How To Create Mosaic Surfaces
How can you make your home look colorful and original?
The easiest, most fun way is to create mosaic surfaces yourself. Mosaics look great in any interior. I’ve never seen anyone look at a mosaic indifferently. Everyone is delighted by it. And it is perhaps the best DIY decor.
You can cover any surface with a mosaic. It can be a table, a fragment of the floor, a mirror or a countertop. And you can do it yourself, express your creativity and enjoy the whole process.
So, what will you need to create a mosaic masterpiece? First of all, you will need an adhesive, grout, tile nippers and tesserae – anything you can use for mosaic elements. It can be sea shells, glass or even broken ceramic tiles. Since you will probably have to cut tiles with nippers, you will need special glasses to protect your eyes. Also you will need gloves, as broken tiles have sharp edges and you can cut your hands.
After the precautions are taken, it is time to pass to the most interesting part. You need to think of a pattern to design. There are many mosaic pattern samples on the web, but I suggest that you design one yourself. Wouldn’t it be great to have a mosaic which is completely your own creation?
After you’ve decided on a pattern, draw it on grid paper. You should use the same sized paper as the design of your project. Draw only the contours of your pattern on the paper. Next, use your tiles or cut tiles from a piece of cardboard to cover the pattern on the paper. Mark what color each part of the pattern should be. You can do this by marking the tile or the pieces of cardboard with that color.
Covering the paper model with tiles will help you get used to creating a mosaic. Position the tiles about an 1/8 inch distance from each other. After you’ve done so, see if you will need to cut some tiles to fit them in the pattern and to fill in the empty spaces. Then draw around each tile to transfer it on the paper. After that, color the tiles of the pattern in the colors you had decided.
So, you already have your paper model of the mosaic and you know how it will look. Most of the work is done. All you have to do next is fit the tiles on the surface according to that model. You will have to use a strong adhesive.
After your mosaic is ready cover it with grout, so that the spaces between the tiles are completely covered with it. In about 15 minutes, when the grout is still not dry, clean your mosaic with a sponge to remove the grout from the tiles. When your tiles are clean let your masterpiece dry for 24 hours.
When that time passes, polish the mosaic with a soft cloth. That’s it, now you have a beautiful mosaic in your home. And the best thing about it is that you’ve made it all yourself. If you enjoyed the process you can cover other surfaces with mosaics and even turn your home into an original mosaic museum.
Photo© Skirsner
No related posts.
