How to Turn Your Smashed Crockery Into a Piece of Wall Art

Susan Goode
by Susan Goode
5 Materials
$6
3 Hours
Medium
I had so many broken bits of plate cups and miscellaneous crockery laying about that I wanted to create a piece of wall art out of it. Also during a loft clear out, I found an old art picture on a solid plastic frame which I thought was a perfect sturdy base to create this piece.
Old pic to use as base
I begin by sticking over the base with white paper to help with design clarity and a photocopy of a simple mask template I found online.
Cover with plain paper
Choose mask template
Glue the base to stick mask template on
Pva glue
I smash up some more china into tiny pieces with a wheeled tile nipper and make sure I wear protective eye goggles.
Use tile nippers to cut china
I begin to stick pieces of coloured crockery onto the template with PVA glue
Stick broken china onto mask template
I continue to glue the shapes onto the template making sure to leave gaps for grout.
Sticking the china pieces to the mask
When the face is finally done I begin to use green glass mosaic tiles for the background. I scatter a few blue in the mix too.
mosaic the background
I wait for a few hours for it to dry and then begin to grout the piece with ready mix grout and an old credit card.
Grouting the mosaic face
Carefully Cleaning the excess grout away with damp cloth
Cleaning grout off
It takes more time to gently clean within the tiles and tidy but wow so happy with the mask mosaic art !
Mosaic mask wall art
Mosaic mask wall art
Mosaic mask wall art
Resources for this project:
See all materials
Any price and availability information displayed on [relevant Amazon Site(s), as applicable] at the time of purchase will apply to the purchase of this product.
Hometalk may collect a small share of sales from the links on this page.More info
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this project?
  3 questions
  • Lillian Lillian on Jan 31, 2020

    What was the tool you used, that's the only thing, I didn't get the name of it.pleas let me know,it's an awesome project!!!, Lillian, from PA!

  • Ana Velez Ana Velez on Jan 31, 2020

    When you use the plastic canvas box?

  • Cherie Cherie on Feb 20, 2020

    I see that you use PVA glue over paper to glue the tiles. How does this hold up? Do you have any issues? I have always used mastic which would not bleed through the paper the way glue does. I do a lot of mosaics and am wondering how this holds up? Especially on a piece of furniture where people would be setting things on it. I can see it working for hanging artwork but I would personally worry about it lasting. How is it holding up? This could save me a lot of time and money if it works as well as the mastic does! Please share your experiences!

Comments
Join the conversation
3 of 30 comments
  • Erin Erin on Mar 06, 2022

    I think you must be the only person I’ve ever seen do mosaic on paper unless they’re doing the reverse method and I’ve been studying mosaic since the late ‘90s.

  • Dl.5660408 Dl.5660408 on Jan 12, 2024

    Susan, you are definitely the Queen of Mosaics! It’s unique and beautiful ❤️

Next