Broken China Mosaic Projects

Many of you have expressed interest in my broken china mosaic projects so I wanted to show you two projects I think would be great starter projects.

  You will want to start on a small project.  A tray is really not a good project to start on.  It takes some practice to cut out center pieces and plate trim to form an attractive pattern.  You also want all of your tiles to be level so when you run your hand over it you feel a nice smooth surface, this also takes a little practice.

  

My advice would be to start with small projects until you get the hang of it.

You will need three things to get started.  Tile adhesive and grout, both available at your local hardware store and a glass mosaic cutter.  I have never seen glass cutters at craft stores, I purchased mine online for $24

Don't confuse glass cutters with tile nippers.  Nippers will not give you the precise cuts that you need.

The glass cutter is needed so you can precisely cut out the flowers you want from your china.  If you smash your plates with a hammer you will not be able to get the pieces and sizes you want.  For the shelf I cut the flowers from two of these plates.

I started with a plain shelf

Then cut my flowers out to fit and used tile adhesive to affix them.  I let it dry 24 hours and then grouted them.

I picked a porcelain flower and leaves from my stash and attached them with E-6000

These are very easy to chisel off nick nacks that are chipped.   Since they are damaged thrift stores sell them for pennies.  Usually there is still some good, unchipped flowers left.

You can read the whole tutorial on how to chip off flowers HERE

Here is another easy project.  

I started with a rusted vintage garden trowel

Cleaned it up, painted it, and added tiles

This is super easy, If you have ever had any thought of doing broken china mosaics these are two great starter projects.  

I get my china plates at thrift stores, garage sales, and estate sales.  Sometimes I will buy just one plate but, if I like the pattern I will buy a whole set.

My advise is to start small and get some practice

I don't profess to be anything close to a mosaic artist but, if you have any questions I would be glad to help, ask away!

Happy Creating!

Carol