Make a mosaic table

When we last left our intrepid ceramicist she was considering breaking the project into manageable bits.

Last month (Feb 2006) I took a class (3 evenings – and given my schedule they weren’t even 3 consecutive Thursdays as the instructor has suggested) at Laurel Street Arts in San Carlos, CA. It’s the rainy season, so I didn’t want to work outside.

Everyone in the group made a tray (rather than a terra cotta pot which was also offered). I made mine fairly random in design, as I was trying to practice working with the materials. Other people made much more organized designs. However, working with too much detail is difficult in this low resolution medium. Photos to follow.

• cut tiles and break plates by first scoring with the wheeled tool, illustrated at http://www.kptiles.com/whglni.html (I have the non-wheeled type of scorer, but may invest in the wheeled, as I found it a bit better.)
  Breaking
• wrap the item in a towel when breaking to avoid lots of small sharp crumbs from spreading all over the yard, house or workarea
• trim pieces after making the big cuts, using the nippers

• make the spacing small-ish, like .25 inch maximum
• try to keep even height, which is tricky for me because I’m using dishes that have a lip
• keep the glue off the surface if possible, although you can remove it later, during the wiping or polishing of grout phases

• combine color into the grout before adding water (I used paint for this one, but I think I could use tumeric for the yellow for the big project!)
• mix grout in a ziplock bag and if it’s got color mix enough for the whole project because matching a hand-mixed color is impossible
• if the grout is too wet, let it sit for more than 15 minutes before wiping. This is an area which I was remiss in on earlier attempts to make mosaic objects
• wipe the excess grout with single strokes, and don’t wipe too much while it’s still wet
• polish when fully dry

Note: the tools are available from Home Depot, Lowe’s, OSH or equivalent, as well as by mail order from various places on the web. No endorsement implied of the vendor mentioned above; they just had easily accessible illustrations. (Of course that’s also not a non-endorsement.)

To be able to use this tray, I now need to paint the bare wood (optional) and then when the paint is dry, coat the whole thing with another product to make both the grout and the wood waterproof. Since I’ll use the tray outside, and making the grout wet regularly would not be good for the longer term health of the tray, I’ll coat it.

I asked for and got my grandmother’s good china after she died (about 25 years ago). It’s only a partial set, and there’s no way to replace all the missing pieces. Plus at some point in the 60’s she tried washing some of the placesettings in the dishwasher, so the gold is missing, splotchy or otherwise damaged. (I did check ebay to see whether anyone would want to use these pieces to fill in theirs, but it’s apparently mostly sentimental value.)

Then my mother gave me her old dishes – a colorful Villeroy and Bosh pattern from at least 30 years ago (“Acapulco”). Again, a few pieces have been bleached by some random dishwasher soap, but mostly all remaining are in good shape.

I’ve stewed for a couple years about how to use these dishes in some way that will extend their presence in my life. I was almost set to mosaic on top of terra cotta pots for a party I was throwing, when I realized it would take longer than the time available in advance of the party to complete a dozen for all the tables.

When I moved into this post WWII-track house 4+ years ago, I found several doors in the ceiling space. I figured out where in the house they came from, and everyone I’ve discussed it with agrees there was no way anyone would want to install them again.

My current plan is to cover the doors in dinner china mosaic. A friend has screwed backerboard (as used behind the shower tiles) to give me a flat surface to glue onto. The good news is backerboard already has a grid formed on it.

My latest brainstorm is for the first door’s worth, I’ll break the project into manageable designs, by making placemat sized areas, and perhaps linking them with a border treatment. There will be a little area in the center to decorate further. This combines a fascination (and zero experience) with quilting with the mosaic.

Stay tuned for more progress and brainstorms to come. The table will be used outdoors on the patio.

Challenges I anticipate:

• the edges and reverse side need to be treated also to meet the rain and cooler winter weather (though we don’t get snow here, nor much freezing).
• when it’s done it will be heavy: what kind of base will match the funky “patchwork” look, and be sturdy enough?
• if I decide I want to put it away, or remove it from the base, shall I install handles or hooks on the underside to be able to store it?
• hints about working with the porcelain welcome: I know I need to attempt to keep a level finished surface, even though some of the pieces of porcelain have curves or or angles.

All hints or words of encouragement welcome. I’ll add images of the china shortly.