How to - Tips & Instructions 

 

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Tools

Pencil Grip Glass Cutter

Running Pliers

2 Wheeled Mosaic Cutter

Grouting Basics

 

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Cleaning Off Excess Grout

We use a great product called Spirits of Salts, it's an acid so great care is needed in safety gear, wear gloves, eye protection, use in a well ventilated area and have heaps of water on hand just in case (it will "stain" your lovely stainless steel bench so use plenty of newspaper)

 

The vitreous glass tiles may have a texture of tiny little pits that the grout can sometimes get into, the spirits of salts are fantastic at cleaning off these tiles.  Or you may have missed a few little bits or corners when cleaning off your grout, or it dried before you had a chance to clean it thoroughly, or has dry smears that you just get rid off, or has a lump of grout that needs levelling off, this stuff will sort it out.

 

I usually pour a little into the lid or a suitable container (it may melt some plastics), using a cotton bud I dab on the area that needs the grout removed and then wipe off after a few seconds, you will see the grout fizz as the acid eats away at it.  Avoid pouring it all over your mosaic as it will affect all the grout. 

  

We have spirits of salts in store for local customers and we can give you a demo of how it works.  Due to the hazardous nature of the product we are not able to ship it via courier etc.  You can find spirits of salts at most hardware stores.  

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Sealing

Some people like to seal their bases before mosaicing them, this can prolong the life of the base if it's being left outside in the rain etc.  I generally seal my pots, the terracotta is very absorbent, I seal them with a 1 part PVA glue to 1 part water mix and brush it on both the outside and inside of the pot. This pva mix is also great for wooden bases.

 

If you are painting your terracotta this will help keep the paint from flaking off or bubbling up when wet.  An acrylic or water based paint is better, I found that even when sealed the oil based paints flaked over time.

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Grout Finishing

Sometimes when you're cleaning off your grout at the second or later stages you may find little pin holes or gaps or accidently wipe out a bit of grout you didn't mean to.  I keep a dallop of the wet grout from the first stage and wrap it in the damp newspaper to keep it moist, then if I find any little holes or gaps just take a little bit of the dallop and press it into the hole, and carry on cleaning.

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Flying Bits 

If you're losing tiny bits of tile that are flying off never to be seen again (until someone in the family steps on it in barefeet) when you'are cutting your tiles, try cupping you hand around the tile, if you don't feel comfortable doing that put an ice cream container on its side as a shield to stop the bits shooting off into the depths of your carpet. 

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Cutting Surface

When cutting stained glass or mirror etc with a glass cutter you need a stable surface but also a soft surface to hold the glass in place and a soft landing for your cutter, I discovered that a fleece blanket from The Warehouse is perfect, a small cheap one is all you need, I folded it to three layers, I found the glass sunk a bit too much into the blanket with any more layers, this is now my new cutting surface for stained glass.

 

Tile Sizes

Many mosaic books are from the UK or US and their tiles measurements etc are different to ours, we use a website called convert-me.com which is fantastic and easy method for converting the different measurements.  This will convert inches to cm or mm etc.

 

 

If you have a tip you would like to share or think others will find helpful, email us and we'll add it to our tips page - info@mosaicwarehouse.co.nz