The Shell Octopus
A Personal PRoject
Each December, when the shipping deadlines for my sold artwork have passed, I use the last few weeks to make something just for our family. I made this octopus in 2024 for our upstairs bathroom.
I set a challenge for myself to make the mosaic 90% or more reclaimed tile and found items.
I experimented with several different designs for the space. I might make this whale another year so we can switch it out.
PREPARing THE MATERIALS
Most of the octopus is made with these purple shells from our local beach. This species of clam is invasive to BC and the empty shells are legal to collect. I broke the shells into pieces and tumbled them to remove rough edges.
I recieved leftover tile samples from a local designer, and I cut up the ceramic tiles into rough shapes on my wet saw to make the octopus suckers.
I used an angle grinder to refine the edges of the suckers and cut out the middles. This is a slow process that is done with a dust collection setup.
With the suckers cut, itβs time to start tiling! I arranged them by size to select from while I worked on the octopus.
Starting the Tiling
The tiling of the octopus begins with the most detailed part, the eye. I incorporated lines in vitreous glass to give a structure for the irregular shell pieces.
The design is sketched onto the board and I fill it as I go with light and dark colours. The sucker tiles are laid onto the board and glued into place once the design is set.
There are also pieces of California Mussel shells from our trip to Tofino. The mussel shells have more blue and iridescent tones to balance the warm tones of the purple clams.
One tile at a timeβ¦
Progress is slow going, but the octopus came together after several weeks. When tiling was finished, I grouted it with a grey grout.
The grout went into the spaces of the suckers to make them look three dimensional.
The octopus was installed in the bathroom using a heavy french cleat rail, so it can be hung securely but removed if needed.
The body of the octopus is made up with the purple clams and mussel pieces.
Finished! The background of the octopus is made with cut up tile samples in a mix of greys, iridescent pearl and pale green. After installation, the edges were painted grey to match the background tile.