Hi, I hope you lovely guys can help me;
I've been looking at an unfinished wall behind the hob in the kitchen for too long now - it's quite rough (chunks of plaster came off when I took the tiles off and we moved two sockets, etc...... you get the idea!)
Well, I've looked at commercial tiles/metal/glass splashbacks available and decided that I don't like any of them!
My idea is to create a stained glass type panel that I could fix into place and hide the monstrosity behind it!
The area is an inverted T shape, 120 x 30cm along the bottom, rising behind the hob to 75 x 60cm.
I thought about using plaster board (in three oblong sections), cutting my opaque 3mm glass (amazingly I do have an idea for that!) and "sticking" it to the board and then use a "coloured grout" as "lead" :-\
I know it's not conventional stained glass - but it would be different ;D
Do you think plaster board is the way to go? I plan to assemble the panel before fixing in place and grouting in situ.
Also any advice on adhesives would be appreciated!!! I've never stuck glass to plaster board before and even though the glass is opaque, I'd like an adhesive that dried clear - E6000?
I know it sounds completely mad and that I don't know what I'm doing - it is and I don't, but it's good to experiment :D
Any advice or better ideas would be greatly appreciated!
I'm afraid I can't offer advice, but wanted to say WOW! It sounds fantastic. :-*
Thanks Cathryn,
It sounds good, but we'll see what happens in practice!
If I ever work out how to post a picture here I'll let you see the finished item - wont be this week though - I work s l o w............ :D
Hi Ya,
What your describing is very similar to a stained glass technique called Applique. Although with applique you glue your glass pieces onto sheet of glass rather than plasterboard. But the idea is exactly the same. Once you have glued your glass into position you then use a black, grey or coloured grout in place of the lead. It is almost identical to a mosaic except it is created on a sheet of glass so you can still use it as a window or piece which light can show through.
If you were going to use glass as the base you would use a silicone adhesive to attach your pieces but to attach to plaster board I would use a wood glue. I've done the exact same thing to create a mirror on MDF and use a specific wood glue called Titebond. It really is fantastic.
When I used MDF as the baseboard I needed to seal the porous surface and used a diluted solution of titebond (you can also use PVA) about 2 parts glue to 1 part water. I then brushed this onto the surface of the wood to stop it from distorting the shape once you put your heavier glue on top. I'm not sure if you would need to do this with the plasterboard or not though.
Sounds fantastic!!! Have Fun!
Hi there,
I agree with stacy about sealing the plasterboard properly before you apply the glass. What about using some hardboard instead, a lot less porous.....
Good luck sounds like a great idea.
Thanks Stacy/Kerensky,
I'd never thought of using glass as a base - think I just wanted to take the easy route to cover up the wall.
I thought about using MDF/hardboard, but thought I'd need to keep the base white so it didn't darken the colours too much?
Going to have a look at Titebond - never heard of that, but I like the name!!!
Also some netting required on Applique, sounds very similar!
What's great is that nobody has said "Noooooooo, that's not possible!" Makes me feel that it really is achievable - I'm becoming more inspired by the minute, thank you :D
Cerri - probably a bit of a random thought......have you thought about doing the applique thingy onto a thin mirrored surface and attaching that to the wall on MDF? Too heavy??
Sounds like you have a really FAB idea there ;D xx
Haze - thanks for that!
Another great idea! I really hadn't thought of glass on glass - how dumb am I?
I just thought it would be easier to apply most of the Applique (NOW I know what it's called! ::)) to the board, leaving gaps for the screw fixings, fix board to wall and then cover fixings with glass and then grout, so that they would be invisible, I was thinking of doing that along the board joins as well - just thought it would look neater?
One things for sure, once it goes up, it wont be coming down again - hopefully! ;)
Just don't patent your amazing idea before I get around to trying it too ;) xx
LOL!!!!
No, it was thanks for YOUR great mirror idea, not mine - after all, I didn't even know what I was talking about was called until Stacy told me ;D
Right, off to go and get my wires crossed elsewhere!!!
I was thinking of doing something similar in my loo. I intend to use a modification of the method described by Karen Seymour. I bought 4 of her glass on glass books at the time due to the postage & the author signed them all. I'm not sure where the others are now but if you are interested I could have a look in the garage & you could have a copy if I find them. It's useful for info on grouting & cutting etc. See the link
www.seymourstainedglass.com/book.html
Geraldine
Have a look at http://www.expertvillage.com/video-series/58_mosaics.htm for some tips and tricks. The mosaics I've done have been on off cuts of MDF. Glue used was PVA adhesive and grouting with ordinary wall and tile grout. Here's the rose mosaic,
(http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1426/5604171/12685369/363816735.jpg)
This was done about 10 years ago. I don't think I sealed the MDF seperately but the PVA would have worked for this I believe. I've also done some mosaic on a couple of concrete stepping stones that are out in all weathers in the garden.
Geraldine, thank you for the offer of the books - but the internet fairy made me go to Amazon and made me buy four books on stained glass, so I've got a lot of reading to do!!! ;D If I can't find all the answers in them, I may get back to you!!! (Mind you, when I go looking for something I know I've got somewhere, I end up spending at least half a day playing with things that I'd forgotten I'd got and still not finding what I want - if you know what I mean!!!)
Pat, that rose is really beautiful!
That is exactly the type of effect I visualised. From all the advice here I think I'll end up using MDF (it'll be easier to fix to the wall than glass I think) and PVA. I had wondered about using "normal tile grout", looks like that's the way to go!
Just out of interest, how big is the panel? Thinking those mosaic squares must be very small!
Thanks for the link to expertvillage - some great ideas! Again, I never thought to look there! Doh :D
Quote from: Lloki on May 07, 2009, 01:35:15 PM
Going to have a look at Titebond - never heard of that, but I like the name!!!
:o CERRI, honestly woman, I'm shocked at you :D
I did something like this when I was a teenager (many, many moons ago) on the lid of a big wooden box I had, it looked gorgeous, so on a wall it would look completely amazing........can I come and help!?!? Now you've had the drive done I can get my car up to you and everything!!! :D
LOL - well, you can't beat a bit of tight bondage!!! ;)
Of course you can come over Helen, your new purple baby's exhaust will be safe now - you'll have to bring your own ropes though!!! ;D
My mosaic-y friend Helen uses pva to glue down tile and glass bits, then colours the grout
with acrylic paints.
Marg x
Quote from: Lloki on May 10, 2009, 11:36:14 AM
Just out of interest, how big is the panel? Thinking those mosaic squares must be very small!
The panel is 14.5 inches square and each of the small squares are about 1/4 inch. They vary a bit because they were all hand cut. I just cut strips of glass and then used tile nippers to divide the strip up. It's quicker that way.You could also use non-uniform glass pieces left over from making stained glass windows and use the tile nippers to make the piece fit the available space. Provided you've got your pattern marked out, it's fairly straightforward. This bird mosaic is made that way.
(http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1426/5604171/12685369/363976361.jpg)
It may look a little weird but I was into pattern formation at the time and tried to design it so that the pattern could be repeated as in block printing of wallpaper.
I have glued previous verions with ordinary tile adhesive, PVA glue and clear bathroom sealant (depending on what surface I am glueing onto).
I'd go with MDF sealed with white emulsion paint and then PVA glue for sticking the glass down before grouting with ordinary tile grout. I've also coloured the grout with acrylic paint, if you want a dark colour/shade you will need a lot of paint as the grout always dries up much lighter than you think!
Always best to test some grout colours first as it can really throw your design if the shade turns out wrong
Good luck! ;D
Thanks Janine,
Funny enough I was going to post another question about colouring grout and you've just answered it - brilliant! :D
I'm getting to the point where I can start sticking down now, I've sized all sides of the MDF with diluted PVA (recommended by Reading Stained Glass) and I'm going to use PVA when the sticking down begins - wish me luck!
Sorry another question!
Colouring grout?
I was thinking about colouring the grout to blend in with the surrounding colours, you know greenish for grass, blueish for sky........ instead of mixing up a lot more coloured grout than I actually need, does anybody have experience of grouting (using normal tile grout) and then just painting over the cracks (with acrylic paint) so to speak?
Any advice gratefully received!
I think it would be too time comsuming to paint the grout. As far as I can recall, and it's a long time since I did any mosaic, I used normal white tile grout and coloured it with acrylic paint, choosing a colour that best suited the glass used, eg background glass armstrong opaque beige ....colour of grout light beige. For this one I kept the grout white to merge in with the central panel.
(http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1426/5604171/12685369/363816735.jpg)
Thank you Pat,
I did think it would take a long time to grout, so then having to paint over it was just a consequence I thought I'd have to bear!
I do have the patience of Job (so I've been told)
It did take me 11.5 hours to stick down the hawk alone (only 95 pieces) - when I can work out how to post pictures I will, but believe me I'm in for the long run - I'm on a mission! It will not defeat me!!!
Perhaps if I can (eventually) post a picture, it will give some idea of the size of the "issue" :-\ I'd like to get it right first time, maybe white is the way to go?
Thanks for the advice anyway - I think you may be right!
I'd colour the grout rather than paint over, it just wouldn't look right otherwise. Lighter grouts always look better as they help set off the colours, dark colours can 'break up' the design so you see it as a mix of individual pieces rather than your eye being able to 'see' the whole thing as big picture.
hope that makes sense! :)
OK, Thank you ladies, colouring the grout would be the way to go!
Only thing that worries me slightly is getting a good colour match between batches - I'm not going to be able to mix the whole amount up in one go - I think I might just keep it simple and go for white instead, but thank you anyway.
Thanks for the tip about dark grout, I was thinking of using a darker colour on the hawk thinking it would "blend in and bind it together" didn't realise it could look strange!