Jade Gallery Mosaics, Mosaic Classes: In the Adelaide City region of South Australia

The front entrance to Jade Gallery Mosaics on Glen Osmond Road tells you that inside is an instructor who takes her art form very seriously. Deborah Houghton has been running classes for several years and when you look around the works in progress, as a new student you can't help but feel a little intimidated.

But much of the work is by other students who are learning a decorative art that stretches back thousands of years.

“It's most common area is from ancient Summaria. About six thousand years ago actually. They stuck little clay pipes into the walls of their houses to reinforce them but in the process made beautiful patterns - that's basically when it started.”

The ancient Greeks and Romans perfected the artform but for any mosaic artist, ancient or modern, the basics have always been the same - focus on a pattern and for my fellow classmate Jean it was the seahorse which she’d drawn in chalk.

Deborah's many books on mosaics offer unlimited inspiration and depending on your level of confidence you can opt for something a little more complicated.

“This one is a mixture of ceramic and glass.”

The beauty of mosaic is it's simplicity. You draw your pattern, choose your tiles and smash them.

For something so delicate and precise the smashing of the tiles with a hammer is very therapeutic. But remember, the more aggressive you are the smaller the pieces and the more work you'll need to put in.

“It really is like putting a jigsaw together.”

The next step is the grouting. For Deborah the ongoing love affair with mosaic gradually revealed more and more of her hidden artistic talents.

“I didn't realise what my medium was until quite late. I was always collecting things like shells, pebbles and bits of glass and notably broken crockery. Always thinking I was going to do something with this one day and then I just stumbled across the fact that this was an ancient artform using found objects.”

With mosaic the possibilities are limitless from table tops to wall plaques and if you're truly inspired why not a set of chairs and maybe the family car.

Jade Gallery Mosaics is on Glen Osmond Road, Eastwood. For details on classes contact Deborah on 8357 3243.