one of my objectives when attending the orsoni mosaic master course was to get a better grasp of shading and color blending.

at the orsoni master course, nippers - often the cutting tool of choice for american mosaicists - are not allowed. a traditional technique using a hammer and chisel is used, and can prove to be a steep learning curve for someone dependent primarily on nippers for 10 years. needless to say, for the first few days, i felt somewhat incompetent, and struggled with achieving the fine cuts which i crave.

fortunately, i started with the leaf and stem. by the time i got to the flower, i had acquired some skill with the hammer, and was able to focus more on the shading. i used some red and orange colored gold in the petals, which is difficult to capture in a photo.