The Studio Journal · Process
It depends on where the piece will live. Shower features and other wet work should be built on waterproof foam board or honeycomb board, which are light, rigid and waterproof all the way through. Framed dry art can be built on a properly sealed rigid board. Large wall pieces are usually built on fibreglass mesh at the bench and installed in sections. Ordinary unsealed plywood is the wrong answer for wet work: it is heavy, drinks moisture at the edges, and can swell and pop pieces.
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.
Waterproof foam board (Wedi-type). Cement-coated foam board made for showers. Feather-light for its rigidity, waterproof through its whole thickness, and it cuts cleanly. This is the default for shower features, bathroom murals and any piece that will live with steam and splashes.
Honeycomb board. A rigid aluminium-honeycomb panel: extremely flat and strong at large sizes, and still light enough to hang safely. Used for big panels and murals where foam board would flex.
Fibreglass mesh. Not a board at all — the piece is built face-up on mesh at the bench, then set into thinset on the prepared wall in numbered sections. Right for large wall installs; the wall itself must be properly prepared and, in a shower, waterproofed.
Sealed board for framed pieces. A small framed panel that will hang in a dry room can live happily on a rigid board whose edges and back are fully sealed against household humidity. The sealing is not optional — raw edges are where moisture starts.
Wood moves. In Colorado’s dry winters and steamy showers it swells, shrinks and warps on a cycle glass cannot follow, so pieces shear off at the edges first. A plywood-backed piece is also far heavier than the same piece on foam or honeycomb, which matters when it hangs on a wall for twenty years. Indoors, dry, and small, sealed wood can be acceptable — in a shower, never.
The substrate is agreed at the drawing stage, before a single piece is cut, because it sets the weight, the hanging method and the price of the build. Every Lion & Crown piece is made to order with a minimum of 30 days in the studio: small framed pieces from $650, medium panels from $1,200, murals and shower features $180–$250 per square foot. The Christmas order book closes November 15.
Wet work on waterproof board, big panels on honeycomb, wall installs on mesh, framed dry art on fully sealed board — and wet work never on wood. To talk through a piece for your space, 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.
