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This mosaic panel was designed and installed for a specific trouble spot in this kitchen. Care was taken to make the panel fit not only the space available, but also the style of the room. Also, the glaze colors and finishes were carefully chosen to match the newly laid countertop tile and the newly painted walls and cabinets.

The first step in the process, once the time-consuming measuring and designing process was finished, was to make the tiles themselves. These were cut from slabs of clay, carefully dried to keep them flat, and then fired until they were vitreous - completely non-porous. Below you will see the unglazed tiles assembled to make sure everything fit. At this stage, the clay had shrunk as much as it was going to, so the tiles were their final size and shape.

Once the fit was determined to be correct, the tiles were glazed and fired once more. Because we were working in a relatively small space, it was decided that we would attach the tiles to the backerboard before it was screwed to the wall itself. You can see in the following photograph that some key tiles have been left off. This was to allow for the screws to attach the tile panel to the wall. We were careful to leave the spaces where the screws would find a wall stud. This was a heavy piece and needed to be well-secured.
Once it was dry enough to hang, it was a simply matter of screwing the backerboard into the allotted space. The missing tiles were added and allowed to set up before the grout was applied.
We used an unsanded grout for this project, as the variations in the handmade tiles caused uneven spaces for the grout. The unsanded grout is best for very small grout spaces.
Contact us at

PO Box 42
Provo UT 84603

christine@spoutingnonsense.com