Category: Uncategorized

  • How to Mix Grout or Thinset With Minimal  Dust

    How to Mix Grout or Thinset With Minimal Dust

    I have made a video about how to mix up small amounts of powdered products like grout and thinset with minimal dust and mess. I worked briefly as an engineer in an advanced materials testing laboratory with exotic and toxic materials, and I have put some thought into the methods I show in the video.…

  • Case Study: Mildred Mosaic Portrait

    Case Study: Mildred Mosaic Portrait

    Artist Mary Spadaro’s mosaic portrait Mildred is a reproduction of a mosaic she saw on Pinterest. I am reluctant to show the model image because I think the photo may be somewhat muted and blurred to enhance its verisimilitude:

  • Making Mosaic Letters from Beads

    Making Mosaic Letters from Beads

    Glass Seed Beads in the 3.7mm size can be strung on short pieces of wire to make letters, numerals, and symbols in mosaic artwork. Step #1. Find Wire Any variety of metal wire can be used, but copper taken from stranded electrical wire is the easiest to find and use:

  • Texture and a Sense of Space: the Mosaics of Terry Nicholls

    Texture and a Sense of Space: the Mosaics of Terry Nicholls

    For those of readers who were asking for inspiring examples of no-grout mosaics, I give you the mosaics of Canadian artist Terry Nicholls. I am amazed by Terry’s work and its continuity. It is a very focused exploration of the mosaic medium as a fine art. There is a sense of space that Terry creates…

  • Agonizing Over Mosaic Icons

    Agonizing Over Mosaic Icons

    Artist Sue Hague’s mosaic icons are reproductions of medieval, byzantine, and early Christian icons, and some are mosaic interpretations of icons that were originally paintings. The mosaics Sue produced from these paintings were made with authentic andamento and look as if ancient mosaics were copied tile by tile. Sue describes herself as a beginner still…

  • Bas-Relief Plaques and Mosaic Stones

    Bas-Relief Plaques and Mosaic Stones

    Artist Sandra Arkin’s bas-relief mosaic sign “Art Can’t Hurt You” makes me laugh. Anyone who has ever made a glass mosaic with tiny details has anointed their work multiple times with blood. Am I right, or am I right? Sandra says doesn’t draw or make representations of physical objects in her heart usually, but she…

  • Best Grout Gap For Mosaic Artwork

    Best Grout Gap For Mosaic Artwork

    The best grout gap for mosaic artwork depends on whether or not the mosaic will be outdoors or in a potentially wet location such as a backsplash. When Do You Need A Grout Gap? If the mosaic might get wet or exposed to humid air, you can’t have the tiles touch each other. You need…

  • Halloween Mosaic Coaster Kit

    Halloween Mosaic Coaster Kit

    Ivana and Natalija have made some Halloween-themed mosaic coasters, and Natalija even put together a Halloween Mosaic Coaster Kit. The kit comes with the tile and materials needed, but it doesn’t come with a pattern. As always, we encourage people to make their own designs, but we do have instructions for copying images to make…

  • The Stylistic Range of Mosaic Art

    The Stylistic Range of Mosaic Art

    At Mosaic Art Supply, we have always tried to promote contemporary mosaic as a fine art and help people of every skill level create original work instead of selling overpriced craft kits for making cliche designs. This may have hurt us some financially, but I have never regretted taking the high moral ground. After all,…

  • Cleaning Grout from Pits in Vitreous Glass Tile

    Cleaning Grout from Pits in Vitreous Glass Tile

    Vitreous glass tile has a lot fewer surface pits than it did a few decades ago, but it still has some, at least in most brands. Grout can sometimes lodge in these superficial pits if you don’t adequately sponge and haze the mosaic after grouting, and many novices find this problem particularly distressing. The good…

  • Mosaic Christmas Ornaments by Morgan Halford

    Mosaic Christmas Ornaments by Morgan Halford

    Artist Morgan Halford recently emailed us some pictures of some mosaic Christmas-tree ornaments she made with the spherical bases we sell, and I wanted to show them off for two reasons. First, the tiling is tightly executed in terms of grout gap and pattern, and the designs she used are interesting and eye catching.

  • Micro-Mosaic Jewelry

    Micro-Mosaic Jewelry

    Adam and his sister Teneisha of Toni Craft made a video of their micro-mosaic jewelry project using deep-bezel jewelry findings and stained glass, which we also sell as assortments called Mosaic Art Glass, because the colors were selected to be fairly opaque when mounted on an opaque surface. Stained Glass or Recycled Glass Tile? Instead…