Well, it’s finally here; my step-by-step guide to grouting your mosaics! I was kinda worried about posting about grouting before I’ve even talked about bases you can use for mosaics or where to get supplies and materials, but, ‘the Hubster’ said he thought I should just go for it and share my grouting ‘formula’ now because there’d be plenty of people out there who’d be at the point of grouting. Since I like to be detailed and share what people REALLY need to know, this took me longer than I had planned, so, it’s “Chapter One” for now; I’ll get “Chapter Two” posted in the next day or two. If you’ve got a mosaic that you need to grout, or are planning on making a mosaic, you can use “Chapter One” to plan for and gather all your supplies and materials!
The ‘formula’ I’m presenting here comes from combining different directions and tips for grouting that I’ve culled from books, other mosaic artists, mosaic classes I’ve taken, online resources, and, of course, that good ‘ol trial and error I’ve experienced as “TileMosaicGirl”. This process is what I’m following now; if I find other, better ways to do it in the future, I’ll be sure to post those. Also; please DO post any ideas, critiques, or feedback that you might have from your experience.
FIRST OF ALL, Let me share a few things you need to know about grouting:
1. You need to at least mix up grout in an outdoor, well ventilated, or garage-type area; not in the house where the dust and fumes will be trapped.
2. Always wear a face air mask (like the white kind that painters use sometimes) when mixing grout, and even while working with grout, if you find that you are sensitive to the smell (I know there have been times when I didn’t use a mask after mixing and I had this icky nasal-y, respiratory gross-ness later or the next day; not fun!).
3. NEVER EVER EVER rinse, wash, or pour grout down the sink, tub, or into any plumbing structures or pipes! A main ingredient is basically CEMENT and it can totally and/or partially block your pipes and ruin your plumbing system!
4. You will have to use separate buckets for rinsing grout from your pieces that you will set aside after you’re done grouting (…after you follow the grouting steps in Chapter Two). (You’ll wait about 12-24 hours for the grout to settle on the bottom and then slowly pour all the clear water off the top into an area of the yard or a field that won’t harm any plants or structures. Then, you’ll pour/scrape out the remainder of the grout into a disposable container that you’ve kept around (like an old shoebox, butter or Cool Whip container, coffee can, jar, etc.) Next, you will need to throw away the container with the grout. Do NOT get the grout on any other surfaces; wherever it goes, it will harden into a cement-like surface and damage whatever it’s on. If it gets on anything else, immediately wipe it off with a clean sponge (a sponge that, again, you DON’T rinse in a sink, but instead only in your grout bucket) and/or wet rags that you THROW AWAY (meaning, you also can NOT WASH anything that has grout on it in a washing machine; your only option is to throw it away or rinse it out in an outside area where it doesn’t matter if grout accumulates, like an old field, weed pile, part of the yard that you don’t care about, etc.)
Here I’m showing my typical Winter grouting set-up and supplies (when I can’t do it outside, which is much easier in non-Winter weather, with the hose and such) …
Note: If I’m going to be grouting multiple pieces with different grout colors, I have separate supplies for each grout color, it makes it much, MUCH easier; you wouldn’t believe how, say, the white grout residue in the sponge can get transferred onto a piece with black grout.
SUPPLIES:
- Rinse bucket 2/3 full of water
- Large grouting sponge
- Smaller sponges for smaller/more intricate areas (household sponges and those triangle-cut painting or ceramic-work sponges work well)
- Small container (or cup) to add water to grout
- Small-med. size container for mixing grout (I’ve been using a lot of recycled Cool Whip containers, you can also use old bowls that you then only use for grouting)
- Sticks/wooden spoons for mixing grout (the free ones at the paint dept. of home stores work great; split them in 1/2 to use for diff. colors)
- Medical-type, tight-fitting latex or non-latex gloves (get at the $ store or a box at a great price from Sam’s Club or Costco or online)
- Long, dishwashing-type (usually yellow) rubber gloves
- Regular/tight fitting 1/2 knit fabric/1/2 rubberized “nitrile” gloves; from the garden or chemical section of home stores (dk. blue rubber in my pictures).
- Grout float, wide plastic spreader, or spatulas for smoothing grout into your mosaic piece (I don’t use these that much for my pieces, but many people do; usually used more w/ really even mosaic surfaces)
- Paper towels and/or “Shop Towels” (usually stronger)
- “Dental tool” type art picks and tools (often found in ceramics and/or painting dept.’s) to fine-turn certain areas; around crevices, uneven surfaces, digging out low-lying, buried pieces, etc.
- Toothpicks and/or straw, if you have holes in your pieces that need to be kept open (like for wire hangers on my stars)
- Plastic bags, plastic tarps, or any type of plastic covering to protect tabletop surface
- Newspapers; to absorb grout & water & throw away after all the mess!
- Cloths, old shirts or clothes to use to buff away the excess grout film after you’re done (I usually reserve dark shirts for dark colored grout, white for white, etc.; seems to make it easier)
- Large “dump” bucket 3/4 full of water (like those huge orange ones from Home Depot, or a large size mop bucket—that you can only use for mosaics in the future) for throwing grouty (that’s a word, right?) gloves, mixing sticks, and other items in to rinse off
- Aforementioned dust/chemical air mask
- Safety glasses, if you feel more comfortable using them (…maybe we’re all a little spazzy…?)
- Your powdered, sanded grout in whatever colors are needed (note; store opened grout in airtight containers; any moisture from anywhere can ruin it)
- Penetrating Grout Sealer (liquid; available in home improvement stores in the flooring/tile section)
- And, lastly, your BEAUTIFUL mosaic pieces you need to grout!!!
