The aluminum mosaic frame featured in this article was made by artist Natalija Moss from flat bar stock instead of angle stock.
Natalija wrote highly-detailed instructions for making a mosaic frame from aluminum angle-stock that should be consulted for step-by-step details and fastener specifications.
I wanted to feature her new mosaic in an article because I think this version of aluminum frame might be preferable to the frame made from angle stock in situations where the frame needs to be visually minimal or less prone to snagging.
I also wanted to show you her mosaic because it has a grout gap and was significantly improved by grouting.
My mind has a habit of automatically naming any untitled abstract art, and so I have been calling the mosaic “Breaking Wave Crest.”
I think I may have referred to one of her previous mosaics as “Explosion” without mentioning that the title was only my name for the piece.
Natalija used black grout on Breaking Wave Crest, and it worked very well, making the colors look richer and more intense.
More on that later. First, I need to talk about making the frame.
Specifications
Natalija makes her indoor mosaics on 3/4-inch plywood, and so 1-inch aluminum bar-stock is the prefect width for framing a stained glass mosaic, which only adds 1/8 inch to the thickness of the plywood.
That means the front of the frame is only 1/8 inch above the face of the mosaic.
For more detailed fastener and drill bit sizes and photos of the steps of the process, see Natalija’s instructions for making a mosaic frame from aluminum angle-stock.
Cutting and Drilling
Cutting was done with a mitre saw, and the drilling was done using a cordless drill.
Natalija and I have worked with power tools making things our entire lives.
Many people would have trouble holding the drill steady and might need a drill press instead of hand-held drill.
A Diamond-Grit File is useful for smoothing corners and removing burs.
The rest of what is needed is simple; merely a tape measure, a marking pen, a straight edge, and two drill bits:
Frame Installed
The frame was installed before the mosaic was grouted so that the grout could fill the gaps between the edge of the mosaic and the frame.
Grouting
Natalija used a dark gray sanded grout, but she dyed the grout black using liquid concrete dye. To make a gray mortar or grout become this dark black in color, you have to use many times the maximum amount of dye than is recommended for dying concrete.
When dying grout a darker black, be careful to add water only after adding the liquid dye because you can end up using so much dye that you need significantly less extra water.
I haven’t observed a loss in bond strength or hardness in using this much dye in Versabond thinset mortar or in Polyblend grout.
The photo above shows a bottle of Quickcrete Liquid Concrete Dye in the background.
It also shows things like the cordless drill and drill bits and other things that could have been removed from the grouting area before starting.
Of course, that’s not necessarily a problem for experienced people like Natalija who have grouted countless mosaics and work with messy/dangerous things all the time.
On the other hand, novices tend to get grout all over the place, and so we recommend grouting in a workstation that can be hosed or wiped easily and taking the time to remove other clutter before starting.
As always, mix powdered materials outdoors to avoid contaminating work and living spaces with dust.
Notice the grout gaps in the above mosaic, particularly how the gap is incidental, meaning the tiles touch in places.
Even though the glass pieces weren’t spaced to intentionally leave a grout gap, there is still a variable grout gap because the pieces aren’t shaped or edged perfectly.
The glass pieces are quite long, and the gap can be conspicuously wide in places.
This was certainly a mosaic where grouting “tied the mosaic together” and completed the image as much as the surface.
That’s why I think it was important that the grout be black.
Black grout was also more harmonious with the darker color scheme.
The Physics of Black Grout Lines
I have written about the use of white grout in stylized images and the power of black grout to make colors pop and why I think black grout best represents the cracks between objects in real life.
The physics of electromagnetic wave detectors also explains why black is a better choice than white when color intensity is desired.
Our eyes work like radar dishes (by absorbing reflected electromagnetic energy), and you can blind any radar dish by shining a microwave beam at it just like you can blind a person by shining a flashlight in their eyes.
All you are doing is overloading the censor with excess light energy
The best contrast to light of a particular color is no light at all (black). It is an absolute contrast in terms of being zero electromagnetic energy received by the eye.
On the other hand, white light is all colors of light combined, and it has more total energy than light of one color.
A white grout line ensures that all throughout the mosaic, there is always light more intense than the light from the colored tiles.
This means the retina of the eye is literally receiving less energy in the areas with color than the areas with white.
It’s why we watch fireworks in the dark of night and not during the day.
Colors need the dark to shine, same as stars.
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