Things You'll Need:
- Broken pieces of china, mirror, colored glass, or tile
- Glue (the appropriate type for the medium being used)
- Paint
- Leafing (gold, bronze, copper, silver, platinum, or antique)
- Faux stained glass leading
- Paint brushes
- Item(s) you want to mosaic (lamp, clock, vase, candle holder, photo frame, decorative box, or whatever you choose)
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Step 1
Gather together broken china, mirror, colored glass, or tile pieces that you want to use to mosaic your home decorator item. You can either choose a single medium -- say tile -- or mix mediums like mirror and colored glass. If you don't have any broken items you want to use, you can purchase mosaic pieces from craft stores or you can purchase old china, mirror, colored glass, or tile items from thrift stores and/or yard sales that you can consciously break to use for this purpose.
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Step 2
Determine what item(s) you want to mosaic. There are an infinite number of possibilities. However, some of the most obvious choices include lamps, clocks, vases, candle holders, photo frames, or decorative boxes.
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Step 3
Design your mosaic on your chosen piece. You might choose to mosaic an entire piece or just part of it. You might opt to do free form mosaic or do it in a pattern. If you choose a pattern, however, consider drawing or sketching that onto your piece before you begin.
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Step 4
If you want to mix mediums, divide your mosaic pieces by type, colors, shape, and/or size. If you are using a single medium, you may still wish to sort your pieces by shape and/or size, depending upon the item you want to mosaic.
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Step 5
Determine the size of mosaic pieces you need for your project and whether or not you have enough available to complete your work. If not, you may have to alter your design, decide to mix mediums, or wait until you have enough pieces to complete the job.
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Step 6
Establish the background color for your mosaic work. You can choose to leave the item in its natural color or change it. Your choice should be based on the the mosaic medium chosen, the piece itself, your chosen design, and the room in which the item will be displayed. If you need to change the color, paint the piece and allow it to dry thoroughly before moving forward.
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Step 7
Lightly sand or prepare the surface of the item you plan to mosaic if the medium you have chosen requires a slightly roughened surface in order for it to adhere appropriately. This may depend somewhat upon the depth of your mosaic pieces and the shape of the item you plan to mosaic.
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Step 8
Using the design you have chosen, adhere the mosaic on your home decor piece using the appropriate medium glue.
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Step 9
Embellish or trim the piece if that is part of your chosen design. For example, you might opt to add gold leafing to the rim of the item or add faux stain glass leading in between the mosaic pieces in order to achieve more of a stained glass look.
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Step 10
If appropriate, add a protective overcoat of polyu
