Mosaic Art

My Experience with Mosaic Art

Mosaic Art is something I never thought I would learn. My husband & I happened to go to the Workhouse Centre at Lorton, VA. We took a stroll throughout the store & trust me, there’s not a single soul who wouldn’t fall in love with the art presented at the workhouse. They’ve got too many varieties to fall in love with. Glass fusing & Mosaic is something that I liked the very moment I saw. They also had a discounted quotes for all the classes since I signed up on the open house.

September 21, 2017 was my first day at class. As it is, I was all excited to drive 20 mile to learn this amazing art. First day was the introduction class. For me, I had no basics about mosaic hence everything was totally new & a learning experience.
I got introduced to number of terms in detail like,
* Grout
* Nipper
* Glass piece
* sealer
* Glue
* glass cutter oil
* glass cutter
* Grozing pliers
* running pliers
* importance of eyewear, gloves & mask
* Varieties in Mosaics
     
 From my second class, I learnt lot more than I imagined. Mosaic according to my understanding works this way.
* We need to finalize on the design first.
* Select a substrate. I did my first design on a concrete & the remaining ones on wood. If you happened to choose wood, you need to seal it with sealer & let it rest for 15- 20 mins then use it.
* Transfer the design onto the substrate either by tracing or sketching one. I sketched on all my substrates.
* Select on the mosaics you are going to use. You can pick gems, coloured glass, readily available mosaics.
* Start assembling the mosaics on your design wearing your safety glasses. Some needs to be cut if you happened to pick a glass piece & fill in the gaps as per your design. You can use nippers most of the time. Sometimes you need to use glass cutter, grozing pliers or running pliers to cut the glass piece.

* glue the mosaics & let it rest for 24 hours before grouting.

* Grout your design. wearing your mask & disposable gloves, take required amount of grout. Mix it by adding water in small quantity to get a paste like consistency. Basically grouting gives a different look to your piece on the colour you decide.
* I used Sanded grout which needs to be mixed. Keep it for 15-20 minutes at rest once mixed.
* Apply using a disposable knife on the design, focus on the gaps between mosaics. You can use your fingers to get the targeted grout on the surface.
* Use a toothpick to remove excess grout from the corners especially if you’ve used round gems & decide how much of it should be seen as a design.
* Take a paper towel and rub the extra grout from the mosaic.
* Concentrate on the surface not the gap. Let it rest for 24-48 hours.
* Take a cleaning liquid, dab the paper towel in it & clean the surface of your piece.
* Your amazing mosaic art is ready :)

For all the supplies, you can shop on hobbylobby, Amazon, Walmart, Dollartree, Joann, Michaels.
My favourite website for now is mosaicartsupply.com
This website is extremely reasonable to shop anything.

I did shop the following items from various websites which I felt was worth buying according to quality, quantity & price. Hope this helps you.
* https://mosaicartsupply.com/shop/mosaic-glass-cutter/
* https://mosaicartsupply.com/shop/weldbond-mosaic-adhesive-160ml/
* https://mosaicartsupply.com/shop/economy-pistol-grip-cutter/
* https://mosaicartsupply.com/shop/novacan-cutting-oil/
* https://mosaicartsupply.com/shop/grozing-pliers/
* https://mosaicartsupply.com/shop/running-pliers/
* https://www.homedepot.com/p/Custom-Building-Products-Polyblend-546-Cape-Gray-7-lb-Sanded-Grout-PBG5467-4/205939328
* https://www.homedepot.com/p/KILZ-PREMIUM-1-Qt-White-Water-Based-Interior-Exterior-Primer-Sealer-and-Stain-Blocker-13902/100371292
* http://www.joann.com/7-x-9-rounded-rectangle-plaque/11038205.html#q=wood%20plaque&start=1

                                                                                                         - KS