Things You'll Need:
- Sanded grout
- Color pigment
- Buckets
- Stout stirring stick
- Latex or plastic gloves
- Tiler's sponge or squeegee
- Grout float or 3"X 6" piece of thin board
- Safety glasses
- Newspaper
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Step 1
Understand that a grout that matches tiles can smooth out the look of the piece but a contrasting grout will show it off to best advantage. Darker grouts provide more contrast. You need to decide what effect you want. Art supply firms sell gray and some other colors of sanded grout specifically for use with art pieces such as stones, broken crockery and other unusual materials. If your mosaic is to be installed on a floor or in a bathroom, however, it's wiser to use a grout manufactured for bathroom tile. This is available in a wide variety of colors at most construction supply companies--or you may want to by pigment and mix your own color. If you choose to do this, however, remember that the grout will look different as it dries, so do a trial application first.
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Step 2
Check your tesserae to be sure that it is completely dry before you start grouting. Uneven or rounded pieces of crockery or glass may need a good ground of glue to hold firmly. Wear your safety glasses when you grout. Grouting can be messy and grout is often caustic. Spread newspaper or a drop cloth to catch spills. Measure enough grout to do your piece or do a 4 X 4 section of floor. Add water slowly and mix until grout is the consistency of peanut butter. Put some grout on your stirring stick and turn it over. If the grout runs off, it will run and settle between the tile, pushing them up as it dries. If it crumbles off, it will absorb the moisture out of the glue and affect the bond between the ground and the tile. Stir the grout well until it is even with no lumps.
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Step 3
Scoop a good glob of grout out of the pail with a trowel or the stirring stick and deposit it on a mosaic float or piece of thin plywood or composition board. A metal float might knock tesserae loose. Starting in the center of your mosaic piece, pull the float toward you, holding it at about a 60-degree angle, pushing the grout in between the tesserae as you go. Work your way around the piece this way. If you're working on a floor or wall, work out from a corner toward you, then from another corner, working the grout in as you go. If you're working with an uneven surface, go back over the low parts with a little grout and push it in with your fingers. Be careful when wiping grout in with your hand--glass and tile shards can be sharp! Repeat until finished.
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Step 4
Let the grout settle for a few minutes on small projects. If you're doing a large area, like a floor, you can start sponging the area where you started as soon as you finish grouting. Take your sponge (or squeegee on flat tile), rinse it in a pail of clean water and pull it lightly across the surface of your piece once. Turn it over and pull it across another area. Rinse the sponge and continue until you've cleaned off all the tesserae, leaving the grout evenly in place. Be sure to wring out the sponge before cleaning tile as too much water will cause the grout to shrink as it dries. The idea is just to clean the surface of the tile or other tesserae and to avoid over-wetting or scooping out grout.
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Step 5
Let the grout dry completely, overnight is best, and wipe of the mosaic with a soft, dry cloth to remove all of the dust and sand.
