The list of tools, equipment and materials, given at the beginning of each project certainly looks daunting, but you will soon realize that apart from the mosaic tiles, many of the tools are standard and can be used around the house for other jobs. You are likely to have many of them already.
EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS
MOSAIC TILE NIPPERS
The first thing that you will notice about the mosaic nippers, compared with, say, a pair of scissors, is that the pivot point is extremely high. The handle curves in towards the bottom and this is
where you are meant to hold them. The combination of these two factors gives the nippers maximum leverage so that you do not have to work hard when you are cutting the tiles. The handles are sprung so that you do not have to pull them apart each time you cut a tile. The jaws of the nippers are made of tungsten carbide for strength. They don't meet up when you close them, this is correct.
Also in contrast to a pair of scissors, they cut at right angles to the handles. One side juts out and this is the side that you use tocut the tiells in straight lines. If you practice at using the jaws the 'wrong' way round you will soon learn how to cut curved lines.
TWEEZERS, TONGS AND DENTAL TOOLS
From time to time you may find it helpful to use a pair of tweezers to finely 'tweak' the tesserae. Some people prefer a simple cocktail stick.
Miniature tongs can also be obtained. At first these might be mistaken for tweezers, but in fact the prongs open, not close when you squeeze your fingers. A pair of these are excellent for picking up small fiddly tesserae, too small for your fingers. (Or too close to your recently completed area to risk picking up with the naked hand.)
Dentist's tools can be bought from surgical or sculptural suppliers and are excellent for 'poking' and 'prodding'. Being made of metal, you can remove the glue with a scalped once it has dried. They are expensive though, so try asking your dentist if he has any old ones he no longer needs, you may be lucky.
BUILDER'S FLOAT
A builder's float is a square piece of wood about 30 * 30 cm (12 * 12 in). it has a handle on one side and is used to smooth or flatten sand, cement or concrete.
LEVELLING TOOL
A levelling tool is needed to flatten out the surface of a sand bend prior to making an indirect pebble mosaic. You can make a levelling too quite easily. For example, for the Pebble Mosaic, which measures 66 * 48 cm (26 * 19in), cut two lengths of 10 * 2.5 cm (4 * 1 in) batten. Cut one
to 48 cm (19 in) and the second to 74 cm (29 in). Then glue and nail them together with 13 cm(5 in) sticking out at either end. This levelling tool sits on the adjacent sides of the mould,and by running the tool across the top of the mould you can level out the sand.
GLUES
PVA (POLYVINYL ACETATE) is the standard glue used for gluing down the tesserae when making a direct mosaic. Although you can buy 'waterproof' PVA (EVEA), it is still not recommended that you put a direct mosaic made using PVA out of doors. In winter, moisture can seep in through the grout and freeze into frost. As it freezes, it will expand and force the tesserae off the board.
For indoor use, though, PVA is perfect and has the added advantage of being very user-friendly - no harmful smells and it washes off your hands easily with soap and water. When wet it is white, but as it sets it turns clear. Once set, the bond is actually very strong,as anyone who has tried to correct mistakes by ripping up glued-down tesserae can testify.
WALLPAPER PASTE AND WATER SOLUBLE GUM. The basic principle of indirect mosaic is to glue the tesserae, falts side down, to craft paper, cement it to your rendered wall or floor and then soak off the paper with warm water. Thus the glue required needs to be water-soluble. I find wallpaper paste ideal for this. It is cheap, it lasts a long time and you can mix it to the consistency that you like. Children's paper paste that comes in little pots with a rubber nozzle dispenser is also fine. Basically, any water-soluble glue will do the job.
EPOXY RESIN. For outdoor purposes and when occasionally a stronger glue than PVA is required, two-part epoxy resin is the answer. It is available from ironmongers and department stores and comes in 'tube' or 'syringe' form.
I recommend the syringe type as this ensures equal dispensing of the two parts. In a well-ventilated room, mix the two parts together thoroughly with a metal modelling tool or lollipop stick. It is advisable to use a metal modelling tool to do this as it is stronger and more controllable and you have the advantage of being able to clean it with the scalpel once the glue has hardened. If you use a lollipop stick, you will need to change it from time to time. The quick-setting epoxy resin has a 'working time' of about five minutes and a 'setting time' of about 15 minutes. The slow-setting eproxy resin has a 'working-time' of about an hour and a 'setting time' of about 16 hours.
MOSAIC MATERIALS
VITREOUS GLASS. 'vitreous' simply means non-porous. This is the material which is used to line swimming pools and is therefore familiar to all of us. The colour range is good, the standard ranges consists of 50 colours and extra ones become available from time to time. (Snap these up whenever you see them!) Naturally, because the majority of the market for these tiles is swimming pools there is much better choice of blues, greens and whites than of any other colour.
Vitreous glass tiles come mounted on paper in sheets of 15 * 15 tiles, each square measuring 2 *2 cm (3/4 * 3/4 in). Each coloured sheet has a 'series number' rather like oil paints. Not surprisingly, the very pale colours are the cheapest (Series 1) and the brighest colours with metallic 'veining' are the most expensive (Series 4). For chemical reasons, Candy Pink makes it to series 5 all on its own.
To soak off the backing paper, place the sheet of tiles in a basin of warm water. After a few minutes, the paper will float off. Remove the paper and rinse the tiles in more warm water. Put them into a colander to drain and finally spread them out onto old dry towels, separating the colours as you go. Each colour can then be given its own jar and the end result is a studio which looks more like a sweet shop than an artist's studio.
Alternatively, vitreous can be purchased in large 25 kg(55 lb) boxes, sold as mixed 'scrap' for about one third the price of the tiled sheets. There is nothing wrong with these tiles and they are soon sorted (out into their jars. In fact it is a good idea to always have a mixed box around as they often contain colours that are not widely available or are from a different 'batch' to the one you have bought - the same colour sometimes being a slightly different hue.
CERAMIC. All types of ceramic can, of course, be broken up and incorporated into a mosaic. It is very useful, though, to be able to buy sheets of ceramic tiles in various consistent colours and to know that you won't run out of any particular colour. Cinca is the brand name of one such type of unglazed ceramic tile made in Portugal but exported around the world. It comes in sheets of
14 * 14 tiles,each square measuring 23 * 23 mm (1 * 1 in). Because Cinca is so much heavier than vitreous glass, the glue binding it to the backing paper is stronger and takes longer to soak off. Even then, the tiles tend to stick together while dyring, so it is advisable to spread them out on the towel so that they don't touch each other.
The range of ceramic tiles is good and there are usually 25 different colours to choose from. The main difference between virteous and Cinca is that vitreous is made of glass and is therefore shiny and reflective, whereas Cinca is an un-glazed (non-reflective) ceramic. This can be used to good effect by placing an area of one next to the other; the vitreous will appear to come forward
while the Cinca will appear to recede, thus a Cinca-mosaiced background will allow a vitreous or smalti subject to stand out.
Cinca tiles don't have a 'right' and 'wrong' side which means that you have the added advantage of being able to flip them overif you wish. As you work, you will appreaciate how advantageous this is.
If the mosaic is made entirely of Cinca then the effect will be a calm one, reminiscent of Indian mosaics (see Gallery piece 'Resting Plaice').
Cinca is excellent for floor mosaics as the tiles are completely flat, and if set into a solid floor, can withstand the weight of a person walking across it.
SMALTI is the Roman word for 'melt'. Smalti tesserae are hand-made in Venice and until recently there were only three families still making it. The recipes and techniques have been kept secret and handed down from father to son through the generations. Glass is melted in a cauldron and then poured out onto a metal sheet where it is pressed down like a pizza. This is then sawn up into little briquettes about 2 * 1 cm (3/4 * 1/2 in). It is supposed to be used with the sides uppermost,emphasizing its rippled surface. Tiny air bubbles are sometimes visible, which is not a mistake but moreover part of its intrinsic quality. It can be bought lose by weight in an
'irregular mix' 25 kg (55 lb) box in much the same way as vitreous. In amongst the mixed assortment you find tesserae that have a curved edge - these are the edges of the 'pizza'. Although purists would argue that these should not be used, I find them invaluable where rounded edges are a great help.
Roman mosaics, though made mainly of natural stones, do sometimes contain the odd bit of smalti - usually bright colours like orange or blue, but it was really the Byzantines that made the material their own, creating entire wall mosaics out of it. Needless to say, being hand-made, smalti is very expensive. Despite the price, it makes a lovely addition to any mosaic and can be incorporated in small quantities.
Because of its uneven surface you do not need to grout smalti into the tile adhesive, so it is forced up between the gaps in the smalti.
Using smalti indirect is no problem. Although it has a different thickness to vitreous glass tiles, in the case of indirect mosaic, this does not matter because the final face of the mosaic will be flat.
GOLD AND SILVER LEAF TILES
Gold and silver smalti have real gold or silver leaf in the glass tile. 'Ripple gold' and 'ripple silver', where the top surface of glass is undulated to create a rippled effect, are also available. Not surprisingly, these are the most expensive tiles of all. Both can be used
upside down - the gold is a shiny green underneath, and the silver a shiny blue. Despite the cost, even when used sparingly, they can lift an otherwise lacklustre mosaic.
FOUND OBJECTS Roman mosiacs were made of natural stone cut up into small cubes. Natural stone and marble are still used extensively in mosaics throughtout the world. It is also possible to use found objects such as beads, buttons and shells; in fact, anything that can be combined with anything to make a cohesive whole.
Anyone who has ever played with pebbles on the beach (and who hasn't?) will immediately recognize the attraction of pebble mosaics. The Alhambra in Granada, Spain, is one of the most impressive places to see pebble mosaics, where they line the Moorish gardens of the
Generallife.
What surprises most people is the fact that the amount of pebble visible above the cement is only the tip of the iceberg. The pebbles can be inserted straight into a bed of wet sand and cement, but if you intend to walk on your finished pebble mosaic it is worth making a simple mould and laying the pebbles indirect into a bed of sand (see the Pebble Mosaic Paving Slab)
It is horrifying to see broken bottles on the beach. However, glass worn down by the motion of the sea is very pleasing and a treasure to any self-respecting mosaic artist. Likewise, broken crockery is a wonderful material to use for mosaics. Indeed, some mosaic artists have made this medium their own.
SAND
Some of the projects include sand in the list of materials. I usually use plain builder's and or, occasionally, sharp sand. Never use sand straight off the beach because it contains salt, which is corrosive.
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