ArtWorker Mosaic
Mosaic for the fountain
"30 years of Victory".
The city of Samara.
Creation of a mosaic panel made of smalt for the restoration of a fountain in the center of Samara
The restoration of the mosaic on the fountain "30 years of Victory" in the city of Samara is one of the largest and most interesting projects in which we had to take part. In a little more than 4 months, we have developed and welded hundreds of new flowers, as well as collected more than 280 m2 of mosaic panels.
Approximately in the middle of 2019, a tender was announced to carry out restoration work on the fountain in honor of the 30th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War. To perform the work, it was necessary to recreate the smalt according to the original samples of the material made in the 70s in the USSR. It was an interesting task for us and we were happy to start doing it. We made hundreds of different samples of smalt before starting large-scale production. After developing and manufacturing the smalt, we reconstructed the mosaic panel based on photographs and sketches of the original work.
Photo of the workshop
Mosaic panel in the process of assembly
Development of new smalt colors.
Since this was a restoration project, it was very important to accurately match the original colors of smalt, made back in the 70s in the USSR.
From the very beginning of work on the project, we started developing the right colors in laboratory furnaces and made hundreds of experiments and samples before getting the right shades of smalt (similar to the author's). Red and orange turned out to be one of the most difficult colors to produce, in addition, they occupied the largest area of the object. After the necessary shades were obtained, we coordinated them with the artists who developed the sketch and started cooking smalt in industrial furnaces.
Hundreds and hundreds of samples of various orange shades that were made for the reconstruction of the monument.
Production of smalt in industrial furnaces.
In order to have time to deliver the entire volume on time, we needed to produce more than 10 tons of smalt of different colors in less than 2 months.
After we tried the smalt recipes developed in laboratory furnaces in an industrial version, it turned out that the colors according to the recipes were very different from what we had to get. We promptly responded to this and finalized all the recipes already in the process of cooking in industrial furnaces. Since the deadline was very short, we also had to assemble 2 additional furnaces and put them into operation in the shortest possible time.
Glass melting process
Making smalt pancakes
More than 10 tons of smalt of the necessary colors and shades were produced for the restoration of the mosaic.
Collection of mosaic panels.
The second global task after the manufacture of smalt was the assembly of a mosaic panel with a total area of more than 280 m2.
Для сборки панно мы арендовали целый ангар рядом с нашей смальтоварней. Работы велись круглые сутки и смальта не успевая остывать отправлялась художникам на сборку панно. Всего приняло участие в сборке мозаики более 15 художников по мозаике и помощников. У нас было всего 2 месяца чтобы собрать панно и отправить его на монтаж, что бы бригада монтажников успела смонтировать до наступление холодов и зимы.
Workshop
Mosaic panel in the process of assembly
The project manager for the production of smalt and the creation of mosaic art panels is Sergey Kolbasov.
Photos of the finished fountain 30 years of Victory in Samara.
In mid-October 2020, the fountain of the 30th Anniversary of Victory was inaugurated.
Photo from the final washing of the mosaic panel before opening.
Sergey Kolbasov before the opening of the fountain.