Sunday, January 24, 2010

don't go breakin' my art



hey, guys, remember me? sorry for break in all this exciting marthastewarthatesme action but i've got a life to live outside of this blog-o-sphere, and quite frankly, sometimes that life involves copious amounts of alcohol. m'bad.

last night, in a 'private' moment, my husband and i accidentally knocked over and broke a ceramic lamp.

waking up to the aftermath this morning (yeah, i leave broken lamps on the floor overnight, okay? who do you think i am? martha-freaking-stewart?) i began searching for a way to salvage what i could from the wreckage.

i came across this fairly easy mosaic tile project and am planning on employing all the craftiness i can muster to see it out.

the directions to this project seem long, but trust me, they are pretty basic and i have absolute faith in you (and a little less so in myself) that we can pull this off.

here we go:


to make a 7" x 10" mosaic plaque or trivet you will need:

1 - wood cut out of the shape you desire (close to the above size guidelines)

1 - 1 square foot equivalent of ceramic plates or dishes

2 - cups of tile grout

white glue, water, masking tape, large heavy duty ziploc bag, hammer, container for grout, sandpaper, sponge, soft rag, sawtooth hanger (if making a plaque)

to prepare ceramic tile or dishes for use, place a couple into the large ziploc bag and seal. hammer until medium is broken up into pieces of various sizes.

remove from bag to your work area and continue this process until all tile is broken up.

leaving a 1/2" margin between ceramic edge and edge of your shape, lay all of the edge pieces in place first, without glue. be sure to leave space between each piece for tile grout. when you have your outer edge exactly as you want it, go back over it and glue each piece into place, one at a time.

once your edge is on and dry, you can continue this same process with the remainder of your plaque or trivet.

it usually works best to lay out and glue a section at a time. if you get near the end and find you don't have quite the right fit, you can recreate the edges with a hammer or a bevel, but remember, the coolness of mosaic lies in the irregularities of the shapes; pieces that fit perfectly together will actually detract from your finished project's overall efftect.

once your shape is covered it needs to completely dry for a minimum of 8 hours.

before grouting, cover the wooden edges of your plaque/trivet with masking tape. mix your grout and water in the container until the grout is smooth and creamy.

important note: you should be careful to not let any grout go down a sink drain as it will set in there and block your pipes.

using your hand for best results, put a pile of grout in the very middle of the plaque and work it evenly from the center to all of the edges until entire plaque or trivet is covered. using your hand again, immediately remove the excess and let it set for 12 hours.

once it has set, take a wet sponge and wipe off the tile with a wet sponge. do this several times, rinsing the sponge out between each use.

at this time, if you see any uneven grout or air holes you can fill them in with more grout.

it again needs to set for another 1/2 hour. wipe once again with a lightly damp sponge.

let set for 20 minutes this time. once the 20 minutes is up, take the soft rag and "polish" the plaque/trivet.

at this point you can remove the masking tape and attach your hanger, if so desired.

you can do eeeettt!

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