I have to admit that the first time I walked past the cement sculptures draped on a bench at Maker Faire this weekend, I couldn’t even focus on the fact that they were mosaic quilts. I was just stunned by the beauty of such a rigid medium appearing to be so fluid. It wasn’t until my mom pointed out the quilt patterns in the mosaic tiles that everything snapped into focus and I was pushed over the edge of “wow” right into depths of “holy smokes, that’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen!”

Austin artist, designer and sculptor, Faith Schexnayder of Flatfork Studios, creates these masterpieces in several steps that she actually had laid out in her booth at Maker Faire. Her work has been featured on HGTV, and Faith was working on a sample piece at Maker Faire and took questions from visitors and showed them exactly how the mosaic quilts come together. I was especially intrigued by her story of having to study traditional quilt making before she could fully execute her idea for the cement quilts. Being able to talk to and learn from the artists and crafters themselves is one of the most invaluable parts of Maker Faire.