Devin Devine, dry stone mason and artist
devin@devineescapes.com
The adventure continues
Winters here get too cold. Grade level cement, of any sort, doesn’t do well anyplace with winter temperatures below freezing. The freeze-thaw cycle destroys concrete, cracks up mortar joints between flagstones–and pebble mosaics don’t last long at all.
Note, I do work across the country, but I’m not big into cement–will do paths like this down south, too.
Follow my ongoing adventures, on instagram.
Spiral Path, completed August 2024 in Wayne PA. Just a teaser for now. More photos and video of this project coming–next week. Be there!
Hence the reason why I’ve been developing the art of Dry Stone Pebble Mosaics.
With typical pebble mosaics, you’re simply setting little bits of stone into mortar, upon a concrete foundation. The mortar is holding these teeny tiny bits in place. The pieces have maybe an inch of surface area showing–and they are about an inch deep. There’s no gravity holding it all in place, it’s merely stuck to that small amount of mortar.
With my work–if you see an inch or surface area then there’s 6 inches of stone buried into the gravel foundation.
A concept I’ve been developing for well over a decade now. It takes time.
San Francisco November 2018 I set thin pieces of stone on edge and sank them down into the gravel foundation, in between natural flagstones, thus creating this branching pattern.
This early attempt only has 1 row of little pieces……but how can I draw a more elaborate picture, using this medium?
Dry stone mosaic installation, completed in Spring 2021, Hudson Valley New York. Yes, I travel for work.
Another single row installation, set in between flagstones. In this case, the inlaid design connects into the dry stone wall and also continues into the dry stone sphere.
Related: dry stone sphere in Virginia
Visionary design work–manifested via traditional craftsmanship.
Related: flagstone double spiral
“To wield tons of stone as gracefully as a painter wields a paintbrush upon canvas”
–this is a statement of intent, written in my notebook way back at the start of all of this.
I combine traditional craft and visionary design to create durable works of functional art in stone.
Just gorgeous! I wish we’d have thought to do such a thing when we built our stone patio a couple of years ago.
Thank you, I appreciate you saying that. Perhaps you’ll remember in a few years when it’s time to remodel the fireplace or something 🙂
Do you put a sealer on the stone path?
No, stone doesn’t need to be sealed and sealing grade level stone is more likely to trap moisture inside of the stone.