Tag: indirect method
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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 design I laid out would be the exact same size as the backer.
I could have just traced the outline of the coaster on a piece of paper and taped the contact paper over the square outline.
Either way, the sticky side of the clear contact paper has to be showing because that is what is going to provide the little bit of stickiness required to keep the tiles from sliding around.
How Clear Contact Paper Is Used To Lay Up A Mosaic Design. Option 2 is probably more effort than required. If you don’t have a pattern drawn on your backer, all Option 2 does is make sure the mosaic is the same size as the backer. -
Mosaic Saints, Angels, and Icons
Historically, mosaic icons were made with traditional materials like smalti, marble, and gold leaf glass. Those traditional mosaic materials might be preferred if you are trying to make a reproduction that looks historically accurate, but they are more expensive and more difficult to work with.
Do You Need Smalti?If you have any latitude in choosing your materials, remember that it is possible to make striking and realistic images using ordinary vitreous glass mosaic tile, which is both affordable and easy to work with.
Vitreous is the same thickness as the gold leaf glass we sell, and so you could still incorporate gold in your icon if you decided to nix the smalti and stone. In fact, it would be easier to use our gold leaf glass with vitreous than with the thicker smalti and stone.
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Using Contact Paper to Transfer A Mosaic Design
Choice of Pattern
This method for transferring a mosaic design with contact paper works whether you are improvising on a quickly sketched cartoon or carefully following a detailed pattern for each piece of tile.
This method reverses the mosaic from left to right in a mirror effect because the tile is laid upside down onto the sticky pattern and then a backer board spread with glue is placed on top of the upside down tiles. If you have NUMBERS or LETTERS in your pattern, remember to reverse them in your pattern by turning the pattern over and tracing it from the other side in marker and using that as your pattern.
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Mounting A Mosaic On Clear Adhesive Film
Clear contact paper can be used to temporarily mount a design of mosaic tile, but it really isn’t sticky enough to be as useful as it should be, and it is better to use the clear mosaic mounting tapes (films) that are specifically designed for that purpose. I have used clear contact paper for small mosaics (less than 1 square foot), but even with something that small and simple, there were problems with tiles falling off and moving around when the sheet was pressed into the mortar. Mosaic mounting tapes have strong but removable adhesives. They are available in 3″ widths, 6″ widths and 12″ widths, but you can always overlap narrow tape to temporarily mount a mosaic of any width.
TIP: Save money and buy the 3″ width and just overlap it slightly to get whatever width you need. Remember, the pro-grade tape only comes in rolls 108-feet long. Sure, you can buy shorter rolls elsewhere but it isn’t the same tape. How much money did you save if the tile moves on the tape while you are mounting it in mortar and you screw up the mosaic?
Note that clear contact paper is still used in the method explained below, but it only serves to keep the tiles from moving around while you apply the clear mounting tape.
The paper pattern is taped down to the work surface and clear contact paper is taped STICKY SIDE UP over that. The purpose of the contact paper is to keep the tile from moving around after you position them. After all the tile has been placed, the top of the mosaic design is covered in clear mosaic mounting tape, which is much stronger than contact paper.
