Years and years ago, a friend of ours said to me, “One day, I’m going to get you to make me a mosaic serving tray.” I didn’t give it another thought for a number of years, until one day, after this friend had announced her engagement, I came across a serving tray in our local thrift store. Immediately, I turned to my partner (and best thrift storing companion) and said: “This would be perfect to mosaic as a wedding gift for S & K.”
The tray sat and sat in my little mosaic workspace, waiting for me to get inspired. I drew a few sketches during Earth Hour (by candlelight), but still wasn’t completely sold. And then, finally, it hit me: these two live in Toronto (and love the city) and they love public transit. Seriously, if K hadn’t done his PhD in Italian, he would’ve made a top notch transit planner – this is a guy who has designed an entire transit system for Buffalo (his hometown) in his spare time. It’s incredible.
Anyway, you’ve probably figured it out by now, but just in case: the idea was to cover the tray with a mosaic version of Toronto’s subway system. And what’s kind of neat about it is that because mosaics are so durable and the subway system will inevitably grow and change, the tray will be a snapshot in TTC history … a real conversation piece for the grandkids :-)
