Mosaics - Part 1

It is unseasonably warm today.  More like June than March.  The summer house is baking hot, bees are buzzing, birds are singing and butterflies are fluttering.  I'm wearing factor 50 sunscreen and sunglasses and wondering what happened to Spring.

The weather is confused, the plants are confused, in fact we're all a bit confused.  Which may explain why I decided to teach myself mosaics today.

It seemed like a good idea at the time. I have the basic kit of materials I bought a while ago which contains tiles, grout, adhesive, nippers, goggles, tweezers, even an apron and gloves. What I hadn't realised was that adhesive and grout don't really keep that long.

Oh well, just give it a go anyway I thought.  So I put all the gear on (goggles, apron, CSI gloves) and picking up the large nippers and a mosaic tile attempt to cut it into two pieces.  Nothing happens. The tile will not break. I try again, squeezing harder this time. Several bits of tile shoot off in various directions. I should mention that the goggles look very much like the kind you wear when scuba diving and are bright green. They look so ridiculous I debate whether to put them on.  (Very glad I did!)

After several attempts with the nippers (and some nifty dodging of flying glass) I manage to accumulate an assortment of different colours and shapes which will fit the two little terracotta dishes I want to decorate as bird baths. (Oh I can laugh now at my self-satisfied ambition.)

To set the scene. The tile adhesive has already partly set in its container as it should have been used within two years of purchase.  I'm working with a very small plastic trowel-like implement and have to pick up said adhesive and create a layer 4mm deep in the base of two very small dishes.  Like threading a needle with boxing gloves is the expression that springs to mind.  Speaking of gloves, I have to get rid of the CSI pair because of the large hole in the thumb. 

I start placing the mosaic pieces into the adhesive (I concede that the tweezers are very useful for the smaller bits) but it's 'fast drying', and probably drying even faster bearing in mind the temperature, so it's not going well.  I haven't cut enough pieces so there's more adhesive than tile, there are sharp edges, loose pieces, and absolutely no pattern whatsoever.

And this is the result. 

Pretty sure the birds won't be taking a dip in these anytime soon.  Waaaaay too scary!

Anyway I now have to wait 24 hours before applying the grouting, which may also be past its sell by date.  But I do get to use the sponge and the squeegee thingy!