Mosaics! Tutorials on How to Make Your Own.

I have had some serious fun with mosaics! Every Christmas gift I gave this year was a home made mosaic. They went over pretty well and people seemed to like them. I will go ahead and post materials and a tutorial for the actual way to make your own mosaic and then my own made up list of cheaper materials and my own tutorial.

The real way:

Materials needed:

• An object you want to transform into a mosaic (i.e. flower pot, picture or mirror frame, table, decorative box, etc). 
• Assorted ceramic tiles found at craft stores in many different colors/styles mostly already cut into different appropriate shapes and sizes. The cost depends on how big the bag is, what design/color, and the shapes. At a craft store they can range from $8-$30+. $8 would get you a small bag of one color.
• If they are not cut into the shapes you require you will need mosaic tile cutters, averagely priced around $7-$10 on the internet but at Michaels I think they were around $15. 
• Mosaic adhesive. $7-$8 and will last for multiple projects.
• Mosaic grout. $8 at Michaels.

Steps:

1. Decide on a design. You can also draw the design on your object of choice before glueing down tiles if you'd like.
2. Glue the tiles onto your object. Make sure your tiles are placed with just a small space between them.
3. Make your grout by following the directions on the packaging.
4. Apply grout between tile pieces. Don't be afraid of getting the grout on your tiles (we will deal with that later!).
5. Let the grout dry for at least 20 minutes then use a sponge dampened with warm water to even the grout and to wipe it off of the tiles. Make sure you don't wipe away too much grout in between the tiles which would result in an uneven surface!

You now have a very nice mosaic piece!

My thought process of how and why I made mosaics went something like this: mosaics are pretty. A mosaic would work well with my project criteria! Wait, this is getting expensive....*drives to thrift store*.

My way:

Materials needed: 

• Object of choice to mosaic-ify! I used $0.50 flower pots and cheap picture frames from the thrift store (gotta love the D.I.!).
• Plates or tiles you think are pretty. I found some colorful and cool plates at the thrift store for around $0.70 each. I also went to Home Depot and found some very cheap mix-matched tiles on sale.
• A hammer (maybe some safety glasses).
• Adhesive. I went ahead and bought mosaic adhesive ($7 at Michaels) because I was not sure how other glue would be but thinking about it now, super glue and possibly hot glue (depending on your object and if it will be inside or out) should work just fine.
• Groooouuut. I used mosaic grout ($8 at Michaels). After all of my projects I only used two of these tubs. 

NOW GET TO IT!

1. Decide on a design. It is helpful to know what potential shapes you may need before you get into the next step
2. Get out some of that built up rage and smash some plates! Place the plates/tiles on a hard surface (probably outside on pavement) and hammer away! This is where eye protection comes in if you care more about the possibility of flying glass in your eyes than I do.
3. Glue the pieces of broken plate/tile onto your object.
4. Make your grout using the grout instructions.
5. Apply the grout allll over the piece and make sure to get into the cracks as best you can.
6. Let dry at least 20 minutes then wipe away unwanted grout off tiles and smooth the grout as best as you can between the tile pieces. 

Ta da! Now you have mosaic making skillz that killz.

Pros and Cons of my mosaic method.

Pros:

• Cheaper.
• You get to pick out plates from the vast thrift store collection. I have found some really beautiful ones.
• There is more of a hodge podge look (if your into that sort of thing, you crafty weirdo, you).

Cons:

• Smashing the plates can be both difficult and deafening. Some tile nippers may be in your best interest but if you decide to pass on the cost, make sure you have patience and a nice husband who doesn't mind the ringing of a hammer hitting a porcelain plate or tile. You have to get used to the unpredictable cracking habits of hammer on plates but trust me, it is totally doable! 
•  You have to find plates with the same thickness for a smooth finished surface. And when you break the plates you can't use the outside rim area (but still much cheaper than mosaic tile pieces).

Here are a few of the mosaics I have made (basically the ones I remembered to take pictures of, hehe).

I made this one for my wonderful brother and sister-in-law (their last name is Williams, hence the W). They hosted us for Christmas so I wanted to give them something for Christmas. They stuck a plant in it right away!

This one doubled as a school project and a Christmas present (making the wire tree gave me more cuts than the glass pieces from the mosaics!).

On this lighter picture you can see where I rubbed off some of the green coloring from the frame and rubbed it onto the grout areas to get rid of the bright white for the sake of the color palette ( compare the grout color to the picture above). This one was for Reed's parents.

          

         I'm not sure which of these terrible pictures are better so I put up both, hehe.

Let me know your opinions on my method and/or if you try any of your own mosaics! Try the internet for some mosaic inspiration if you can't think of any. Feel free to ask any questions or add any advise/comments on mosaic methods of your own.

-ChellytheBean