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farmerkaren

mosaic in a table

farmerkaren
11 years ago

I saw this photo somewhere in which the person made a pallet coffee table . In between the slats they put mosaic tiles and they looked very nice. I am going to try to do this for a kitchen table with 80 year outbuilding wood.

I know I will need raise the tiles to meet the board edges from under the table with another piece of wood ...board-mosic tiles-board- But, I can think that no matter how close I get to the edges of the table boards and how carefully I grout the tile I any have a problem of one of the tiles sticking up above another one making them uneven. And also a possible grove to collect dirt on the mosaic strip Is there a clear product I can use on top of the mosaic strip that will sort of level the area and make the strip of mosaic smooth?

I hope I have explained this well enough. Thank you for any help. Karen

Comments (10)

  • nicethyme
    11 years ago

    Karen, oooh yes, I love this look too. that piece is inspiring. You can solve any thickness issues at the end with a good 2 part resin application.

    I hope you'll share pictures of your effort with us!

  • farmerkaren
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Is there a certain brand I should buy? Do you have any ideas of how one would go about this? Would I just seal the edges of the table somehow and just pour the epoxy over the mosaic piece? Would I need to stain my wood first? How does one keep the epoxy even with the wood table top? As you can see I don't want to mess this up.

    I will be using a dark , almost,black walnut stain. Our door frames are made from wormy chestnut and just clear coated. ...about the same age as the out building wood. We tore down a few fallen down building when we bought the farm and saved all the wood that was not rotted.

    My glass colors will be peaches, blues, grays and silver. These are leftovers from other projects.

    I won't be able to begin this until spring. We live in WV and it's too cold to do any work outside. I do not winter well (grin).

  • nicethyme
    11 years ago

    you want to call and talk to these folks about the particular hardener and resin to get a clear top coat - I can't remember which one I had. http://www.douglasandsturgess.com/HowTo/Epoxy-Coating-Compound-Howto.pdf

    damming the flow was a concern so I made a mold for my project to sit down in

    you could just coat the mosaic to be even with the wood or you could do the whole piece for a flat surface.

    Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

  • farmerkaren
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Thank you. I have changed my mind (not sure where I found it). I have a bunch of plexiglass that I am thinking of cutting into strips and painting on a design with glass paints. I have all this stuff. If I went with the glass tiles I would have to order more because this table will be long. So I thought I would paint them.

    Would you happen to know of a sealer to put over plexiglass? I would paint it and flip the piece paint side down, but since this is a kitchen table it will be wiped with a damp cloth after each meal. I would think that I'd need a sealer of some sort to keep the plexiglass from scratching. What would you do?

  • texaswild
    11 years ago

    I haven't responded to this post cuz I'm not experienced w/the resin. There's not much I wouldn't attempt, though, if I really wanted to do something. IF I wanted to mosaic this table, to meet your desire, I'd first finish the wood w/sanding and a couple coats of stain or polyurethene - whatever. Then I'd put down my mosaic. Then I'd place a temporary piece of something - whatever - across each end of each area w/the mosaic to hold the resin, pour the resin to level the glass. When the resin is dry, take off the temporary dam, sand a bit and do any touch-up work necessary. If I wanted to do it according my standards, I'd put the glass in there, grout , clean up, touch up the table stain/polyurethene and be finished. A nice touch might be putting the glass on glass so a light underneath w/show the handiwork.

  • nicethyme
    11 years ago

    I do not know how or what to use to protect plexi

  • loribee2
    11 years ago

    Wow, beautiful table. Love the idea. I don't see why epoxy wouldn't seal plexiglass same as tile. You could just drizzle it over the strips (assuming the glass is slightly lower than the wood), it should settle evenly. Then brush over the whole thing with several more coats to even it out.

    An option is to make a couple small mock-ups of your tabletop using scrap wood. Try it out. It'll give you the confidence that your idea will work, and you could end up with some cool wall art to boot. heh

  • farmerkaren
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    I will try this. Thank you. I have been playing on the plexiglass , just different designs and it looks pretty nice. Not tiles, but I won't need to invest anything into the table except for the epoxy. It is cold and snowing here...I am awaiting for spring so I can really begin. I will post photos when all this is done. Karen

  • nicethyme
    11 years ago

    cool, I can't wait to see what you do

  • farmerkaren
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    My imagination says maybe it will be beautiful. Proud that the old wooden building doors will be reused and not into a burn pile. I will see you all in the spring. Thanks Karen

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