Tag: grout
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Black and White Photorealistic Mosaic Art
Black and White Telescope Mosaic. Mark’s grandson gazes at the stars. Stylized or Photorealistic? Mosaic is usually used to make stylized images, meaning images that are simplified in certain ways, and that is done because the constraints of working with tile that only comes in certain colors and can only be cut so small forces the artist…
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Shrinking Grout: Fixing Holes In Groutlines
Grout does not shrink, but it is prone to forming voids and bubbles if it is not rubbed thoroughly into the grout gaps. These holes are easily repaired. My friend Fredrik reported a problem while grouting his mosaic portraits of famous rock icons. He described the grout as having shrank in the grout gap. Shrinking Grout Detail…
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Mosaic Pizza Oven
Mosaic Fireplace and Oven Surrounds: The Basics A couple of years ago, I wrote a page explaining how glass, ceramic, and stone tiles can be used for mosaic fireplace surrounds and how the tiles should be mounted with thinset mortar or white PVA (polyvinyl acetate) adhesives such as Weldbond. But we are talking about the SURROUNDS, not…
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Mosaic Backsplash Instructions
There is ample information online about how to go get sheets of tile from a building material store and mount them over your sink and grout them, which is merely basic tiling. This article is more about how to make an original mosaic design and about some basic questions not covered in most of the instructions…
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Advanced Tips For Selecting A Grout Color
The primary reason for grouting tiled surfaces is to prevent water from penetrating behind the tile and weakening the adhesive or the backer and the structure beneath the backer. In mosaic artwork, the grout also has a visual function, and that is to contrast (not match) the tile colors. If the grout color does not…
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How To Color Grout
This article is about coloring grout for mosaic art before the grout is applied. This article isn’t about staining grout for bathroom backsplashes. From what I’ve read, staining bathroom grout doesn’t tend to last but has to be refreshed within a year or two. If I wanted to change gout color, I would remove the…
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How Much Grout Do I Need?
This is not a straightforward question because most of the grout does not end up in the gaps between the tiles. Instead, there will be some grout on the sides of the mixing bucket, on the mixing tools, on your gloves and last but certainly not least, on your worktable or floor. This last place…
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How To Remove Grout
The grout removal tool we sell is typically used to remove grout from between glazed ceramic bathroom tile, but it can also be used on mosaic art made from small pieces of glass. Dental picks and small screwdrivers may be more useful when the tesserae and grout gaps are smaller, such as typically seen in…
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The Importance Of Small Uniform Grout Gaps In Mosaic Art
A common mistake made in first mosaics is a variation in the width in gaps between the tiles which results in the details of some areas being “lost” in concrete once the mosaic is grouted. The problem is a little sneaky because it isn’t visible until the mosaic is actually grouted, and so an artist…
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How To Fix Grout Mistakes
In my previous post, I wrote about how to remove and replace glass mosaic tile to make changes to a mosaic before you grouted it. I also explained why it was good to display the mosaic for a few weeks before grouting so that you had a chance to see the mosaic as a whole…
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How To Change A Mosaic Before Grouting (Or Afterward)
Already Grouted? If you have already grouted your mosaic, you can still use these instructions, but you will first need to remove the grout using a grout removal tool, which is normally used to scrape grout from the gaps between glazed ceramic tile. It may take a little more care with glass, but this tool…