I am pretty much into all things creative. One of my recent interests is mosaics. I don't know when or why I became interested in mosaics but I think it was because of how it related to my love of quilts. A lot of the same principles of quilting can be found with mosaics. In designing a mosaic you have to choose a medium such as glass tile, broken dishes, ceramics or less common materials like mirror or wood. You have to decide how to lay it out, how to construct or adhere it, what colors to use, how big to make it and what you will use it for. These are all considerations used when making a quilt. What I like most about mosaics is that precision isn't necessary unless you want it to be. I personally prefer the randomness of most mosaics and the fact that they are not always perfect which makes them one of a kind.
I began making mosaic stepping stones which I have scattered throughout the yard. The daisies were made using a combination of golden broken dishes for the background, glass mosaic tile for the stems and leaves, white ceramic wall tile for the petals and glass pebbles for the center. The second stepping stone was white ceramic and colored mosaic wall tile.
The Blue stepping stone was made out of broken dishes and blue ceramic wall tile.
The last two were made with stained glass mosaic tile using classic Nine Patch and Trip Around the World quilt patterns.
Lately I've had a thing for mosaic flower pots. The fist few I made were horrible and were promptly tossed into the trash but I have since improved. Unfortunately the photos I have showing how I pieced them together are missing so I will have to describe it.
Before I started I painted the rim with two coats of green acrylic paint. On the inside of the pot I created a sealer by mixing white glue with a little water. There are all kinds of sealers on the market you can use but glue and water should work fine. I like to have a top and a bottom and fill in the middle so I added a row of black cermaic tile along the bottom and underneath the rim. Next I drew the flowers on the pot in random order and size so that I would have a guide for placing the tiles. I chose to make the first pot out of 4 x 4 glazed ceramic wall tile. Using a floor tile cutter I cut strips of white and beige tile and then cut them in random lengths. Next I nipped the tiles to taper it on one end and round it on the other. I used glass pebbles to make the center of the flowers. Next I glued down the petals and then filled in with dark and light blue broken tiles. I will share with you what I learned about breaking tile another day. I prefer to use construction adhesive made especially for out door projects because once it dries the tile won't budge. Once tile has set for a day I filled in the spaces with premixed grout. First tip: If you are going to do a lot of pots it's worth it to mix your own. The premixed is more expensive and one small tub will only grout about three large pots.
Here is a picture of the pot before adding the grout.
Wearing rubber gloves to protect my hands I grabbed a handful of grout and spread it all over the pot working the grout into all the crevices.
Next I took a wet sponge and wiped all round the pot rinsing the sponge often. Second tip: I used sanded grout but next time I will try un-sanded. The sanded is messier and harder to clean.
After the grout has dried I used a damp towel and continued to wipe the grout off the tiles. Last tip: DO NOT POUR THE USED WATER DOWN THE DRAIN. You Have to pour it outside because you will damage your pipes.
Once the grout has set and cured for a couple of days I used grout sealer to seal it and used spray paint sealer to protect the painted rim.
That's all there is to it. This is the first mosaic pot I made (successfully) and I am quite proud of it. I am in the middle of another which I will show once finished.
Pot number two coming soon.
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