Mosaic Tools - What do you really need? Part 2

So other than cutters, what tools do you need? I can tell you that most of what you need, you will have laying around your house. There is no need to go spend lots of $$$ on these items. Spend your money on tiles instead!

Plastic containers are a must. I mean those that you would usually throw away when the product is gone, like butter and frosting containers. These are great because after you have cleaned them out, you can store your tiles or broken chips in them and mix grout and thin set in these. I never use anything that has to be washed when it comes to grout and thin set. I just throw the entire container away after I am done.

Plastic spoons are another great disposable item. Anytime you get food to go, save that spoon that you never use. After mixing your grout just throw it away with the plastic container. Newspaper is another great disposable item. Use this as your work mat. It will catch all of the shards and spills. Just wad it up and toss it when you get done.

Sponges are great for cleanup on your pieces that have odd items sticking out. Paper towels are a must when dry grouting (which we will talk about next time). Buckets are needed for doing large projects. I have found that those plastic gallon ice cream buckets are perfect for use as a bucket. Invest in a box of latex gloves. You will go through at least 2 pair when grouting.

So what about items that are not disposable. You definately need safety glasses and a dust mask. These are some safety items that will help to prolong your life! You never know where glass is going to go when you cut it. You just don't want it in your eyes. Grout dust is horrible for your lungs. Always wear a dust mask when pouring dry grout so you don't inhale the dust. It will just turn to concrete in your lungs. Not a good thing!

Other tools that I use are an old butter knife, scissors, utility knife, 3/16" notched trowel, and toothpicks. The old butter knife is one of those with the weird pointed end. This is great for digging out thin set or grout that is in a place it doesn't need to be or even back buttering tiles. Scissors are used with cutting fiberglass mesh and patterns. The utility knife is used most often for cutting substrate like hardibacker. I use the notched trowel when I need to lay and trowel through large areas of thin set. If you hold it at a 45 degree angle you will have a perfect thickness of thin set. Toothpicks are used for fine tuning the mosaic. I use them to dig out thinset from grout joints and mostly to reposition tiny tiles that I can't get my fingers on.

As usual, I have probably left out something. Always remember that you can use a lot of things around your home when doing mosaics. Once you use them on your projects, keep them in a small tool box for your next piece.