Update: This class is now available anytime with previously recorded student webinars! This class also includes two 30 minute private student consults. Please contact Sharra with any questions. Thank you!
Since 2013, Sharra has been offering this course 2-3 times a year to online students. Each session came with 4 weekly online class meetings. There have been over 200 in person and online Sculpted Mirror Frame students from around the world.
As of September 2020, this class is "evergreen" which means a student can enroll at any point and navigate the course, independently. Students will have the support of the special FB Group, two 30 min project consults with Sharra and access to a collection of past recorded class meetings that will support each phase of the class.
This unique online intensive is self-paced with previously recorded student webinars and one on one private project consultations for extra support along the way.
I began offering this online mosaic class in 2014 and over 100 Sculpted Mosaic Mirror Frame online students have joined since. Over half have are logging in online (with forever access!) from all around the USA and as far away as New Zealand, the Czech Republic, Germany, Austria, Mexico, Canada and Australia!
Sculpted Mosaic Mirror Students have sold their beautifully completed mirrors from their websites, art shows and have also received exciting commissions inspired by their class project.
Pricing and the Business of Art is also discussed in the class as a bonus topic! I share my own pricing formulas and advice for selling through consignment, art fairs and commissions.
Students take in the class info at their own pace and attend live webinars for Q&A and project sharing, if possible. Previously recorded webinars are posted in the class for students to access anytime.
Join us! Fire up your creativity and create your own beautiful Sculpted Mosaic Mirror Frame with my guidance.
Registration for the Online Sculpted Mosaic Mirror Frame Class is open. Sign up today and get started on your Inspiration Board, Frame Template, Tesserae Palette and Mosaic Design with the guidance of my 16 page Pre-Workshop Prep Guide, a booklet of colorful information to help you plan and organize your unique art piece.
THE DETAILS
ONLINE SCULPTED MOSAIC MIRROR WORKSHOP
-To begin, students prepare their designs and frame templates with the guidance of Sharra’s Pre-Workshop Prep Guide, a 16 page, PDF booklet. Students will then have pre-workshop consultations with Sharra as well.
-Previously recorded student webinars are posted in the class based on each phase of project content. This is a huge amount of information alone!
-After registration, students are provided an inspiring Pre-Workshop Prep Guide- a 16 page PDF booklet, guiding them through designing and planning for their mirror frame, narrated with image samples. There is also a clear and extensive Materials & Resources Guide with direct links to all of my recommended products. It is broken down per class phase so that students can gather supplies one project phase at a time, if desired.
-Students will be able to access the class content by logging into the membership area of sharrasmosaicsecrets.com, with the private login and password info that is provided.
-Each Phase is taught through professional and highly detailed video tutorials.
-After the students have had a chance to take in the new phase of class content, they can email questions if they are not answered in the class or webinars. Students can also post questions, photos and communicate with Sharra and each other through the secret Facebook group.
-Students have access to the class content forever, including content updates.
Times:
-This online class is completely at your own pace.
-Students have Lifetime Access to the class content.
-The class content is introduced through five Phases and can be paced out as one Phase per week or as needed.
-Hours of previously recorded Webinars for each phase are provided to support the class instruction.
-Private Pre-Workshop Project Consultation and Design Coaching with Sharra prior to class (scheduled via email)
-Private Final Workshop Consultation with Sharra (scheduled via email)
Community:
Membership to a vibrant secret Facebook group full of supportive and enthusiastic students from previous workshops, rich with inspiration and breathtaking projects, many from beginners!
To Register:
Cost: $950
Lifetime Access
*This online intensive is like 5 classes in one, plus hours of prerecorded webinars, personal coaching and consulting and community. The years of student success and following of this course is a testimony of its rich content and suberb quality. It is a one of a kind course that will feed your work for years to come, mosaic and beyond. Please feel free to contact Sharra with any questions!
This new intensive class experience is completely focused on my process of creating of a Sculpted Mosaic Mirror Frame
In this workshop students will create their own highly customized Sculpted Mirror Frame using the trade secrets and innovative techniques that I’ve fine tuned and mastered since developing them in 2006.
My sculpted mirrors have been exhibited with esteemed shows such as the International Mosaic Art Exhibition, SOFA NY and have been featured in numerous printed and online publications. I am commissioned to create custom mirrors, ranging from $2,500-$12,000 by designers around the country. My work is found in the homes of professional athletes, a Hollywood film producer, an infamous rockstar, an eccentric philanthropist, an art museum founder and many other collectors.
Read more below for an overview of the workshop.
THE PLAN, Where do we start and how does it work?
PRE-WORKSHOP
How to focus in on your intention for this specific project by gathering bits of color and design inspiration from the beauty around you.
Considering the direction of this specific project, will it be “Sweet & Simple”, “Earthy & Organic”, focus on a “Theme & Symbol” or highlight a “Message or Mantra”?
What shape do you want your frame to take on? Long and lean, round and curvy, geometric, representational, architectural? Consider the possibilities!
Create a series of surface designs (or doodles, if that approach is less intimidating!) over your chosen frame silhouette.
Create a life size template of your final design.
Curate a collection of mosaic materials (your tesserae), inspired by your inspiration board, embracing the colors, textures and design theme that you are planning to use.
My suggestions of places online to find these treasures for your unique creation.
My students know this: Edges are always first. I explain why and how to plan for them.
Recommendations of specific materials to use for the foreground of your design.
Recommendations of specific materials to use for the background of your design.
A 30 minute private meeting reviewing your project plans. Before our meeting, you send in images of your prep work, questions you have and anything thing else you’d like. I spend 30 mins reviewing this info before our meeting so that I can be best prepared and efficient with my suggestions during our call. I will make specific recommendations on the materials and approach to your project. Contact Sharra via email to arrange this consult.
Breaks down when new each new Phase will be introduced in the previously recorded webinars
PHASE ONE: FRAME BUILDING
How to Design and Transfer a Template
Optimal materials to build the frame with and what materials to avoid.
What to look for in a jigsaw, why use a jigsaw vs other saws and safety.
Create a customized frame in any shape or size within 60-90 minutes.
Simple, easy and clean hardware and what to use for large, heavy frames and panels.
Create a professional, finished look with this approach.
How to Add (amazingly strong!) Curls and Extensions
Create dramatic shapes by adding sculpted elements coming off of the frame.
PHASE TWO: SCULPTING
I share how in 2006, I was commissioned to create my first ever sculpted mosaic mirror frame. I spent 100’s of hours on this piece and I share all about the roller coaster of trials and errors of this first big sculpted project.
*Phase One and Two can be realistically completed within a couple days time at the Online Student’s own pace.
PHASE THREE: MOSAIC MAGIC
How to map out your design, prepare your glass, tile and beads and where to start adhering them with intention and focus.
How to approach and use inspiration from the beauty around us in our work in effective ways.
We begin with a simple goal of completing our frame’s edges. I explain why this is so important and is the best place to start.
How to bring out your mosaic design and also use your background space in a complimentary and pleasing way.
How to navigate the tricky spots in a surface with different heights and also use tesserae of different thicknesses on the same surface.
How to best use beads with glass, tile and more.
PHASE FOUR
Fitting the mirror into the Frame
Antiquing Mirror
Polishing/Cleaning
PHASE FIVE: MASTER PLANS
In this final segment of the class, we address:
Final Consult with Sharra to review your project progress and Master Plan.
Courses Included with Purchase
Original Price: $950
HOW IT ALL BEGAN….
In 2006, I was roughly five years into creating mosaics with a portfolio full of exciting pieces that had been featured in competitive juried art shows and high-end retail stores.
I was happily creating works with the same methods and techniques, focusing on exploring new designs and surfaces with each piece. Little did I know that everything about the way I worked was about to change with a single commission.
After teaching a Glass-on-Glass class at a local art center, one of my students asked me to create a mirror for her home, which ended up being the most enchanting home I had ever visited.
Each detail of the house had been customized by an artisan, from the stairway’s iron handrail to the glass blown bathroom sink to the carved stone dock leading out to a lake in the backyard.
The collector had an eye for unique design influenced by the magic of nature. She was an artist herself and requested that the mirror be baroque like, sculpted and full of detail.
She approved a quick sketch, handed over a swatch of fabric to inspire my material choices and was on her way. I was left to figure out exactly how I was going to create the very large, sculpted, three-dimensional frame I had promised. That key element, sculpted, had me stumped.
My mind couldn’t rest. First, WHY had I never thought of going that direction before? And second, HOW in the world was I going to do this? In the end, I successfully brought volume to the surface of my handcrafted frames, taking my mosaic work to the next level and I haven’t looked back since.
I set off for the studio and didn’t come up for air for months on months. I met with other artists, wandered the aisles of art supply stores, researched websites, devoured books and it wasn’t until a spontaneous brainstorm with a high school art teacher who worked with a local puppet and mask theater, happened by my studio during an open studio event that I found the path that lead me to innovative success.
I discovered and experimented with products and recipes that set my creativity on fire.
I rapidly implemented new techniques that were making this vision of a three dimensional, sculpted mosaic mirror, attainable, FUN and a reality.
After that piece, the buzzing source of inspiration created a surge of energy and I cranked out two more sculpted mosaic mirrors (“Tango” and “Chantily Lace”) in just eight weeks (all while working another job!). I was hooked.
Since creating these first Sculpted Mosaic Mirror Frames, I have made dozens more. In preparation for this workshop, I’ve combed through my vault of work-in-progress photos and have been delighted to find so many of my past projects documented. I can’t wait to share them and so much more with you in creating your own.
Let’s get started!
Student Work!
Created by Karen in Florida
Created by Shelley in Minnesota
Created by Holly Graze of Mollycat Mosaics
Created by Trish in Missouri
Created by Debra in Hawaii
Created by Lauren Mehrberg in Massachusetts
Created by Kathy Scherr in Maryland
Made by Jane in Wisconsin
Make by Corinne in Massachusetts
Made by Nancy in Massachusetts
Made by Dana in Florida
I am so lucky to have studied in three countries and have three degrees (including two masters). I absolutely consider Sharra's mosaic mirror course to be college level in its quality and presentation. The course comes with three huge advantages: years of Sharra's knowledge and experience distilled into a series of lectures and interactive tutorials; well-organized videos that you can reference forever, and a community of like-minded learners who continue to experiment, explore and offer support to each other - with Sharra's active input. This course has saved me years of unsuccessful attempts and unnecessary purchases. I am so glad I took it, and I continue to refer to it often for help with a wide range of mosaic projects. -Louise B.
Join Sharra and over 100 online students from around the world in this amazing online intensive!
Get started now!
Your Instructor
Sharra (share-ah) Frank is an established mosaic artist in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Her mosaic obsession began in 2000, while still an art student at the University of Minnesota. She worked from her kitchen table, creating small pieces to sell in local flower shops. With each small success her artistic vision grew and so did the scale and intricacy of her work. After making the leap to a private studio she continued creating the intricate, whimsical and inspiring mosaic mirrors and window hangings that are her signature. At the same time, she made the transition to full-time artist and never looked back. Sharra has several large-scale installations and murals throughout the Twin Cities area, has worked with high-end designers and clientele everywhere from Florida to California and has exhibited with the Mosaic Arts International and SOFA NY. She teaches beginning and advanced mosaic classes from her Minneapolis studio, online and around the US with mosaic educational organizations such the Society of American Mosaic Artists, the Institute of Mosaic Art.
View Sharra’s full portfolio of mosaic artwork, commissions and public art at www.sharrafrank.com