After lots of work and lots of fun the Agassiz preschool in Somerville now has a colorful mosaic path. The kids who helped to make it have been excited to walk on their work!
Take a look!
Before:
During:
After:
I learned a lot about what works best for outdoor collaborative mosaics. A couple of key observations in case you’re planning your own project:
1. Be clear with all of your helpers about which side of each piece goes “up”. The rougher side of tiles is hard to clean the grout off
2. Decide early whether it’s OK to have big spaces between pieces. Having less space lets the colors of the shards show more clearly, having more lets the grout colors set the tone
3. Preparing sections of the design on mesh ahead of time saves time on the day of laying the design
4. Doing each grout color in one session is a good idea, and it pays off to mask the finished sections before moving on to the next color. This can keep the grout sections clean and separate from one another
5. Try to choose a work area that can be accessed from many sides so that more people can work at once.
6. Mix the mortar wetter than you think it should be mixed so that the mesh sinks in well and the pieces all sink slightly into the mix
7. it might help to lay a thin layer of drier mortar under the areas that are made of thinner materials like glass tiles to raise them up to the level of stones and thicker tiles