Looking for one thing new in your mosaic art? This is a clean idea. Make mosaics using big stained-glass pieces as if producing a stained-glass window, alternatively of making use of modest items minimize to the stale, standard styles of squares, rectangles, and triangles. Right after subsequent that traditional exercise for so lengthy, I grew bored with it and desired one thing distinct. I removed my mosaic-artist hat and donned my stained-glass-artist hat for a nice change of rate. Following creating a few stained-glass hangings, it dawned on me. Why not merge mosaic art with stained-glass artwork? My 1st piece turned out wonderfully, better than anticipated, and I have not appeared back since. Let us learn how you, too, can make these superb mosaics.
The 1st essential thing I realized when creating mosaics from stained-glass styles is to minimize the foundation material to the exact dimensions of a standard all set-produced open-again frame. This avoids possessing to pay five occasions the cost for a custom made frame. I wait for my favorite pastime keep to set their prepared-created open up-again frames on sale for half price tag so I generally pay out about $25 for an attractive body, such as the set up, paper backing, and hanging hardware. My favorite dimensions is 18-inches by 24-inches. My desired option of foundation content is plain one/eight-inch hardboard, which you can get at your preferred home advancement keep. I generally get the sheets pre-reduce to two-ft by 4-toes for about $five. So, for a measly five bucks, I have sufficient base content for two mosaics, which is very good if you’re a starving artist on a tight budget. It really is important to know that one/four-inch is about as thick as you can go in phrases of the piece fitting correctly into a all set-created open-again frame. The base substance is 1/eight-inch thick and the stained glass is about 1/eight-inch thick, which tends to make the completed piece about 1/4-inch thick.
Measure and then meticulously and securely cut the hardboard to the precise dimension of the open-back frame you strategy to use. Let’s suppose you like the eighteen-inch by 24-inch measurement. A table saw permits you to make more correct cuts than making an attempt to guidebook a circular observed by hand. If picture mosaic maker is all you have, then it can be done, just take your time and don’t rush the lower. Here’s a tip. I located a “refurbished” Skil desk observed online that cost only $eighty such as shipping. When it arrived, it looked and functioned like brand name new. I obtained a amazing $250 noticed for only $eighty. The key is to search on the web for a “refurbished” unit instead of manufacturer new. Soon after measuring and marking the hardboard (evaluate twice and be correct), ensure you align the saw blade to cut on your lower-line so the ensuing piece is specifically 18-inches by 24-inches. In other words, will not cut straight on the line due to the fact the ensuing piece will be some thing like seventeen.8-inches by 23.eight inches, which could be also modest to suit correctly in the frame. Every completely ready-produced body labeled as 18-inches by 24-inches that I have acquired has been in a hair of eighteen-inches by 24-inches. There is not a lot area for mistake when cutting the base substance, so measure twice and align the blade properly on the lower line. If the resulting foundation materials is inside of a hair of eighteen-inches by 24-inches, it’ll suit nicely into the ready-produced open up-back again body.
When your foundation materials is lower to the perfect measurement, paint it white. I use vivid white ceiling paint mainly due to the fact it is a great deal less expensive than common wall paint. I usually use two coats so the darkish-brown hardboard is bright white. The whiter the foundation substance, the brighter the glass will search when you adhere it to the board. If you don’t paint the foundation substance white, the glass will seem dull and dreary in opposition to the dim-brown board.
Now that your base substance is completely ready, merely transfer your stained-glass design and style to the board. If you have no drawing skills, find a pretty stained-glass sample on the internet or at your preferred pastime store and transfer the pattern to the foundation materials. You can discover transfer paper at your preferred interest shop for less than $2 a sheet that is big enough to go over the 18-inch by 24-inch foundation substance. The excellent issue about transfer paper is that you can use it many occasions ahead of it truly is no good. I have eked out as numerous as nine transfers (i.e., 9 mosaics and stained-glass operates) prior to the paper no for a longer time transferred the tracing properly adequate for me to see the lines clearly.
Measure and cut (and grind the edges if you have a grinder) the stained-glass parts as if you had been producing a stained-glass window. I constantly use extremely translucent or opaque glass colours to ensure you can’t see via it to see the glue when adhered to the base content. For your mosaic, alternatively of becoming a member of the items employing lead arrived or copper foil and solder as you would with a stained-glass work, you merely glue the pieces in area over the sample on your base materials utilizing plain white PVA glue (e.g., Elmer’s Glue All or Weldbond), leaving about one/sixteen-inch spacing amongst parts. The spacing can vary up to 1/8-inch, but I would not go any broader than one/8-inch spacing because I feel the broader spacing looks amateurish compared to slim spacing.
When all the items are glued in-place and the glue has dried for at minimum 48 several hours, fill the areas with your favourite grout shade, just as you would if the mosaic had been completed with the regular tiny pieces of square or triangular designs. I mainly use medium-grey grout, but my newest desire is charcoal (black) grout. The more mosaics I do with black grout, the much more I like it. Grout colour can make or break the last look of your mosaic, so if you happen to be in doubt about what grout color to use, your greatest bet is to use medium-gray.
When the grout has dried right away, just take the mosaic to your favourite pastime retailer when they’re obtaining a sale on prepared-manufactured open-back frames. My favorite retailer has a fifty% sale each other week, so if it really is an off week, I simply wait a 7 days. Decide numerous frame styles and colors, and place them above your mosaic, one at a time. Will not settle for the first body you discover. Inquire the clerk which frame he thinks seems to be greatest with your mosaic. See which frame will help emphasize the hues in your mosaic. I usually ask other clients in the fast spot what they believe, and they’re often eager to give their viewpoint. When you have the excellent body, the clerk will put in your mosaic, utilize the paper backing, and put in the hanging hardware and wire.
Now you have a gorgeous mosaic to hang on your wall or give as a present. The neat issue about it is that it is common, not the same boring mosaic style we have witnessed for hundreds of years. It really is essentially a stained-glass window put in in a body with grout in the areas alternatively of solder. You will not likely see that too usually. Effectively, not right up until all the mosaic artists in the planet study this article and swap to this technique!