The Basics Of Becoming A Successful Mosaic Artist | Mozaico (2024)

Feb 06, 2020

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Was one of your resolutions for 2020 about making art? Great idea! Engaging in a creative hobby like DIY mosaic art is a healthy way to relax, exercise your problem-solving skills, and learn some new things. Best of all, you have something to show for it when you’re done with each project!

Furthermore, once you dive into a new interest, you can share it with others. Some forms of art are suitable for all ages and can be enjoyed in groups. Really, there’s nothing quite like the rush of learning something new. Mosaic art, as you might have guessed, is our recommendation for a fun, enjoyable hobby!

DIY Mosaic Art is E-A-S-Y!

If you’ve never tried working with mosaic tiles, or tesserae, it might seem intimidating. If you follow our blog, you’ve seen some astounding art. Mosaic designs can be the size of billboards, the crowning glories of cathedrals and palaces, and look quite complicated. How- you might be wondering, would I even begin?

Before we even list examples, let’s just go ahead and say it:

“There is no bad mosaic art!”

As long as everyone is enjoying themselves, it’s a forgiving art form, and your first efforts are going to look great. It’s all about having fun! But let’s look at some DIY mosaic art projects that are popular.

Color in the Garden

When you’re picking up a new skill in the dead of winter, it’s nice to think ahead to Spring and the coming warmer days. If you’re already sighing over seed catalogs and pondering what you’ll be doing with your flower beds, DIY mosaic art is perfect for you!

1. Deluxe Planters

Decorating flower pots and planters can be as easy as finger-painting! It’s definitely an all-ages type of activity. All you need are flower pots to build your mosaic design on. If you own some cracked or chipped pieces – even better! You’ll be covering them up!

Here’s a style that’s impromptu, randomly applied, and easy. No worries about too much grout, uneven edges, or perfect design.

Next, a slightly more planned-out planter sports the mosaic patterns just around the rims. Again, it’s not about being precise, it’s just about learning to enjoy the process of decoration!

Lastly, this piece is a little more structured in the design. You can tell the artist had fun with the types of tiles they applied, and the colors they chose. If you’re planning to use a particular color of flower in your newly refurbished pots, choose a coordinating color.

2. Bespoke Pavers

For your next ventures into mosaic garden art, the humble stepping stone is a flat surface with lots of potential. New mosaic artists can play around a bit with round mosaic designs before starting. Try sketching a simple one out on a paper plate.

You can also sit down with the paver and plan out a mosaic pattern with the tiles you have ready. It’s a good introduction to placing the pieces.

An easy way to start is with just one central mosaic design. You don’t need to worry about filling in the whole paver top, just the placement of one piece of glass mosaic art, like this koi fish.

Here’s a flower design that will use additional tiles to fill in the gaps around the central images. Still simple, still an easy project with lots of room for improvisation. The resulting garden art always looks great!

Ready for Your First Project?

How to Do Mosaic Art?

Whether you’re warming up with some of our introductory project ideas, or getting ready to try out something more structured, you’ll need some supplies.

All mosaic art has this in common: it uses glass or ceramic tiles, needs grout to attach them to the surface, and of course, needs a flat surface to install the art on. There’s no limit as to what images can be translated into mosaic tile patterns.

To prepare for a small project, you’ll want to obtain and set up the following items.

• A level working space: Bigger is better, especially if you’ll be working with other people on your mosaic design. You’ll want enough room to not only lay out your pattern but to also work and keep your tools and supplies at hand. It’s nice to be able to work on the piece from different angles, but not required.
• The right adhesive: Traditional mosaic adhesive is a cement-based mortar. Just like what is used for bricks, it’s a mixture of cement, sand, and water. Your project may not need this.

The final location of your piece determines the correct adhesive. Acrylic-based adhesives, epoxy resins, or construction adhesives can also work. Check the label to read about what “Applications” it’s recommended for.

TIPS:

• If you are making an outdoor mosaic, make sure your adhesive is water-resistant. Again, check the label!
• If your finished mosaic art will get wet often – like as a backsplash would – use thinset mortar.
• If you’ll be working over a glossy finish like glass or ceramic, an acrylic-based adhesive will give the best adhesion.
• Proper tools: Creating mosaic isn’t hard, but you’ll want to have a small selection of the right tools on hand to keep your work moving smoothly, and your eyes and hands protected.

LOOK FOR:

• A trowel or spatula to mix and spread grout or adhesive
• Rubber or vinyl gloves
• Safety glasses
• A sponge
• Tile nippers
• A pencil

Now – Make Some Marvelous Mosaic Art!

When you’re prepared to start with the full experience, working on a chosen design, you can pick up most of your supplies at a local hardware store or craft supply. It’s far easier than learning oil painting or ceramics!

Once you’ve decided on what part of your home or garden you’d like to beautify with a choice piece of mosaic wall art, you’ll need to decide on a design and make sure that it’s scaled to the right dimensions. Next, you’ll need to obtain the right colors of mosaic tiles for your art. You’ll use your tile nippers to snip the tiles to the right size.

It can be fun to pick out the right tiles for your art, but it can also be time-consuming to locate them and determine the quantities for your design. This is why we recommend a complete mosaic art kit for your first show-off project! They have all the tiles you need, and are easy to work with.

The wonderful thing about our mosaic art kits is that they have an almost infinite number of options to choose from. You don’t have to stick with the same old motifs that most kits have. You can choose from more than 5,000 mosaic designs! We have a kit for everyone from beginners to more expert users.

If you can’t find just the right design, we can create a completely customized kit for you based on a photograph, sketch, or drawing. (Just think of the gifts you can create, with your amazing new mosaic art skills…).

What’s in the future for your new hobby? We see some amazing wall, garden, and tabletop art ahead!

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