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I personally, love doing
mosaic work. It can be used in so many ways. It does not have to be
the typical tile on the wall and floor stuff. You can do mosaic in
paper, material, tiles, glass, mirror, shells, stone, buttons, old
broken china, jewelry parts, pearls, etc, etc. It can be something you
frame and hang on the wall.
MATERIALS AND TOOLS
1.
1) A work surface, floor, wall, table
top, a slab of plywood, flower pot, small trash container. a small
trivet???
2.
2)
Gather your tiles, glass and other
objects
3.
3)
A hammer,
4.
4)
a tile nippers ,
5.
5) glass cutter,
6.
6)
eye goggles
7.
7) heavy duty rubber gloves
8.
8)
other assortment of tools from the junk
drawer
9. 9)
Sponges, rags, dust brush.
10.
10)
Water handily near by
11.
11)
Adhesive, Clear if doing on glass. Match
your adhesive to your other materials
12.
12)
Adhesive spreader, spatula, palette
knife, wooden sticks, toothpicks
13. 13)
Grout (grout can be color stained)
14. 14)
Grout spreader scrapers, heavy rubber
gloves are great for apply and spreading the gorut, a face mask is not a
bad idea,
15.
15) sealer
There are a number of
important things to consider.
1)
1) What are you doing your mosaic on;
be sure it is strong enough to handle what you will be applying.
2)
2)You can work on the floor, the wall
and on furniture. Consider if it will be hung and how will it be hung.
3) 3)Give
thought to whether it can or needs to be transparent, (ie. like a glass
top patio table, or a piece of glass you plan to hand in a window).
Think these things out before you start.
4)
4)Do the pieces need to be broken or
reshaped? You may need a tile trimmer.
INSTRUCTIONS
1.)
Clean surface, no dirt, same, oil,
grease, etc.
2.)
Clean your tiles and glass before
breaking up
3.)
Read instructions on your adhesive and
follow instructions
4.)
Pattern design can be transferred to
your work surface with a free hand sketch or with carbon/graphic paper.
I always make sure I have a paper copy of my pattern before I start so I
know I like it.
5.)
Large patterns can be applied with a
pounce wheel and chalk. (a wheel that punches holes in your pattern so
you can dust the holes with chalk or charcoal to get an outline of your
pattern on your LARGE surface.
6.)
Play with the tiles before you glue them
down and be sure you like what you are doing before you glue.
7.)
You can cut and nip the pieces to get
them shaped correctly for your pattern.
8.)
Black and dark colors can separate your
other colors
9.)
Warm and strong colors will come
forward in viewing and cool, muted colors will recede.
10.)
Let glue dry, follow instructions on
product.
11.)
Grout pieces using the grout your
selected. Work it into the pieces with a sponge, your hands and any
scrapers you have handy. Be sure all spaces are filled. Using your
sponge and rags, run it well and remove excess grout as that will help
later clean up.
12.)
After grout has set up a little,
re-sponge with a damp sponge to remove excess grout. It this is
removing any space grout stop and let it dry some more. I like getting
it as clean as I can before the grout sets up.
13.)
Finish cleaning the piece with some
damp sponges and rags.
14.)
Most mosaic work will need to be sealed
against moisture and pollutions and the sealer will also bring up the
colors on your work.
Now you can admire your
work and plan your next piece. Remember this project can be something
small and something very, very large. It makes a great gift with little
investment. And you already have extra adhesive, grout and sealer.
REVERSE MOSAIC
Do your mosaic work inside
a mold onto a sticky contact paper. The front of the tile is down . Be
sure to leave some space between the pieces.
Add a fine grout (or
concrete with no gravel) about ½ inch thick. And then finish with
regular concrete. Let it set for about 3 days and gently turn over and
release your mosaic work, remove contact paper and clean any bleed
through grout and let finish drying. It is still wet as long as it feels
cold to the touch. (I often put a layer of chicken wire between the two
grout pourings for adding strength.
Great for stepping stone
or a way to mark your flower and garden sections.
NOTE: If using for
stepping stones I would suggest that you do not make the pattern a total
coverage of glass and tile, as it can be really, really, slick in your
walk way. I found that out the hard way.
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