South of the Border travel is always fun. Great food... including sea food, frosty drinks made with tropical fruits and good liquor and my favorite... Shopping!
We were not disappointed with the shopping district in Rosarito, Baja, Mexico. Store after store are filled with custom iron, blown glass, talavera tile and my favorite... independent crafters.
We strayed of the main path and followed signs up the stairs to an out of the way shop. Mario Rodriquez met us at the door with a smile, a hearty greeting (in English) and then began instantly with a torrent of explanations about his work.
Here is a guy who uses the stuff that others are throwing away to make his craft. This town is filled with tile and pottery stores, which leads to a ton of breakage.
Every shop owner piles these shards of ceramic "junk" into a box and Mario makes a weekly trek to pick up his supply of "craft supplies". He takes these bits and pieces of color and works his magic making beautiful mosaics to sell in his little shop. He is so into the entrepreneurial spirit that he welcomes custom orders.
His business name is Baja's Mosaic Spot and he describes his wok as - "A very unique twist of mosaic art... anything your heart desires we will do!"
Of course... I had to purchase a few items, I mean a girl has to support the arts doesn't she?
The sun is cut out of wood with a jig saw, and painted with black acrylic paint.
The mosaic shards are grouted with cobalt blue grout and the sun face in the center is painted by hand.
This mask isn't as scary in life as it is in this photo. The base of the mask is a broken roof tile, which always has a hole to attach to the roof, thus leaving a great place for Mario to attach a hanger.
The colors are so vibrant and the use of black grout really sets them off. The pattern used for the eyes is actually a very common tile pattern found in Rosarito tile shops.
I had a wonderful shopping excursion in Rosarito, Baja, Mexico... can you tell?
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