Hardboard makes a excellent basis for your mosaics as long as you limit the dimension of the all round mosaic, restrict the tesserae size, and don’t screen the mosaic in a soaked atmosphere. Steer clear of hardboard for outdoor apps since of the potential for deterioration. Assuming your tesserae are the dimensions of a quarter or much less and the overall size of your mosaic is much less than 24″x24″, I have identified that one/eight-inch thick hardboard provides an sufficient basis. If your tesserae are little, it is astonishing how flexible the mosaic is, even with grout, which indicates it can face up to some warping just before the grout cracks or glass pieces pop off. If your tesserae are big or if you incorporate big pieces of stained glass into your mosaic, the thickness of your foundation should be greater simply because the mosaic cannot withstand as a lot warping (i.e., the thicker the wooden, the more resistant to warping). For illustration, suppose your mosaic is 24″x24″ and you use a one piece of yellow stained glass to depict the vivid solar lighting up the globe. Suppose the sun’s diameter is ten inches, which tends to make up a excellent chunk of the mosaic. It’s effortless to see how a tiny warping can tension that solitary piece of glass creating failure (i.e., breaking, popping off). It’s like ceramic tile on a concrete-slab basis. As the concrete cracks and moves, anxiety is applied to the ceramic tile and, if the anxiety is great sufficient, the tile breaks. Consequently, glas mozaiek must think about the tesserae measurement when selecting the thickness of your mosaic’s foundation.

Above the years making a lot of wall mosaics that are 24″x24″ or significantly less, I have found that my favorite basis is 1/8-inch hardboard. It is the dim-brown things that pegboard is produced from but without the holes. It really is slippery easy on one particular side and rough on the other. I use this material only for dry, indoor, wall mosaics that will not be uncovered to moisture. I use this substance because it really is: one) Fairly thin, two) Fairly lightweight, and 3) Rough on one particular aspect so the glue grabs keep of it effectively.

The 1/eight-inch thickness allows the completed mosaic to suit in a standard pre-created frame. My glass tesserae are about 1/eight-inch thick, so the complete thickness of the finished mosaic is only about 1/4-inch. This makes it possible for me to purchase a all set-made body for practically absolutely nothing. I program my indoor wall mosaics to be sixteen”x24″, eighteen”x24″, or 24″x24″, which are typical measurements for pre-manufactured frames. If I were to use 3/four-inch plywood or MDF as the basis, I would then have to use a customized body with adequate depth to go over the whole thickness of the mosaic (i.e., three/four-inch wooden foundation furthermore one/8-inch tesserae equals practically a one-inch thickness). Custom made frames cost up to five instances more than common pre-manufactured frames. For illustration, by taking edge of their biweekly fifty% sale at my favored pastime shop, I can get a pre-made 18″x24″ frame in a wonderful design and colour that greatest fits the mosaic, have the mosaic put in in the body, have the hanging wire mounted, and have paper backing installed, all for less than $25. That is right! Much less than twenty five bucks. A custom made-made frame may well expense as much as $150.

Not only do I save on framing costs, the hardboard is low-cost when compared to 3/four-inch plywood and MDF. I acquire a pre-reduce section of hardboard as an alternative of a entire 4’x’8 sheet. The pre-reduce segment is 24″x48″. Knowing the top of my indoor wall mosaics is generally 24″ (which is the width of the pre-minimize segment), this makes it possible for me to reduce the hardboard providing me a sixteen”, eighteen”, or 24″ width for my mosaic foundation. For example, suppose I want my mosaic to be 18″x24″. The pre-cut width of the hardboard I purchase is 24″. I evaluate and reduce 18″, which results in a piece of hardboard that is 18″x24″. The piece fits perfectly in a common eighteen”x24″ pre-produced frame. I evaluate and lower the hardboard using a standard circular observed and a “rip fence” that I make by clamping a 3-foot level to the hardboard with two C-clamps. The rip fence allows me to drive the saw along the straight edge of the stage to make certain a straight and precise cut.

I get ready the hardboard foundation by painting it with two coats of white primer. The principal explanation for portray it white is to get a white qualifications on to which the glass tesserae will be adhered (Be aware: I usually adhere the glass to the tough facet of the hardboard). Although I typically use opaque glass, the white history will help brighten it up. The darkish-brown coloration of the hardboard can make the glass parts appear dull and dim, even even though the glass is supposed to be opaque. The secondary benefit of painting the hardboard with primer is that it seals it. I never know if sealing hardboard does everything, but it makes me feel greater believing it’s sealed. I do not know the material or chemical houses of hardboard and how it’s manufactured, so I do not know if it demands to be sealed, but portray it offers me a good, heat-and-fuzzy emotion. I have a habit of sealing almost everything whether it requirements it or not.

After applying the tesserae and grout, you may be stunned at how adaptable the mosaic is without having creating glass or grout failure (assuming your tesserae are comparatively modest). When I very first utilised one/8-inch hardboard as the foundation for a mosaic, I experimented and located that I could bend the mosaic a entire two inches without affecting the glass and grout. I was as well afraid to bend it much more than two inches! Right after the experiment, I assumed if the mosaic can bend a whopping two inches, then it can survive any warping that might arise. Then, right after the mosaic was set up in the pre-created body, I recognized that the mosaic was mounted in such a fashion to inhibit any warping at all. The mosaic was pressed and held in-spot with the tiny fasteners in the back again of the frame to maintain it from falling out. The only way the mosaic can warp is if it truly is strong enough to result in the body to warp with it. I have never ever experienced a problem with any indoor wall mosaic warping when using one/8-inch hardboard installed in a regular pre-made frame.

one/eight-inch hardboard is also light-weight enough so the weight of the overall mosaic just isn’t so large that you have to transform your property to generate a assistance structure stout adequate to keep the fat of a mosaic. Normally, my 24″x24″ (or less) mosaics are mild adequate to sufficiently dangle by signifies of a photo hook and nail set up in drywall. I don’t have to minimize into the drywall to put in 2″x4″ parts between the studs and then replace the drywall. This is very advantageous, especially when promoting or offering away the mosaic (i.e., you will not lose clients that you might otherwise drop if you notify them they have to cling the mosaic by performing anything much more than pounding a nail into wall).