Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1913-07-09
SAND MOSAIC WORK
AN IOWA PRODUCT
Different Shades of Sand Obtained
From Iowa's Pictured Rocks.
DEAF MUTE DISCOVERER
OF PEG Jar ART.
%.
Teaches Art to Telegraph oSo,
Before Death--Beautiful Wm,c4
is Done by Latter.

Father Marquette discovered the
pictured rocks of Iowa when he
fioated down the Wisconsin river in
a canoe and first set eyes upon the
upper Mississippi at point near Nc
Gregor, but il took a deaf mute by
the name of Andrew Clemens to dis
cover that the colored cliffs con-
tanned the material needed for the
development of one of the most fas-
cinating branches of art ever taken
up by man, and w. S. O'Brien of Og-
den, Utah, who learned the art from
Mr.. Clemmens, is the man who is
perpetuating 1t, says HI. C. Keeley
in the Register and Leader; and the
branch of art in question is sand mo-
sale work, executed by the use of
forty-one tints of sand obtained from
Iowas pictured rocks-a formation
of sand cliffs exposing five distinct
periods of geology.
Mr.. O'Brien, who insofar as can be
learned, is the greatest If not the
only living exponent of sand mo-
sale work, is telegraph operator,
but during the years he spent at Nc
Gregor, Ia, he learned the sand art
from Andrew Clemmens, who is sup
posed to have originated it. In his
younger days Mr.. O'Brien sold
enough of his idle-hour work to buy
a comfortable little home, but during
the past few years he has had little
or no time to devote to his hobby.
The spell of the sand is returning to
him, however, and he declares that
ere long he intends to teach the art
to some of his friends in order that
it may not be lost to the world when
Father Time bids him lay aside his
sand tray and arranging spoons.
The mosaics that have been made
by Mr.. O'Brien are many and varied
as to size, shape and design. Large
necked bottles are used as contain
ers, and after they are filled they are
sealed. When the work is done and
the bottle closed no amount of shak-
ing will disturb the arrangement OF
the colored sand, and nothing short
of breaking the receptacle will de-
stroy the design.
When the sand artist evolves in
his mind the sort of picture or out
line he wishes to create he gathers
up several sizes and shapes of wood
en- tools, sits down beside his sand
tray (Which is fan-shaped contain
er with conical bins in it) and starts
to work. Taking up his empty bot
ties, he puts in a layer of colored
sand that conforms with the color
scheme he wishes to follow, and
then, by using little spoons and
wooden tools, he works or coaxes the
different tints of sand into the shapes
and figures he desires to create.
While the work is in progress the
bottle is held at varying angles.
The sand is laid carefully and work
ed up against the sides of the con-
tainer in any shape desired. Sand
that falls back from the sides of the
receptacle or is fiicked away from
the outline of the design is allowed
to accumulate In the center of the
bottle, where it is used for filling.
When the design is complete the
sand is thoroughly pressed down,
tamped with stomps and then her
metically sealed.
The sealing process is one that
strikes terror to the heart of the
sand artist. 1t requires enormous
pressure to pack the sand so that the
millions of grains of sand will re-
main assembled in picture form
through all the changing years, and
there is absolutely no means of
knowing just how much pressure a
glass bottle will stand. So it hap
pens that the sand man, after COM
pleting a tedious and delicate piece
of work not infrequently destroys
his creation by accidentally breaking
the receptacle while tamping the
sand preparatory to sealing it up
for all time.
During the time he has devoted
to the work Mr.. O'Brien has made
hundreds of designs in sand. AS a
boy he used to work out sand de-
signs in glass paper weights and sell
them to the passengers on the Mis-
sissippi river steamboats, that stopp-
ed at McGregor Many of his most