Several years ago I made a mosaic flower pot as a shower gift. Everyone at the shower went a little ga-ga over it. Their enthusiasm got me thinking. Would people actually like to learn how to make such things and pay me to teach them how to do it? Apparently so, because a few months later I was teaching the technique at several local adult education programs. Here, my fellow Curblians, is a complimentary tutorial, just for you!
What you need:
- one terra cotta flower pot (I used a 6″ standard pot for this project)
- several pieces of tile (I used ceramic tile purchased at my local big box store)
- a hammer
- a small putty knife
- a tile sponge
- tile adhesive
- sanded grout
- a bucket
- a soft clean cloth and
- rubber gloves
What you do:
First, you’ll need to break your tile into smaller pieces. It’s best to insert the tile in between several sheets of newspaper and hit it with your hammer. Even though your tiles is covered, it’s a good idea to wear eye protection while doing this.
Next, apply the tile adhesive evenly to the pot. Put on just enough so that when you press your tile pieces into the adhesive, the adhesive squishes up about ½ way up the tile pieces themselves.
Press the tiles into the adhesive, fitting them together as you might do a jigsaw puzzle. Keep the tiles about 1/4″ apart from each.
After the tiles have been set and the adhesive completely dry–at least 24 hours later–mix up the grout according to the instructions on the package.
Apply the grout with your rubber-gloved hands, pushing the grout into the grout lines. You’ll want to rub your hand up and down and back and forth over the pot to make sure the grout fills the grout lines entirely.
After you’ve grouted the tiles, dip your tile sponge in a clean bucket of water. Ring the sponge out very well and then wipe the sponge over the pot, removing the grout from the tops of the tiles and any exposed terra cotta. You’ll want to ring out your sponge and go over the pot several times.
After you’ve sponged your pot, wait 5 to 10 minutes and then, using a soft clean cloth, buff any haze from the tiles and pot itself.
Bonus tips:
A tile sponge is NOT the same as a household sponge. The later cannot really be substituted for the former, which is SUPER dense.
A great place to score some FREE tile is by going to your local tile shop and ask if you can have the scraps from their cutting room. Every good tile shop has a cutting room, and all the remainders of those tricky cuts they make for DIYers get thrown away, so we might as well put them to good use!
