Mosaicking – it’s easier than you think!

Why not brighten up a pathway by turning your plain stepping stones into pieces of art?

How to mosaic

What you need…

Big piece of paper

Pencil

Tile adhesive

Stepping stones

A variety of tiles, broken pottery, pebbles or glass beads – same thickness

Grout

Spatula

Sponge

Shoe polish brush/ wire wool

Planning the mosaic

Gloves as a safety option against sharp glass edges (optional)

I find it very important to plan your mosaic; here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Draw a quick sketch of what you have in mind in terms of shapes and design. Then with a bigger piece of paper, cut around the shape of the stepping stone and on the paper, map out the sketch you designed. With this paper, you can play around with the design and arrange the bigger tiles on the replica. After doing this, I often find what I drew in my original plan may not work out how I thought, so I have to rethink it.
• Once you are happy with your design on the life-size paper sketch, start selecting the tiles. Try and select tiles or materials that are the same depth of thickness so that once you put the grout on, it doesn’t cover the lower lying pieces and it will allow you to have an even surface to walk on.  I usually break my tiles with a hammer; you can use a tile cutter if you have one. A large variety of tiles, all shapes and sizes, are available in Zimbabwe.
• All the small details count when you mosaic, so try and choose a grout colour that contrasts your tiles nicely, for example, a dark grout with white tiles, a light grout for dark tiles, or a grey if you have a mix of dark and light. A large variety of grout is also available here.

Sticking down the tiles

• Lay out the mosaic tiles on a separate surface in the shape of your design, so it’s easier to transfer to the original surface.
• Mix the tile adhesive with water until it is a peanut butter consistency.
• Leave for 5 minutes.
• Apply to the stepping stone surface thinly (if too thick, it billows up and you need to do lots of cleaning).
• Place tiles onto the surface in the desired design.
• Leave to dry for 24 hours.

Grouting

• Mix the grout with water until it is a peanut butter consistency.
• Leave for 5 minutes.
• Apply generously to the mosaic. Make sure there are no air holes by moving a spatula up and down and across.
• Make sure you finish off the edges nicely with grout so there are no exposed edges.
• Keep a bit of spare grout to touch up after wipe off.
• Leave for 20 minutes.
• Wipe with a damp cloth and finger to make sure all your tiles are exposed.
• Leave for 24 hours.
• Finally, use a shoe polish brush or wire wool to gently polish and clean up the mosaic.
• And voila!

I got the inspiration for my design from my garden: Hibiscus, frangipani and daisy.

By Meg Henson