Simple Mosaic Flower Pots and Vases
Recently, I was able to attend a trial run for a craft class that was to be held at a local garden center. Two of my friends were asked to teach the class and they wanted to have a trial run before the big day. We spent two sessions creating unique, personalized 6” flower pots. I had absolutely no experience with mosaics, tiles or grout, but I learned a lot and think my first attempt turned out pretty cool. Here, I will share with you what I learned.
We began by selecting the tiles (or at least MOST of the tiles) and other shiny goodies we wanted to decorate our pots with. I originally did a random placement so I did very little planning, but if you want a specific pattern, I recommend laying out your tiles as they will be on your pot or vase. This way you can determine if you have enough tiles and how far apart they need to be spaces to create your design.
We then applied tile adhesive to the bottoms of the tiles and marbles, and placing them on the pot. Many of my tiles were of differing heights, so I attempted to build up a pile of adhesive to raise up the skinny tile to the height of the chunky tiles. On terra cotta, the adhesive sticks right away though be careful not to push them around while covering your project. On the glass vases, I found the tiles would sometimes slide down without being touched. I would put just a bit of the adhesive where I planned on placing a tile and let it dry a little while before gluing the tiles in place. This stopped the issue.
After your project is decorated, let it sit, allowing the adhesive to dry completely. This usually takes 1-2 days (longer for glass or plastics and raised tiles). Then you can go in and clean up excess glue. Remove all that will be visible above the grout. Once the grout is on there, it will be very difficult if not impossible to remove the adhesive and not leave signs. Remove bigger clumps with a sharp blade or dental pick and the smaller smears of glue can be wiped off with a warm, wet rag.
We used premixed grout and added acrylic paint for the individual colors. Pick dark paints because you do not want to have to add much to the grout. Adding too much paint to the grout won’t likely ruin your project, but it does seem to make laying and clean up of the grout more difficult. For this reason some colors, like red, are problematic to produce (you just get pink). Mix your grout and paint in a bowl or cup you don’t mind throwing away. With your hand, smear the colored grout all over the tiles and decorations on your project. On some of the pots, we left the top ungrouted and then painted after final clean up. Make sure you get it in every little nook and cranny. You don’t want to uncover air bubbles when you do your final clean up. After the grout is placed, you can take a damp rag and try to uncover the tiles. Personally, I prefer to wait until the grout has dried a bit, about 6-8 hours, before doing this though we were taught to do it right away. At this stage, we are not trying to make it perfect, mainly just reveal where all the tiles are for later clean up.
Let it dry overnight then get out your blades, picks and rags once more. Again knife or pick off the bigger chunks and vigorously rub off the thinner sections of grout. Huzzah! You now have an awesome, individualized planter of vase!
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