This Mexican smalti is sold in 100gram bags which contain approximately 40 pieces. This will cover an area of 8cm x 8cm. The pieces are hand-cut and therefore quite variable in shape but are usually square or rectangular with each side between 1cm and 2.5cm long. Use wheeled glass cutters from Leponitt or Seabell for cutting down. IMPORTANT! You should always wear a mask and eye protection when cutting mosaic materials.   This Mexican smalti is made in Cuernavaca by the Perdomo family who have been supplying artists and architects with the finest materials for large scale mural-making since 1949.  Traditional smalti-making methods perfected on Murano are used but, because of the inclusion of local minerals, different production techniques and, crucially, a different method of cutting and laying, the Mexican look is significantly different.   Colour is more varied because of the inclusion of locally produced metal oxides and minerals, and because the crucibles in which the glass is melted are not cleaned out between batches… this encourages wonderfully painterly streaking and marbling (and, of course, makes it inevitable that colour between batches varies, so do buy all you need in one go).   Additionally, although the molten glass is poured just like that for Venetian smalti, the resulting ‘tortilla’ is pressed so that it is thinner than an Italian one (5–7mm instead of ~9 mm).  Once cold, the tortilla is cut using a hammer and hardie into slightly irregular chunks between 1cm and 2cm square.  The most important visual difference comes from how the material is used after cutting. In Mexican smalti, the outer surfaces of the slab (the top and bottom formed during pouring) become the visible face of the tesserae. These surfaces retain evidence of the molten glass’s flow, cooling patterns, and colour mixing, which creates a distinctive mottled and variegated appearance.  By contrast, with Italian smalti the interior of the glass - revealed when it is riven apart - is used to form the mosaic surface. These inner surfaces are more uniform and denser in colour, producing the smoother, more consistent appearance associated with Venetian glass. Elpidio Perdomo perfected this less labour-intensive technique as a cost-saving strategy and gave us a wonderfully and richly varied material quite unlike Italian smalti.

If you're trying to match a colour, you may find it useful to know codes/names under which this tile has previously been sold by Mosaic Workshop and other retailers:

#118

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