OK, Friends and Neighbors, let’s see what happens when I take

a bronze safety glass table top, donated by a kind neighbor, and

put it in the grass on top of a heavy vinyl tarp, and

wrap it up, and

hit it as hard as I can on the edge with a long-handled hammer… repeatedly….

NOTHING!

(except that I made holes in the tarp)

Hmmmm….

I think I’ll pad the vinyl with this old quilted bedspread, and

use this limestone rock to throw down in the middle of the glass… repeatedly, and

I’m not hearing any breaking sound!

Maybe I should check… hmmm…. the wrapped-up package feels like…

Jelly!

Maybe I should unwrap it now to see what has happened…

Oh!  Beautiful fractures!  And, larger pieces as well as small ones!  I wonder which blow with the stone did the job?  I should pick up a piece of the glass and hold it up to see

all the little internal fractures.  So, THIS is why some mosaic artists are so keen on safety glass!

Some use clear fractured glass to adhere over paintings or old photos or prints and such.  Some use small pieces to add texture to the surface of decorative objects in an appealing way.

Me?  It is tempting to see the fractures as metaphor for the broken parts of life:  our private lives, our lives in community, or relationship to the world and, indeed, the whole universe.

The fractured pieces are also beautiful, like natural crystals which glisten in the light.

Some of these will become a part of my next mosaic.