Pictures

[Aggie]

Swato, what about sponge-painting or stamping to give the same effect, but not using actual tiles? It'd still be time-consuming, but you could cut shapes to order out of rubber or perhaps cork, and it'd be quicker than hand-assembling pieces.

'Scuse me butting in, here's another green man for Aggie.  I took this today in Brecon Cathedral - it is the font, of course.

I looked quite the image of a green man on Sunday, when I went to a midsummer party and wore a wreath of foliage on my head.  The hostess is Swedish, so we erected _{quite definitely the applicable word} a midsommarstång and danced around it. I used to dance the Maypole as a kid, which was a little less overtly phallic.

[Swatopluk]

Aquarium gravel seems to be the right stuff. A wee problem: a cursory search gives the impression that it is sold only in packages from 5 kg upward (smaller portions only in very few colours). Let's see, if I can find a real world shop that would be willing to sell it in the mix I need and in the portions I need. I think I'd need not more than about 2 kg in total (for some special colour sections I could probably count the needed pebbles by hand).
Will probably take a while.

[Roland Deschain]

Swato, you should be able to buy mixed colours of aquarium gravel in 2.5Kg sizes, although finding the exact mix you need may be difficult. Many of them are horribly garish (yes, i'm an au naturel person when it comes to aquarium gravel used for original purpose), but if you find a good aquatic centre, you may find a decent enough range to suit your needs.

David, I hope you pointed out to the clergy of that church the irony in their font symbolism.

[Swatopluk]

There are black, white and red mixtures. Useful should I turn monarchist

[Sibling DavidH]

David, I hope you pointed out to the clergy of that church the irony in their font symbolism.

Bit late for that, it should have been pointed out in the early C12.    But I did mention while chatting to a lady in some kind of supervisory position that I've seen many a green man, and many a Norman font adorned with grotesques, but never a font with a green man.  It really surprised me.  They might as well have a figure of Beelzebub with claws outstretched.

[Swatopluk]

I went to one of the larger aquaristic shops around here. Lots of useful gravel in the right colours but sold in packages of 5 kg minimum size.
Visited a shop for hobby and artist material afterwards. More reasonable quantities but some needed colours missing. Maybe I can fill the gaps by visiting more shops of this type and hoping that they only have a partial overlap in stored goods. If anything else fails, I may have to smash some marble myself or to dye some white pebbles on the surface. But at least I can be sure to get gold-coloured gravel. That is the one thing that could not be substituted for.

[pieces o nine]

Sounds like aquarium gravel may work for you - good. I thought of another option for colors needed in small quantities, with materials which should be available at most hobby shops.

1. How about polymer clay (can bake in ~ 15 minutes in a home oven, and small pieces are even cured with a handheld hairdryer by the action figure revamp crowd) comes in 2 oz blocks in a plethora of graded colors. Or you could buy two blocks (say yellow and blue, for example) and mix successive small batches in different percentages to get some variation or 'shading' tiles. (It's easy to leave some marbelling while mixing for that natural rock look as well.) You can roll a sheet out to a usable thickness using a water glass and two pencils or chopsticks. Easy to cut with knife or scissors either before or after baking/curing, (you might want to let clay cool to save your fingers and get sharper edges - or - breaking while hot will give a rougher, less finished edge.) Polymer is strong, light, easy to glue, and simulates natural materials -- especially in the size you're looking at.

2. Or get a package of white or neutral air dry clay (also marketed as 'paper clay') and add pigment. I've done this with good effect using watercolors, acrylics, and/or inks. Just knead it right into the clay, roll out a sheet as above, and let it dry for a couple hours. Easy to cut into strips or tiles either before or after drying, this material is cheap, weighs almost nothing in small tile sizes, takes adhesive extremely well, and visually blends well with gravels.

3. With any leftover clay, make yourself a customer runestone set!   

[Aggie]

Hmm, could you dye expanded perlite to match the shades you need? It's light and cheap.  The pieces are small, but if you sifted for dust first, you could cover large expanses quickly by applying the adhesive first and then shaking it into place.

[Swatopluk]

I think about using double-sided transparent adhesive tape, so I can put the drawing below. The fine parts will be layed, the large unicoloured areas 'poured'. All granulate will be washed and dedusted before use.
I went to several shops and I think I am now missing only two colours, one for the bare skin and one shade of brown. Gray for the beard could be substituted with silver. There are still a number of shops I did not visit yet, so chances are good to find the missing ones. If it was winter, it would be easy, just going out and collecting some grit from the frozen street and sidewalks.

[Swatopluk]

OK, here's my first attempt at mosaic work beyond the paper stage.
Size about 12 x 20 cm


http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x97/Swatopluk/DSCI0136.jpg

[pieces o nine]

A fine start, Swato.

[Sibling DavidH]

Looks good, Swato.

[Roland Deschain]

A great start there, Swato. The gravel's working out nicely.

[Griffin NoName]

Great Gravel!!!  I reckon you could sell that on Aaaargh! Bay.

Talking of gravel, I'm looking for stuff to fill a small hollow cloth bag to shove in a certain place to even things up with the other side (and while looking for such stuff, I came across bottom enhancers).  Maybe I could try gravel. Or tesserae.

Re. the green men. Little green men in her garden was the start of my aunt's Alzheimers.

[Aggie]

(and while looking for such stuff, I came across bottom enhancers)

Aquarium gravel certainly fits that description.

I think it might prove a bit heavy for prosthetylism, though... perhaps shredded religious pamphlets instead?