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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