Category: Material and Tool Information
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Epoxy Grout vs. Archival Quality Materials
Epoxy grout is preferred for pools because it is more resistant to pool chemicals and staining, but it shouldn’t be used on art object or plaques that might be around for decades or centuries as heirlooms. Epoxy is a resin of long carbon compounds. Long carbon molecules are prone to breaking overtime because they contain…
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Your New Best Friend Mr. Pinchapotamus
Mr. Pinchapotamus is your new best friend. He holds small glass tile while you cut them with a Mosaic Glass Cutter so that your fingertips aren’t near the blades. He can also hold the tile more firmly in place than your fingertips, and so Mr. Pinchapotamus also improves the precision of your cuts.
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Out of Site, Out of Mind
I have always transferred my glass tile from the plastic factory bags used for shipment and into glass jars or plastic tubs. I do that for several reasons: Rigid containers like recycled jars and plastic yogurt containers make it easier to rinse out the glass dust and slivers formed by cutting. Torn plastic bags drip…
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Cleaved-Tile As Smalti Alternative
If you like the cut-face look of smalti but don’t like the price, remember that you can cut recycled glass tiles in half and mount them on edge to get the same look and feel as smalti. Since your “halves” of tile won’t be perfect halves, they will all be slightly different heights when turned…
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Broken Millefiori Mosaic Coaster
I made a mosaic bouquet coaster using our Broken Millefiori and Morjo 12mm Recycled Glass Tile. I used clear contact paper to lay out my design so that I could improvise without a pattern and make revisions as desired BEFORE glue is involved. I wrapped the contact paper around the backer temporarily so that the…
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Marble Mosaic Restoration Project
At the end of 2019 Mosaic Art Supply was e-mailed by a local homeowner about repairing a stone mosaic that was being displayed outdoors. The design of the mosaic is a smaller-scale interpretation of the “Tree of Life” mosaic found in the bath of Hisham’s Palace in eastern Palestine. The palace dates to the 700s…
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Grout Color for Stone Backsplash
Randy Evans emailed me a photo of his stone mosaic backsplash and asked for advice in choosing a grout color. Even though this project isn’t figurative mosaic, and the grout gaps have the width of masonry joints (much larger than the gaps recommended for small glass mosaic tiles), it still makes a good teaching example…
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Warning: Marine Plywood Not For Mosaic
Marine plywood cannot be used as a mosaic backer for outdoor and wet mosaic. Yes, marine plywood can withstand the outdoors and wet days for many years, but it is completely unacceptable as a mosaic backer because it swells and contracts with changes in humidity in the outside air. That amount of swelling and contracting…
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When To Use Sanded Grout
This article is about why we recommend “the opposite” of what the tile industry recommends for grouting glass mosaics and mosaics with a standard grout gap. This article also explains how to avoid scratching the glass tile while grouting with sanded grout. Industry Recommendations The tile industry recommends using sanded grout for gaps 1/8 to…
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Imitation Gold Glass for Altarpieces and Icons
Religious icons make heavy use of gold leaf glass to represent halos and divine light but also to adorn the figures and to communicate the preciousness of the image. Of course we carry 24 kt Gold Leaf Glass for use in icons and other mosaics, but the material is expensive for obvious reasons, and so…
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Alternatives to Marble Mosaic
Many people are drawn to the idea of making mosaics from marble and stone, mostly because that was the material used by the ancient Romans but also because they would like to make a mosaic from natural materials in subdued colors. Nevertheless, as soon as these people start trying to source materials, they quickly become…
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Mosaic Mural Surface Preparation
The best way to mount an outdoor mosaic mural is to use thinset mortar and mount it directly to a brick, stone, or concrete wall. You can make mosaic murals on foam-core backer board and mount these backers onto wooden fences with screws, but that is less than ideal for several reasons, and the weight…