Took a Mosaic Class... Need advice re grout

14 years ago

Hi there! I lurk here and know some of you. Generally I'm over at Garden Junk.

Even though I have a bowling ball started, and have broken dishes getting ready to make a mosaiced concrete table for outside, I took a mosaic class. I'm glad I did cuz I learned a lot and got some awesome wheeled nippers that no business carries around here as part of the fee.

The class project was to make a "painting" on a board and we will have one more class to grout. All 7 of us did such different designs. Of course I wanted FLOWERS!! So really 2 questions: 1) I'm tending toward black grout, tho I'm thinking this is a learning experience why not try bright blue or dark green? One concern is that it would end up being too light. 2) I know this isn't outdoor worthy, being on a wooden board and glued with weldbond but could I hang it safely on my covered porch or screen porch when its done?

Most of us didn't finish up during the classes and had to work on it at home. I don't know what I'm going to do now that its done. I looked forward to it so much every day. I also discovered that I prefer broken dishes to glass, except maybe a few glass tiles. I ended up using more dishes that I had or found for this project than the class offerings.

Thank you so much for any opinions.

Kathy

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Comments (15)

texaswild
14 years ago
What a beautiful job you did of nipping and placing your tiles together. Your grout lines are soooo nice and tight. Pretty little design as well. One dark color I sometimes us - other than charcoal or black, is a very dark green. I think it w/look really nice w/your project. So w/black or dark charcoal. Oh, I know what you mean about the dish shards - that's my preference also. Your painting looks like you've been doing this a long time.
wackyweeder
14 years ago
Yes you did a great job! I love your use of plate footers also. Please use a darker grout, whatever color it may be. so many beginners use white, and for me personally anyway it can really take away from a piece. This is great and I cant wait to see it done!
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concretenprimroses
Original Author
14 years ago
Thank you for your comments. I should have mentioned that the piece is about 11 x 16 inches.
Kathy
silvamae
14 years ago
Speaking for myself only, my preference is either black or a pale sandstone brown. I have never been happy with a single piece that I grouted white, and one that I used green grout on turned out so ugly that I threw it away. So I vote for black or pale brown. Have fun!
sunnyca_gw
14 years ago
Very nice!! Blue sky, flowers in middle & gray with scrolls like plants in the ground worked out well! The dishes give it more personality. Follow the ladies above, they are the experts on mosaics! If I were doing it I would go with the black or dk.charcoal think it will bring out the pattern to it's best advantage. Jan
katishooked
14 years ago
GC I think you did an excellent job. I'm surprised that in your first mosaic you used the footers for petals and stems. This was a perfect choice. the footers make them pop out. Heck I tossed mine footers for a long time. As for grout, I have followed the advice that I found here and never have been disappointed with the end result.

Kat
texaswild
14 years ago
Yeah - I was also impressed w/your use of the footers, but forgot to mention that. Sweet little mosaic.
nicethyme
14 years ago
beautiful job! congrats, yep I agree with others - I would use a neutral so it doesn't compete at all with what you have there,a med grey
concretenprimroses
Original Author
14 years ago
Thank you! The consensus here at home also is to not compete with the piece. So probably black/charcoal. Hopefully grouting within the week.
I have Kaffe Fasset's book and have always admired Gaudi, so I almost HAD to use the footers. The only reason I had the pale green is cuz the kitties threw one of their dishes off the shelf. I haven't yet figured out how to cut a saucer so the little footer circle stays intact,but I would like that.
Kathy
Calamity_J
14 years ago
That is adorable!!! Good Job!!! I hope the instructor gives you some pointers about types of grout etc, if not we will help those future project...cuz you are gonna be hooked now!!!! Jane
concretenprimroses
Original Author
14 years ago
Hi Calamity! Nice to hear from you.
You are right about being hooked. I feel that life has less meaning now that there is nothing to mosaic in the morning before work. The snow is melting so I'm hoping I can dig out some of my concrete pieces and go to town on them with thinset. Or this weekend, I might start to mosaic some of my blue bottles.
Kathy
concretenprimroses
Original Author
13 years ago
One of my friends from the class and I got together on Saturday and finally grouted our pieces. Here is mine with charcoal grout. Haven't touched up the frame with paint yet. One of the pieces fell off that I had layered. Decided to leave it that way.

{{gwi:127056}}

Kathy
Calamity_J
13 years ago
GOOD JOB!!! Love it! And yes, I think it will last on a covered porch, it's just the wetness and freezing directly on it that would cause damage. Did you use sanded grout? That's my preference, and I always use a grout sealer too. I go to a specialty flooring store and buy outdoor grout and sealer, but that's cuz I am mainly doing outdoor stuff. My yard is really changing since you and hubby were here!!!heh heh!
heatherhill
13 years ago
Terrific job! I've done a fair amount of mosaic-ing (I'm not sure if that's really a word but I use it all the time). Anyway, I can't believe that I never thought of using the footers! I've always been frustrated by having to waste so much material to get rid of them! Obviously I'm not as clever as I thought I was or I would have thought of using them as stems like you did! Love it!!!
texaswild
13 years ago
HEATHER: You can also use tham as petals. An example follows in my album.