If a tile has dried and you need to remove it for whatever reason, you can carefully pry it off with something like a palette knife or paint scraper.Ĥ. I was advised to use Weldbond Adhesive since white glue may not hold the tiles well when applying the grout. Don’t worry about getting adhesive on the good side. Small spaces should be left between your tiles. Pour some in a container, dip your brush in, and apply to the side of your tile with ridges. The easiest way to apply adhesive is to use an inexpensive flat brush. But despite these precautions, glass will go flying so choose a place to work where this is not a problem.ģ. I also covered my work area with a plastic sheet. I was given some great advice to hold the tile inside a shoe box while cutting, so most of it would fall inside. It is essential that you wear safety glasses since bits of glass do go flying. We only glued the tiles once an entire edge was cut and in place. It’s a bit like making a puzzle.Īs you can see from the photos below, we began by cutting and placing triangular shapes along the entire inside and outside edges of the frame. You can prepare some randomly cut tiles, but most will have to be custom cut to fit the space you have in mind. It will sometimes take several cuts to obtain the shape you require, and control over the shape will come with practice. Cutting tiles involves holding a tile with the index finger and thumb of one hand, then positioning your tile cutter and applying pressure to cut with the other hand. If you’re not sure what colours to use, consider what you might be framing, as well as the colour of the mat board or the colour of the room where it will be hanging.Ģ. When cutting, you don’t always achieve the shape you want on the first try, and practicing is also a good idea. Taking your frame with you to the store will help you figure out how much to buy by lying a few tiles on it. Your first step is to decide on the colours you will be using. Tile nippers are used to nibble bits from the edges of tiles to create curved shapes, and cannot easily cut larger sections.įinally, frames in unfinished wood can be found in art supply and craft store like Deserres, where I purchased mine, or Michaels.ġ. For this project, you only need the dual wheeled nippers, which should not be confused with tile nippers. There are two types of tools you can use to cut tiles. Another great place is Mosaic Beach studio which will be closing its retail store, but continuing to sell supplies online. In Toronto, I found them at Olympia Tiles. These 2 cm squares are flat on one side, with ridges on the other. I used traditional tesserae tiles (Venetian glass) which are available in an assortment of colours. cotton cloth (old T-shirt cut into smaller pieces works well).small, flat paintbrush to apply adhesive.

Being able to see his work in Barcelona definitely inspired me to explore working with mosaics, and making this frame was a great place to start. Antoni Gaudi was a Spanish Catalan architect known for his very unique designs, including Parc Guell, a garden complex filled with beautifully crafted examples of mosaics. Have a look at my sidebar and click on My Flicker where I have a set of photos entitled Gaudi. They can participate in colour selection, gluing, and depending on their age, even the grouting, and of course providing a wonderful drawing to put in the frame. Adapting this project for younger children is easily done by simply using uncut tiles. The occasional shard of glass did sometimes cause cuts, but this rarely happened because we were careful. While my 10 year old daughter may seem a bit young to be cutting tiles, she was comfortable doing it and was always supervised by an adult. This project is ideally suited to older children like tweens and up, but it does depend on the individual’s ability and comfort level. Of course the best part is we now have a proper home for Susie Faber’s print of the lovely Miss Flanagan. My lovely 10 year old daughter (chef) and I (sous chef) made this mosaic frame which required a great deal of perseverance, lots of good music, and loads of optimism because at times it felt like we’d never reach the end! We completed our frame in small increments over four months, and felt quite proud considering we’re pretty much self-taught and managed to avoid any disasters.

Michaels plaster cloth