Mosaic Skull and Crossbones

Sold at a neighborhood art show. Dimensions: Height, 13 inches; Width, 16.75 inches; Thickness, 1.5 inches; Weight, 8 pounds. Ahoy, maties! Here at last be the treasure ye’ve been seeking for in vain, across the Seven Seas, lo these many years. It’s shiny and sparkles a bit when the light hits it right. And it makes a plain statement about who ye be (or wish ye were), and the code by which he live. It has two D-rings attached to the back, so all ye need to hang in on the wall of yer ship’s cabin is a couple of nails and a hammer. If ye don’t have a hammer, a hard oak peg leg might do fine. If ye have a hook instead of a hand, and/or a patch o’er one eye, ye might need the help of a crewmate to get this properly hung. $150. Click here to purchase.

The Story

Most everyone who knows me knows I have a thing for pirates. I led workplace celebrations of International Talk Like a Pirate Day for many years—in costume. As TLAP-Day 2020 approached, I figured I needed to do something to mark the occasion. So, I took on a project I had thought about for years. I had a lot of pieces of black and while ceramic tile (mostly small, many already cut into squares) leftover from other projects. Naturally, it occurred to me to use them to make that most piratical of pirate insignia, the skull and crossbones, AKA the Jolly Roger. I drew a pattern that I could cut and trace onto the backing piece, which was a leftover piece of ¾-inch-thick medium density fiberboard. First, though, I put a thick coat of primer on the MDF so the Weldbond glue would better adhere to the surface. (Otherwise, it could be absorbed and not work effectively.) Then I used my miter saw and some leftover pieces of 1x2 pine lumber to make the frame, which I attached to the backing piece with glue and nails. I applied two coats of semi-gloss black paint so the frame would nicely complement the design. I cut/nipped the leftover tile as needed to fit shapes into particular positions (held there with Weldbond adhesive, from Maryland Mosaic). I used the original slightly rounded edges of the full square tiles to outline most of the edges of the design. For filling in the design I used pieces cut from the interior of the original tiles. This took quite a few hours over a few days. I finished it off with Black Onyx sanded grout from The Tile Shop in D.C.

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