Mosaics – The Clay Club

This week on Show Me How, Gloria Bastos is joined by Ursula Janke of The Clay Club. She shows us the wonderful possibilities using ceramic inserts to create stunning mosaic crafts. She will teach us various techniques such as painting, cutting & shaping tiles, fitting inserts into the design, creating flow lines, texture and so much more.

Colourful Houses

By Ursula Janke
The Clay Club
Tel no: 012 8030772
Cell no: 060 903 1311
Email: info@theclayclub.co.za

Requirements

  • Wooden Canvas
  • Mosaic tile cutter
  • Dark Gray acrylic paint & Paint brush
  • Grout, a small container and a spatula

Mosaic & Ceramic Tiles:

  • ¼ tiles with red dots and black writing, green leaf, black check and purple decal.
  • 5 Yellow mosaic tiles (blocks)
  • 8 Mirror mosaic tiles (blocks)
  • 1 large Mirror Tile (block)

Ceramic Inserts:

  • 4 words e.g. imagine, inspire, dream, create
  • 1 large disc
  • 3 small plain dots
  • 2 large, 2 medium and 1 small Happy flowers
  • Ceramic Strips – 8 orange, 3 yellow, 3 lily green & 2 dark green
  • 5 yellow tiles
  • Hearts – 1 normal, 1 small long heart & 1 large long

Instructions

  • Step 1: Paint the canvas using acrylic paint allowing it to dry in between layers. Two should be enough. Once it is dry, trace the pattern onto the wooden canvas using a sheet of carbon paper.
  • Step 2: Start placing inserts down according to the pattern, stick them down with glue once you’ve created a garden effect with all the flowers and discs. Cut the ceramic strips to the desired length and cut the ceramic tiles to create the desired shapes for the roof etc.
  • Step 3: Grouting
    • Empty most of the bag of grout into a container and slowly add water, stirring all the while till you have the consistency of toothpaste or cake batter. A good indication of the right consistency is when you stop stirring: if the mixture retains peaks and valleys – add more water. If it immediately settles – add more grout. The right balance is if the grout sluggishly settles. Now liberally smear the grout over the surface of the tiles, ensuring that you force grout between all the tiles and inserts and those on the edge of the mosaic picture. Take a little grout with your finger and rub between the tiles of the border and the base all around the edge to ensure that you have filled the little gaps.
  • Step 4:Using a spatula, remove as much of the excess grout as possible. Sprinkle a little dry grout over the entire mosaic picture and leave to dry for a few minutes. Using old scrunched up newspaper in a circular motion, remove all the extra grout. If you find a pothole or crater, rub a little grout into the gap until it is filled. Leave the project to dry for half an hour and remove any remaining grout with your fingernail or damp cloth.

Cat Clock

By Ursula Janke

The Clay Club

Requirements

  • Wooden Canvas
  • Mosaic tile cutter & Wood Glue
  • Dark Gray acrylic paint & Paint brush
  • Grout, a small container and a spatula

Mosaic Tiles:

  • 112 Petite dark Blue mosaic tiles (If you’re going to mosaic the entire picture)
  • 90 Blue River tiles (If you’re going to mosaic the entire picture)

Ceramic Inserts:

  • 4 Cats – 1 large, 1 medium and 2 small
  • 1 medium sized sun
  • Happy Flowers – 3 large, 3 medium, 5 small
  • Happy leaves – 8 Lily Green, 4 Dark Green strips
  • 2 clouds
  • 2 words e.g. Dream & Create
  • A set of numbers 1 – 12
  • A clock mechanism

Instructions

We just used the Mosaic inserts to create this cat themed clock, but you can mosaic the entire background if you like, using the Blue Mosaic tiles.

  • Step 1: Border the wood with Dark Blue petite tiles and start placing the inserts down according to the picture in your kit as well as spacing the clock numbers out equally.
  • Step 2: Create a grass effect by cutting the green strips for grass, stick all your insert(Cats, Flowers, Sun, Clouds and Grass) down onto the wooden canvas.
  • Step 3:
  • Grouting
    • Empty most of the bag of grout into a container and slowly add water, stirring all the while till you have the consistency of toothpaste or cake batter. A good indication of the right consistency is when you stop stirring: if the mixture retains peaks and valleys – add more water. If it immediately settles – add more grout. The right balance is if the grout sluggishly settles. Now liberally smear the grout over the surface of the tiles, ensuring that you force grout between all the tiles and inserts and those on the edge of the mosaic picture. Take a little grout with your finger and rub between the tiles of the border and the base all around the edge to ensure that you have filled the little gaps.
  • Step 4: Using a spatula, remove as much of the excess grout as possible. Sprinkle a little dry grout over the entire mosaic picture and leave to dry for a few minutes. Using old scrunched up newspaper in a circular motion, remove all the extra grout. If you find a pothole or crater, rub a little grout into the gap until it is filled. Leave the project to dry for half an hour and remove any remaining grout with your fingernail or damp cloth.

Take a closer look

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