Decorate your Garden with Mosaics

Tiny bits and pieces create beauty and interest in your home and garden when you make mosaics! Imagine coming across the glint of glass on a stepping stone in the garden or a birdhouse made from a treasured, but broken, lamp. Glass baubles and blossoms decorate a birdbath and pottery shards vine around a frame to highlight a small print on the patio. Made from colored glass or ceramic fragments, mosaics are a great way to add touches of creativity to your home!

As a dinnerware designer, I always seem to have lots of broken plates around the studio. I hate to throw away pretty pieces, so we save all the broken bits to use for mosaic projects. I also love the colors and textures of art glass and enjoy working the opalescent pieces into distinctive mosaic projects.

Many different things can be used as the foundation for a mosaic project—flowerpots, wooden trays, terra cotta saucers, frames, bird feeders, concrete stepping stones, or even a patio table, to name just a few. Mosaics do take some time and experimentation, so, start with a small project before you take on the table top!

Scraps of glass take the shape of a birdhouse on this sweet project! Mounted on a concrete square, this stepping stone will be a wonderful surprise on a garden path. To get you started, directions for this mosaic project are included as this month’s Craft Project of the Month. The same techniques are easily adapted when working with random pieces of glass or ceramics.

A terra cotta saucer forms the basin for this birdbath. Glass nuggets trim the edge and highlight the free-form flowers floating in the center. The pedestal sports random leaves of glass amid the molded vine motif. Several coats of sealer make this birdbath easy to clean and fill for the birds’ enjoyment!

What do you do when your favorite hand-painted lamp gets broken? Why, make a mosaic birdhouse of course! This five-sided birdhouse was made by a friend’s husband as a surprise for his wife. (Guess who broke the lamp!) The lamp’s decorative finial forms the roof ornament while ceramic shards are used for the walls. Decorative iron designs form distinctive perches for the five bird holes and weathered copper forms the roof of this delightful mosaic project. A wonderful way to save and reuse the beautiful hand-painted pieces!

Some of those broken plates I mentioned form the pieces for this mosaic frame. Broken plates and vases can be challenging to work with because of curves and different depths. Fortunately, grout can hide a multitude of problems! To make smaller pieces of a broken plate, wrap the plate in an old towel and then place it inside a plastic bag. Place the wrapped plate on a newspaper padded concrete floor. Wearing safety goggles, hit the wrapped plate with a rubber mallet until pieces are the size you want to use. You can use the pieces as they are, or you can sand down the rough edges. I recommend wearing gloves when handling sharp pieces and use extreme care. Apply ceramic tile adhesive to each piece, or cover a section of your project base with adhesive then place mosaic pieces. When your design is complete, allow to dry a minimum of 24 hours before applying grout. When the grout is thoroughly dry, apply a sealant following the product manufacturer’s directions.

Like life, mosaics are made up of an interesting assortment of bits and pieces. Use the small treasures of everyday to create new beauty for your home and your life.

Website visitors have permission to print this project for personal use only. This project may not be copied or otherwise reproduced without the express written permission of Debbie Mumm®.