The hard part now begins!
After deciding the design to include in the rosette (here), it is now time to find a design that both preserves the original it makes reference to and is compatible with the techniques and design language of the rosette.
Instead of trying to translate it literally, i decided to use a more traditional (for the guitar) mosaic, detailed enough so it would still have a feel and aesthetic similar to the original. In order to do that, the tiles need to be somewhat bigger than normal and common ‘tricks’ used in more geometric or stylized designs to minimize the parts needed are not possible in this case; moreover, since the original has many small variations in each of the sun’s flames, it makes sense to at least have two of them repeating instead of just one. This makes the design and the rhytm of the motif more interesting, but also doubles the number of squares for the tile.
The grid i settled on for the final design is 20 x 20 squares, detailed enough yet still somewhat manageable; total squares in each tile are then 400!
Even though the final tiles will be wedges, for basic design and reference during construction it is much easier to use a square tile; once the original is ‘squared’, it can be superimposed to the grid and the squares colored at will on to of it:
Superimposed grid for mosac design
So with the final design for the tile done, the next step is to actually build it!
