Create a Mosaic Table
Before you get overzealous take a peak at the table as a whole. Does it have iron legs or wood? If wood, you may want to do a once over to analyze if you’d like to stain it. It’ll be easier to stain now before you add all your fancy artwork to the top.
Choose a color that will compliment your mosaic. If you plan to use bright colors, you can be creative with the colors you choose, however if you are using a muted theme, you might want to choose a light colored stain, or even use a white wash. When you are using stain or paint of any type choose a well-ventilated area.
Once your stain or paint has set, lay out your supplies. You will need whatever you are using for your mosaic and a tile grout or heavy art glue like Modge Podge.
Now, depending on your artistic talent you can make a design. For the beginner a simple swirl, lines or designs will suffice. I’ve seen mosaic tables as intricate as women holding children, animals or landscapes. If you do have the artistic touch, you can draw your design directly on your tabletop and essentially fill in the lines with your mosaic pieces.
If you are choosing to do an artistic mosaic consider in advance the colors you will need. The different hues and the variety of shades may influence what items you choose to do your mosaic with.
Choosing how to mosaic your table can be fun. If you are a beer or soda drinker, you can collect different caps for an interesting addition to a sports room. If you are more traditional you can opt for small tiles from a hardware store for easy durability outside or on an indoor patio.
For a teens room think about glass pebbles (like you’d put in a fish tank) for a glitzy feel. You can also use aquarium stones, which come in a variety of colors. For a darker feel go with black and gray, or for a spunky look opt for bright purple and pink.
For a truly natural theme, consider using sheet rock or stones from outdoors. You may have to use a thicker grout however to maintain consistency on your table.
Another common item used in making mosaics is crushed glass. If you have incredible insight, ask your friends and family to stick their broken china away. If you are like me, and decide on a whim to seize my artistic calling, head to a thrift store and check out their cheap vases, old soda bottles, china, or figurines. Choose colors that speak to you.
Once home, stick all your glass in a five gallon bucket, place an old bed sheet over top and grab a brick or hard object and go to town. For safety sake, do NOT use your foot to crush the glass. Definitely use safety glasses. In case a stray piece of glass works it’s way from the sheet, you could do serious damage to your eye.
Make sure that you are implementing this step away from children or pets. I suggest you use a plastic tarp beneath your bucket so any stray glass can be rolled up and disposed of properly.
Ideally, you want a variety of sizes and colors, but no huge articles. If your glass needs to be finer, repeat the above step. When you are removing the sheet, be very careful that you aren’t sprinkling glass all over.
When working with glass, use a rubber glove to avoid cutting yourself on sharp edges. When you add glass to your mosaic, be sure that all sharp edges are facing down. Only the smooth part of the glass should be on the surface of your table. Use enough tile grout to ensure that no one will hurt himself or herself.
For safety sake, I like to be creative with colored pebbles, glass stones and gemstones, and bottle caps. Head to your nearest craft store to purchase specific mosaic glass if you want to avoid doing it yourself. Without having to worry about cutting myself, I can let my creativity run rampant.
A mosaic table is not only a fun project that the whole family can enjoy, but also an awesome conversation piece. Remember, be safe, be creative, have fun!
