CHAPTER 11

Glass Mosaic Tiles

FRAGMENTS OF STAINED GLASS can be secured from almost any stained glass works without cost, as much of the odds and ends of glass are thrown away. These fragments can be used in making Glass Mosaic Tiles, and used correctly will produce charming and interesting results.

Mother-of-pearl or abalone flakes can also be used as small bits here and there in designs and will be found to give an additional rich effect.

Semi-precious stones or glass beads can be used in many ways such as handles and tops or as rests for tea tiles, etc. The beads can be sunk into the cement until the hole through the bead is concealed.

TO MAKE A GLASS MOSAIC TILE there are four steps as follows:

1st. Making and tracing the design. 2nd. Cutting the glass. 3rd. Pouring the cement backing. 4th. Releasing the tiles and finishing.

FIRST STEP: MAKING AND TRACING THE DESIGN. To make a design for glass mosaic, plan a very simple design for the first problem. A few squares joined by simple bars, composed in a simple pleasing arrangement will be hard enough. Objects such as flowers, birds, trees, etc., must be planned in simple forms. Remember that each piece is to be cut from glass and intricate outlines, etc., must be abbreviated. Decide what direction of line will tell the most in the shortest length. It will be found that designing for glass mosaics or for stained glass is one of the best influences for recording large masses, for producing the maximum amount of subject with the minimum means of line.

After the design has been drawn out on paper it should be colored to correspond with the stained glass fragments that have been secured. Right here it may be well to state that the glass mosaic need not be entirely covered with glass sections. Much of the background may be cement and the colored portions (stained glass and mother-of-pearl) may be only a certain portion or design running across the tile surface.

After the design has been colored, make a firm tracing from it and place the tracing upside down on the table and a glass over this large enough to cover it fully. The stained glass sections are assembled upon this glass as they are cut.

SECOND STEP: CUTTING THE GLASS. A small glass cutter with a wheel can be purchased at any hardware store and with a little practice glass can be easily cut. Once the wheel is placed upon the glass it should be pressed slightly so that it grips the surface. Then draw the cutter firmly toward you without changing the angle of the handle and without turning the handle to one side or another. A few taps with the tip of the handle on the under side of the glass and a “bending and pulling apart” motion of the glass with the fingers will cause it to come apart after the cutting. Some glass cuts much easier than others and a good cut with the cutter will cause it to come apart upon the slightest bending in the fingers. Do not run the cutter wheel over a cut line in the glass a second time, as it will injure the wheel. Practice cutting clear glass as well as stained glass. The glass cutter should be placed with the wheel in turpentine to preserve the cutting edge.

To cut the glass in the right shape use either of the following methods: Trace the design upon stiff paper and number each section of the design to correspond with numbers on the original sketch. Cut these sections apart and use them as patterns to lay on the glass. The glass cutter is then run around the edge of the pattern in cutting the glass. The second method is to trace the sections to be cut directly onto the glass. If carbon paper is used, the line will be definite enough to follow.

SMALL SECTIONS OF GLASS can be better separated after the glass cutter has been used if small pliers or dull nippers are used to grip the glass. Hold the largest piece of glass firmly between the fingers and with the nippers grip the glass close up to the line of division and with a quick downward turn of the nippers it will divide the glass along the line produced by the cutter.

The sections of glass when all cut may be trimmed to truer forms by using a corborundum stone or file.

AFTER THE GLASS HAS BEEN CUT, place a tracing upside down on the table and a glass over the tracing. The tracing on the underside of the paper should be visible through the glass, and of course is reverse in position. Take each piece of glass and touch the right side with glue and place it onto the glass over its location defined by the tracing. Assemble all the glass in this way, all the pieces being glued face downward onto the glass. Mother-of-pearl, metals, etc., can be assembled the same way, and the fact that they are thinner than the glass need make no difference as their surfaces all resting upon the glass will result in their being all the same level on the completed tile.

THIRD STEP: POURING THE CEMENT. After the glass has been glued and left remaining for several hours (to permit the glue to dry) the retaining bars are placed on the glass, at the proper distance from the cut sections and cement is then poured into and over the glass mosaics until the required thickness of tile is secured. This mixture may be color cement or the neat Portland cement, care being taken to pour it in slowly from the center to avoid formation of bubbles.

FOURTH STEP: FINISHING THE TILE. When the tile has set for several days it may be removed and an incised line made around the edge of each glass mosaic. Place the tile in water to harden for several days. Remove and let dry, then give the entire surface a gasoline wash of gray or other color. A slight polishing of the surface will finish the tile. It will be found that the moisture has softened the glue so that the whole tile releases from the glass surface. The cement should be rubbed off of any of the glass parts if it has encroached until the entire edges of the glass mosaics are visible. This should be done before the tile is placed in the water to harden.