How to Make Mosaic Flower Pots

Make your flower pots pop with mosaic designs.

Adding mosaic work to your flower pots is one way to jazz up otherwise nondescript pots and make your potted plants shine. Mosaic is an ancient form of decoration and has been used in wall frescoes, floor and ceiling designs for thousands of years. Bring a touch of antiquity to your pots with traditional Byzantine or Greek geometric mosaic, or perhaps make mosaic modern with an abstract design. Once you have the basic technique down, you can play around with designs to your heart's content.

Things You'll Need

• Mosaic adhesive
• Paintbrush
• Wire brush
• Hand-held sweeping brush
• Mosaic tiles
• Mosaic grout
• Grout scraper
• Soft cloth
• Mosaic tile sealer

Instructions

1. Paint on a thin coat of mosaic adhesive (around 1/8 inch) with a paintbrush to the exterior surface of the flower pot and let it dry.

2. Roughen the surface of the flower pot with a wire brush all over the area you painted with the adhesive. This gives the surface texture and prepares it for setting the tile. Brush off any dust or particles with a small sweeping brush.

3. Dip the back of a mosaic tile into the mosaic adhesive and set it in place on the flower pot. If you are applying a pattern or design, it may help to pencil the design onto the surface first.

4. Continue dipping tile and setting it in place all around the flower pot, leaving a gap of about 1/8-inch between each tile, until the whole exterior is covered. Let the pot sit over night so that the adhesive dries.

5. Work mosaic grout into the joints between the tiles with the grout scraper. Sometimes using your fingers can be easier to get the grout evenly between the joints; see what works best for you. Mosaic grout comes in premixed and unmixed forms and is typically a fine mixture of cement and sand. If you have unmixed grout, follow the manufacturer's mixing instructions. Generally this involves adding water to grout powder to make a peanut-butter-like consistency.

6. After 15 minutes, wipe over the tiles very gently with a slightly damp soft cloth to remove the grout haze from the face of the tiles. Leave the pot for two days so the grout can cure.

7. Apply a coat of mosaic tile sealer to the mosaic with a paintbrush, following the instructions on the sealer packet for absorption times and drying times.

References

• Mosaic Tile Guide; How To Grout Tile; Jen Meyer
• Mosaic Art Supply: Frequently Asked Mosaic Questions
• The Joys Of Shards: The History Of Mosaic Art