The Studio Journal · Commissions
A minimum of 30 days in the studio — that is the floor for every made-to-order Lion & Crown piece. Small framed pieces usually run 30–45 days from design approval, medium panels six to ten weeks, and murals or shower features two to four months. Nothing is off the shelf: your piece does not exist until it is drawn, cut and placed by hand, and that is where the time goes.
If you are planning around a date — a birthday, an anniversary, Christmas — work backwards from it. The Christmas order book closes on November 15 precisely because of the 30-day minimum: an order placed on the last day still needs its month at the bench, plus crating and shipping time, to be under a tree on December 25.
The drawing (days, sometimes a week). Your design is drawn full-size, with its colour palette worked out piece by piece. A mountain sky might hold forty values of blue and grey; getting them right on paper is what makes the finished piece read across a room. Nothing is cut until you have approved this drawing.
The cutting and setting (the bulk of the time). Every tessera is cut by hand — nippers for curves, a wet saw for straights — and placed one at a time, following the andamento, the flow lines that make a wing curve and water move. A detailed panel can hold thousands of pieces. There is no machine setting and no speeding this stage up without it showing.
Grouting, curing and finishing. Grout is tested on a scrap board first — its colour changes the whole piece — then the work is grouted, cleaned, cured and sealed. Framed pieces are framed; wall pieces are finished ready to hang or install. Rushing a cure is how good work gets spoiled at the last fence, so it is not rushed.
Small framed pieces — from $650 — usually 30–45 days. Medium panels — from $1,200 — usually six to ten weeks. Murals and shower features — priced per square foot — usually two to four months, scheduled honestly from the start. If your date is tighter than the work allows, we will tell you at the conversation stage, not after you have paid a deposit.
Allow a minimum of 30 days, more for anything large, and order for Christmas by November 15. Handmade runs on studio time, not warehouse time — and the wait is most of what you are buying. To start, call or text Lion & Crown Mosaics at 719-521-8312 or use the contact form. Shipping is available anywhere in the US at the buyer’s cost, quoted before the piece leaves the studio.
