mosaic.

Here is how it all begins with a printed full scale design on paper. Here are a few pics of the process of making mosaics – the mosaic mural is entirely pieced in the studio before installation. Full large scale prints are taped together to guide the piecing of the mosaic in the studio.

Fiberglass mesh is used to glue the glass mosaic pieces onto in the studio.

After all the sections are pieced in the studio we lay them out to make sure they will fit into the wall space on which the mosaic will be installed.

Here the entire mosaic mural is sectioned up into small sections like a puzzle for transport to the installation site. All the sections of the mosaic mural are packed carefully and labeled so that they are easy to locate on the installation day.
