 |
|
|||
 |
Libby Jacobs has “always been drawn to the creative things in life”. As a child she spent lots of time drawing, which extended to painting as she grew older. She’s also “dabbled in theatre wardrobe, set decorating, visual merchandising and journalism”. And although she’s had no formal training in any of the above, they all inform her current creative pastime of making origami paper mosaic mirrors.
A cook by trade, Libby started making her mosaic mirrors about two years ago, after her Japanese sister-in-law sent her a few packets of origami paper as a gift. Initially at a loss as to what to do with the paper, Libby was nevertheless drawn to the paper’s intricate patterns and vibrant colours.
From there, however, like all the best creative discoveries it was trial and error. She sealed her second mirror with estapol gloss, which made all the paper transparent – “a huge disappointment after the work I'd put into it.” Experimentation won out in the end as she came up with a winning combination, and has been enjoying the fruits of her hobby ever since.
These days, the mirrors are actually mirror tiles mounted on MDF board. “Usually I size them so there's a 10-15cm border, which I then mosaic with mostly origami paper.” Other bits and pieces of paper – streamers and wrapping paper – sometimes find their way into the pieces too.
Paper, Libby says, “is so easy to work with” and while it may seem a little counter-intuitive to make mirrors – often hung in bathrooms, where it’s prone to steam – out of paper, the estapol coating protects the delicate paper mosaics.
Libby plans to explore paper's versatility further in future mirrors, and perhaps even incorporate three-dimensional aspects, such as “folds and spiral cuts”. She also collects wooden leaf-shaped nut bowls to make into a sculpture that she plans to paper mosaic as well.
Scouring garage sales and junk shops for things she can use often provides unexpected inspiration as well: “My best buy would have to be a roll of wallpaper I picked up for 5 cents!”
Although her mosaic mirror making is “a very enjoyable hobby at this stage”, Libby – who is also writing a novel [“very slowly”] – says she’d love to eventually make a living from her mirrors, because “as much as cooking does afford a creative outlet it’s also dirty and bloody hard work!” In the meantime, however, she sells to friends and has donated a few mirrors to charities.
By Melanie Sheridan
|
|||
“Then one day the idea just hit me,” she tells 
For the time being however, she’s happy just to keep perfecting her art, and finding inspiration wherever she can, whether it be in “magazines, other art, fabric scraps, nature – the list is endless. Lots of other artists and designers inspire me. The collective genius of