T
he magical world of the SICIS Micromosaic · The Workshop
SICIS’ workshops are in some ways like a
painter’s studio, with mixing and blending
of colours, and in some ways like a Venetian
glass workshop where incandescent glass is
fired and drawn to create tiny little coloured
glass tesserae. As in an ancient artisan’s
workshop, people work with their hands in
mystical silence, as only those inspired by
their art can do. A minuscule drop of enam-
el is like ink dispensed drop by drop by the
miniaturist’s able hands to create signs and
symbols on the page.
And then there are the colours – an infinite
world of colours. An unlimited variety of
colours can be created from the base colour
or block, for glass changes consistency and
therefore hue as it is drawn. Hundreds of dif-
ferent colours in the form of thin rods from
which minuscule tesserae are created. These
shards of coloured glass are alternated with
precious stones - diamonds, rubies and em-
eralds – as the jewel takes form, product of
the combination of the goldsmith’s art and
the art of micromosaic.
A painstaking task, performed with the aid
of very fine pincers, one tessera after anoth-
er, then a diamond and a string of rubies,
to put together the corolla of a flower or the
wings of a butterfly and create an exclusive
one-of-a-kind jewel.
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