Luminous mosaics
Novelty in the world of art!
Mosaic wall decorations with slim design, illuminated like stained glass windows. Protected by registered trademark Monh(Art) ®. In daylight the glass mosaic acts as a wall picture with spectrum of colors that we perceive on the bases on light reflection. In the evening and nighttime the beauty and nobility of opal glass excels. The iluminated glass mosaic shines all magical colors. The most expensive glass from top world manufacturers (Kokomo, Uroboros, Youghiogheny, Bullseye, Spectrum) is used for production of luminous mosaics. Luminous mosaics are for sale and also can be ordered on demand according to your own ideas and designs.
MOSAICS
The roots of mosaic art are based on the discovery of glass in Egypt 3000 years ago. It appears in ancient Orient, ancient Greece, Rome, Venice, then in 7th and 8th century. In Renaissance Italy the famous mosaic studio is founded.
Mosaic studio
The original small mosaic workshop of Vatican manufacturers is located in the Vatican Gardens. The workshop was established in the mid-16th century, when Pope Gregory XIII. (1572 - 1585) decided to build on an early medieval tradition and apply the mosaic decoration in Basilica of St. Peter. The first mosaics were created here in 1578 under the leadership of Venetian masters (Girolamo Muziano and Paolo Rossetti, in the 17th century Marcello Provenzale, Giovanni Battista Calandra and Fabio Cristofari). Fame of Vatican mosaic workshop grew in the 18th and 19th century and mosaics were frequently used as a gifts to various official visits. Mosaics mostly portrayed Religious scenes, but was also produced with other motives.
Pope Benedict XIII. (1724 - 1730) officially founded the Vatican mosaic studio in 1727, which initially led Master Pietro Paolo Cristofaro. Since that year, Vatican workshop had also a laboratory that was used to improve (originally Venetian) glass and to prepare large amount of colors in order to create paintings and mosaics based on painted templates. The Vatican manufacturers have currently available about 28 thousands shades of colors. In addition to glass is also used natural stone that has a limited palette of colors and also can not be as good shape as glass.
Current employees of the studio are producing new mosaics with religious themes, reproductions of famous paintings and take care as well of the historical mosaic in the Vatican buildings.
Mosaic (opus musivum) is a surface decoration, ornamental or figurative, composed of small cubes, prisms or pegs made of stone, later of glass, fastened into the soft plaster or mastic.
In the ancient Orient and in the ancient world (Greece from the 6th century BC., in Rome, especially in the 2nd and 3rd centuries) were used most stone mosaics (‚pebble mosaics‘) to decorate the floors (eg. Pompeii), glass mosaic pegs were produced on Venice Torcello island already in the 7th and 8th centuries. The monumental style of glass figural mosaics occurs mainly on the walls and vaults of early Christian basilicas and Byzantine churches of the 5th and 6th centuries.
Since the 19th century, in urban areas appears so called Mosaic paving.
Stained glass (Vitrage in French, means glazing or glass area) is an artistic glass mosaic filling folded into the lead usually composed of colored or often even painted small glasses.
It is used as an alternative for decorative glass panes, e.g. the church windows. In the figurative sense, it is also the name of the technique that is used to produce them.
Colorfulmosaicglazed windowsappearsinceantiquity.The greatestdevelopment of the classicstained glass, however, is mainly relatedto the constructionof medievalcathedrals.At that time thetechnologydid not allow the production of largepanes of glass, largeholeswerefilled with connected smaller panes of glass. However, the developmentwas notonlyforced by technicalimmaturity.Great importancestained glassisapparent for exampleinthe cathedrals of medieval architect, an Ideologue Abbot Suger, whoattaches to the light andcolorlarge windowsextraordinarytheologicalandliturgicalsignificance. Connecting ofcolored glass was developed as an autonomousartisticcraft.
Stained glass technique was previously used mainly for temples, monasteries and churches, in later times penetrated into secular objects and households and is used in windows and doors decorations or its parts. Working with small parts and development of finer, more precise techniques has led among other things to production of various decorative items and jewelry.
In classic stained glass the individual parts are cut from different types of glass based on art design and are assembled to lead strips with H-shaped cross-section, which is in the joints soldered with tin. For newer stained glass surface is due to the durability of lead strips hardened by tin, or are used sections of copper, brass or zinc. During installation the holes must be adapted to the increased thickness and weight of stained glass.
Tiffany technique is not a stained glass in the literal sense, although the result is similar.
This method of production was first used by Louis Comfort Tiffany. Instead of lead profile copper foil is used - different widths tape, one side is provided with a strong adhesive (tape may be color black or silver under the glue). Joining individual tape pieces is done by tin. It is possible to use smaller pieces of glass, the resulting object has a finer - thinner joints. Coloured glass for this technique has to be accurately lapped (by special glass grinder with the head with diamond dust). The glass can be clear, opal, half opal, or with a different surface.
Using Tiffany technique spatial objects can be created (e.g. Lamps or smaller hanging objects).
Faux Stained Glass
On the surface of ordinary glass, imitation can be applied in different ways, which seemingly creates a classic stained glass effect. Faux (false) Stained Glass is created using only the colors on the glass and adhesive lead contours or contours made of colors. The basic principle of stained glass (combining individual pieces of glass) is therefore not applicable here.
Glass
Glass was developed around 3000 BC in Egypt. Basically it was just glaze on ceramics - Faience, which had a similar composition to glass. At first it was very dirty and was used to create ornaments, jewelry, amulets and small containers for scented oils. It contained silica, and calcium and soda (soda-lime glass).
Czech word sklo, Russian stěklo and Latvian stiklasshow the common Balto-Slavic root that is probably connected with the Greek stalaktos (= that which drips – hence the name of speleothem: stalactites and stalagmites), but it is different from Western (Germanic and Romance) languages.
English word glass comes from the Latin Glacies (i.e. ice). The German Word is Glas and old English glaes. The Germanic tribes used the word glaes to describe amber; the Roman historian recorded it as glaesum. The Anglo-Saxons used the word glaer for amber. In Latin, there is also the word for glass Vitrum, which is reflected in Czech language in words vitrina (display case) and vitráž (Stained Glass) but also in words vitriol. Italian word vetro is coming from this base.
For centuries Stone Age people have used naturally occurring glass for the production of sharp items for cutting and due to limited resources this glass was a frequent trade subject. General archaeological findings suggest that the first real glass was produced on the coast of northern Syria, Mesopotamia or ancient Egypt. The oldest known glass objects from the mid-third millennium BC were beads that were made probably as accidental by-product of the processing of metal ores or during production of Egyptian Faience.
Selected chronology of glass production:
1226 – "Broad Sheet" first produced in Sussex, England
1330 – "Crown Glass" made for the first time in Rouen, France. "Broad Sheet" is also produced, and both produced and exported
1620 – "Blown Plate" first produced in London, used for the mirrors and traffic signs
1678 – "Crown Glass" first produced in London, this production process dominated in the 19th century
1843 – early forms of "Float Glass" by Henry Bessemer invented by dipping the glass into a liquid tin, it was very expensive
1888 –"Machine Rolled" glass indicated by using samples
One of the most common characteristics of ordinary glass is that it is clear (transparent) for visible light (not all materials made of glass are transparent). Ordinary glass is impervious to light with a wavelength less than 400 nm, also known as ultraviolet light or UV because it contains ingredient, such as soda (sodium carbonate).
Metals and metal oxides are added to the glass during manufacture to change the color of the glass. Manganese can be added in small amounts to remove the green tinges of iron, or at higher concentrations for amethyst color. Manganese and selenium may be used in small concentrations for discoloration of glass or in higher concentrations for red color. A small concentration of cobalt (0.025 to 0.1%) causes blue glass color. Tin oxide with oxides of antimony and arsenic produces opaque white glass, first used in Venice for the manufacture of porcelain imitation. Using two to three percent copper oxide produces a turquoise color. Pure metallic copper gives a very dark red opaque glass, which is sometimes used as a substitute for gold ruby glass. Nickel, by concentration, produces blue, purple or black glass. By adding titanium a yellow-brown glass can be produced. Gold in very small concentrations (around 0.001%) produces strongly ruby-colored glass, while lower concentrations produce less intense red, often marketing known as 'cranberry'. Uranus (0.1-2%) may be added to supply fluorescent yellow or green colors. Uranium glass is typically not enough radioactive to be dangerous, but its powder e.g. during polishing with sandpaper may be carcinogenic if inhaled. Silver compounds (especially silver nitrate) can produce a range of colors from orange-red to yellow. Method used for glass heating and cooling can significantly affect the colors produced by these compounds. The chemical properties of glass are not currently fully and adequately investigated. Therefore new coloring of glass are often developed and due to newly explored characteristics new utilization appears.
