 | Design Phase Design is taken from the schools emblem, but we didn’t want to copy the emblem exactly. This is the design we agreed on. The leafy areas were to be handcut leaf shapes using 3 shades of green handmade tiles. I would use these to gain some depth in the foliage areas. The brown block areas at the base are for donors names. The school were selling bricks to fund the cost of the mural and some air conditioning. One of the things that was really unique about this project was to use a larger blocked background to keep costs down. I think it worked well |
 | Preparation This was toward the end of preparation. I’d:- • Cut out 21 panels of Compressed fibre cement It seems a long time ago as I write this, but I think it took about two weeks solid to get to this point. |
 | Pre-cut 15cm tiles. Here’s the boxes pf precut tiles. They were all cut using the sliding tile cutter |
 | Laying the tiles I set the work bench up with 4 panels and laid them together like shown. The panels were pretty heavy, but each had to be moved several times – each edge had to be lined up to ensure the tiles line up correctly.
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 | On site to install mural Photo of the first panel in position. I’d set up a baton along the entire base of the mural to establish the bottom edge & hold the panels into position. While in position, I’d hammerdrill through the precut holes into the wall about 50mm. Then using a screw & plug set up, fix the panel to the walll in 4 places. The bottom edge was 3.5 metres above the ground and the top of the mural was about 7 metres!
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 | Bottom row in Now the top of the first level becomes the base for the next level. I used the plastic spacers available in tile shops to keep a gap of 5mm between panels. Time to go up to the top level! |
 | All Panels in Yep, it was a long way up there!
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 | Still plenty to do. All panels are now in. Notice how each panel has 4 tiles missing? That’s where we fixed the panels to the wall. Now we have to glue those tiles in, grout them & clean them. Then I’ll need to silicone in the gaps. That by the way, is why each panel is masked up. I masked them up for siliconing in the studio where it was easy. |
 | Ta Da! At about 7pm, it was all done. Couldn’t see it too well, but all the planning had paid off. We got it installed in a day with barely a hitch – in fact we had to wait an hour & a half for the scaffolding guy to have the scaffolding ready. |
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Completion Looks great without the scaffolding. The terracotta area underneath the mural are Patron bricks which are all individually inscribed with the donor’s name. And the kids loved it! (mission accomplished) |
