I love it when people are naturally creative gift-givers. I’ve always aspired to be one myself.
This month, I learned that my boyfriend definitely falls into that category because he got me the COOLEST experience gift for my birthday: a Turkish mosaic art workshop where we could create a gorgeous mosaic lamp together.
We had such a great time at the workshop, and the lamp we designed and decorated together will be a treasure forever.
I first fell in love with these colorful mosaic lamps at a Turkish shop in the Short North – and I also really enjoyed seeing them at a Turkish shop in Monterey, CA during our vacation a few years ago.
Another cool thing to know is that I actually saw this mosaic lamp workshop advertised on social media many months ago – long before I met Andrew. I thought it looked super cool and asked both my bestie and daughter if they’d want to do it with me, but they both declined so I put it out of my mind. I wanted to do it, but not enough to go alone.
And ultimately, thanks to my sweetheart, I didn’t have to!
The pop-up mosaic lamp workshop took place at a hotel in Dublin. We enjoyed tea and Turkish delight as we sat at tables laid out with trays of supplies for each person, design templates to use as reference, and dozens of colors of glass pieces and beads for use in the mosaics. At the front of the room, there were also several completed mosaic lamps we could look at for inspiration. Each lamp was unique and they were so beautiful!
The instructors showed us where to find printed directions in our supplies, and they also walked around and gave us tips as needed. First, we laid out colorful glass pieces into the design templates on the tray in front of us. We could use about 3 bigger designs, or more if we went with smaller designs. We were able to use color combinations they had as examples, or we could build a totally custom color scheme for our lantern.
I had so much fun building the designs in the templates they gave us and choosing colors that would work best in my home. Then, when it was time to put the glue on the lamp and re-build the designs on the glass, my sweetheart took a turn. He did a good job with all the messy parts of the project! While he attached the glass pieces to our glass lamp, I made a few custom mixes of colorful glass beads that we could use as filler in between our designs.
I’m not sure how long the workshop was; I had so much fun that I literally lost track of time. I think we were there a little under two hours? When our lamp was fully decorated with glass pieces and beads, we were given the rest of our supplies to take home and finish after the glue dried for 12 hours.
So far, we have not yet grouted our lamp, which is the final and messiest step. The lamp is honestly so pretty that it almost doesn’t seem like it needs the grout, but I know that will help to keep everything firmly in place. We’ll do it one of these days.
Our beautiful mosaic lamp is already in its place of honor on my entrance-way table. I love it so much – the colors are exquisite and it’s even more fun knowing that we made this treasure together. I highly recommend the mosaic lamp workshop if you love arts, crafts and beautiful home decor you can make yourself!
