MOSAIC TABLES

I have 2 round tables in our back yard that we got a few years ago.  Last winter, the basketball standard got blown over and completely broke the top of one.  The other one got iced and crack and looked terrible.  I threw away the tops and kept the frames and wondered what to do.  Then I thought of an idea!  I would make a mosaic table top!  I didn't think of doing a little mosaic project first.  No, I start with a huge project that took hours and hours.... but was lots of fun and turned out super cool.

I began by cutting new round table tops to fit the frames out of tile backerboard.  It has to be very strong to hold the weight of the tiles and not bend and crack.

Then I drew the pattern.  The kids suggested the theme and I went from there.

If you are not familiar with "Avatar: The Last Airbender" then this probably doesn't mean much to you, but it is symbolic of the elements.

Once I got this done, we laid out all the tiles on the pattern on a table in the basement.  I kept having to get more tiles as I came to realize just how big this actually is.

 

This is where Rachel stepped in.  She helped me lay out all the tiles on the pattern and fix a few of the parts that didn't quite work.

Then I decided that we had spent so much time on this that we needed to do a practice table before we did the actual Avatar table.  So I drew a random pattern on the other table top and we just went to work gluing on tiles.  I used Omni grip mastic as the glue/mortar.  It is water proof/weather proof and supposed to be good for outside... at least as good as it gets.  It dried very quickly so we had to do small areas at a time.

 

Rachel and I had a lot of fun working on it and figuring out the colors and design.  Once we finished gluing, we grouted.  We used Fusion Grout since it is weather proof and would be good outside.  It dried very quickly though and was irritating to my skin so I had to wear gloves.  Of course, we ran out of grout before we finished the edge so we had to buy more.  It turned out really nice though and we were excited to do our main project.

Since I needed the paper pattern that all the tiles were laid out to redraw the pattern onto the table, we had to put all the tiles into tubs according to the area of the table they belonged in.  We transferred the pattern onto the table using transfer paper (carbon paper).  Then we started gluing  tiles.  It went quickly and the results were good.  Then we grouted used a "platinum" grey color.  Both tables turned out great and I'm thinking I might have to keep them in the house so the weather won't ruin them... Just Kidding. 

 Finished and ready to use: