Mosaic Connections #1

It's obvious now that my pottery shard jewellery is inspired by mosaics. I have always loved mosaics, and have made them in the past. I even have a drawer called 'small mosaics' - where I have kept some very small mosaics I made about 15 years ago.

They are made out of cardboard, to be used as moulds for taking impressions in a lightweight clay - then made into greetings cards. I remember cutting the tiny pieces of card and sticking them on with white glue that set them in place and also gave them a shiny non-stick finish for mould making. I also remember rubbing them with olive oil before taking the impressions.
Hard to explain but here they are:

This is where the small mosaics are kept...

Size reference - mosaic made out of 1mm thick cardboard 

Here are some more - about 2cm each square

The cardboard original with some polymer clay impressions, some painted

I also tried using them as a printing block, with some success I seem to remember
the one on the right was over a curved shape - intended to be an earring. I never finished that project!

Many, many years later, I used one of the cardboard moulds to make a precious metal clay pendant for my sister (this was my second metal clay piece).

Silver clay pendant made from cardboard mould
Today many moulds are available to buy, but far fewer were around  3 even years ago

I also collected pottery shards - these ones were collected in Richmond, although I can't remember the exact location. I made them into a flowerpot - a must have home accessory in the late 1990s!

Mosaic flowerpot I made many, many years ago...