Cutting Marble like Michelangelo…not

Today was our first day of Mosaic Class. Mike and I are taking a private class with Mosaic Master Tiziana. The class is entirely in Italian and about an art form I know nothing about. Challenging. But Tiziana is wonderful AND she speaks slowly and clearly…only once or twice slipping into Roman dialect. In the morning we learned the history of mosaics and about the different types. In the afternoon we learned about techniques, chose our project and started cutting our mosaic tessere from slabs of marble with a hammer and hardie (the metal wedge the stone is set on for cutting). Between concentrating on the Italian and wielding a hammer on stone…I was exhausted. Right after class we walked across the street for a couple of negronis! The extras show Tiziana and Mike cutting the marble tessere