Nothing but the blues birdbath - have questions!

15 years ago

Tell me what you think here. I have these gorgeous blue tiles, similar to toile, but I wouldn't call them that. They are cut from Sue Zipkin plates and they are vivid blue with geometric design on them. They are all the same thickness, will lay flat and I have enough to cover a good size birdbath.

My question is, has anyone done a birdbath using transferware and nothing else? I normally do not do any project with one type of (or color) shard, but I think I have seen photo's of birdbaths using one design of dishes only. Anyone have any photo's to share?

Also what color grout would you recommend? If this were for an indoor project, I would only use white, but I don't want to use white outdoors, though leaning towards gray.

Would you go with non-sanded grout and keep the grout lines to the bare minimum?

Here's a pic of the tiles.

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

Comments (8)

wackyweeder
15 years ago
I would never use unsanded grout, it is nasty to work with.
If you use only those tiles-which are beautiful by the way-how aboout a dark blue grout? It would ground all that design, give it a nice base to highlight those pretty tiles.
flagtruck
15 years ago
Those tiles are wonderful and I think that your idea to use them all on a birdbath is great. I use dishes on most of omy projects and use them outside. If I were doing something with those tiles I believe that yellow grout about the shade of butter would be beautiful. But then I like blue and yellow together. I can not wait to see the finished bb. good luck and keep us posted
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katishooked
15 years ago
Gorgeous tiles. I am partial to charcoal or black(always sanded grout). But Flags suggestion to use yellow kind of peaks my interest. Can't wait to see the finished bb.

Kathy
shrty411
15 years ago
I agree beautiful tiles. And I agree ..sanded grout.I hate that unsanded stuff.
ans_garden
15 years ago
I think this will be a great project, and those tiles are lovely. Some basic things to keep in mind are that dark grouts tend to make colors pop, grey tends to unify everthing and light grout tends to emphasize the grout lines. If you're thinking of a colored grout, I would make samples. Glue several small sets of tiles onto a board and grout each one with a different color. Then you can take the samples outside to see what effect you like. Best of luck & hurry up with some pics!
mangomoon
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks for all of your advice. I only used unsanded grout, once, and while I loved the smooth effect after it was cured, it was a PAIN to work with. Sticks more to your gloves than the substrate.

I think I will go with a charcoal and assemble the tesserae with thin grout lines. I love gray for outdoor mosaics and I love black, but I don't think black will work for this and I do not want to be sorry. I love yellow, but I don't think I will use that color for outdoors. Charcoal it will be, now I just have to get the dish, which I do not have.
texasfern
15 years ago
Great tiles.
The birdbath is going to be beautiful.
wishdish
15 years ago
I thought you might like to see this. It's a stepping stone I made with dark grout and blue tiles. It was actually a dark gray called Dove Gray (from Home Depot). I just looked at it outside and it does look a bit lighter than the picture but still has nice contrast. Your blues are brighter than mine, but I think your charcoal choice will be great!

Here is a link that might be useful: stepping stone - blue tiles