How to Make Stained Glass Mosaics

Stained glass mosaics are decorative art pieces made by attaching dozens or even thousands of pieces of broken stained glass to another surface using grout. Items commonly given the stained glass mosaic treatment are table tops, picture frames, mirrors, decorative boxes, cups and plates. When completed, stained glass mosaics offer a beautiful, colorful piece of art that can stand alone as an abstract, or whose pieces come together to make an intricate design.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Stained glass pieces
• Mosaic grout
• Sponge
• Trough
• Item to apply mosaic technique to, like table top or picture frame
• Towels
• Sand paper

1. Choose and prepare the surface to apply the mosaic treatment to. You can apply the mosaic treatment to a variety of surfaces. If you are applying it to a surface that is painted or plastic, you will need to rough up the surface with sandpaper. This will help the grout stick. Whatever surface you are using, be sure it is clean.

2. Plan your design. There are many templates available if you are having trouble coming up with a design. While some prefer to use templates, many find the real appeal of mosaics to be the free-form, random look of the finished product. If you are doing a free-form design you don't have to lay it out exactly, but you need to get a general idea of how many and what size stained glass pieces you need.

3. Prepare your stained glass. Break your glass in to pieces. You can also buy stained glass tiles that are already shaped for the express purpose of mosaics. If you are breaking larger pieced of stained glass, place the large pieces between towels and apply gentle pressure.

4. Prepare your mosaic grout. You can buy this pre-mixed or buy it powdered and mix it yourself. You want it to be the consistency of thick ice cream. Follow the instruction on our package exactly. If it is too thin, the stained glass will not stick.

5. Apply grout to the surface of your project with the trough at a thickness of about one fourth of an inch. Begin creating your design by pressing pieces of stained glass into the grout. Continue placing pieces of glass until you have covered your whole surface. Make sure that you leave a small space between each piece of stained glass for the final grouting. Allow the grout to dry as per the manufacturer's instructions.

6. Apply a thick coating of grout to the top of your mosaic and spread it around to fill in all of the cracks in between your pieces of stained glass. Use a wet sponge to remove the excess grout from the top of the tiles and to smooth the grout in between the tiles. Allow the grout to harden.

Resources

• Mosaic Tile Arts website for more information
• Mosaic templates