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Large Economy Tweezers

Large Economy Tweezers are over 6 inches long needle-point steel tweezers that are competitively priced for creating mosaic art, which can be harsh on steel tools. These are a larger option for those who find our regular thumb tweezers too small or need something with extra length. The function is essentially the same: reducing tedium and frustration in positioning tiny tiles. We would not recommend doing mosaic work without some sort of tweezers, especially if using tile or pieces cut 3/8 inch or smaller. Sticks are fine for pushing materials around, but they can’t pick up tiles. Tweezers stay a lot cleaner than fingertips, which seem to get gummed up almost immediately. The needle-point tips of these tweezers are easily cleaned of drying glues by wiping on a shop rag.

Large Economy Tweezers

steel tweezers
needle point
over 6 inches in length
subject to rusting by thinset and grout

Mortars and Grouts Rust Steel Tools

Portland cement products like mortar and grout are mildly caustic and cause steel tools to rust faster than normal. The Large Economy Tweezers are steel and thus subject to this problem. You can delay and slow rusting by washing and drying your tools on a CLEAN rag after use. Never let your tools soak overnight. They can and will rust literally overnight. Use a brush to scrub invisible grout residue from the tools. After our tools are dry, we wipe them with shop rag from our garage toolbox. These garage rags have traces of oil on them, which is just what is needed to prevent rusting, but not so excessive that glues get contaminated next use.

How to Reduce Frustration

Tweezers make it infinitely easier to dip your tile in adhesive or thinset without contaminating your fingertips. They also makes it much easier to position the tile on the surface without messing up what you have already done. Most of the frustration of making a mosaic comes from accidentally bumping tiles that you have already positioned, and tweezers keep this from happening quite so often. The trivial cost of a basic pair of tweezers is the best money you can spend as far as reducing frustration. You will also be able to attempt more detailed designs than you would consider if using only your fingertips.

How To Make Mosaics

For more advice on designing your mosaic project or cutting and grouting tile, please see our Mosaic Frequently Asked Questions page or our How To Mosaic blog or our Mosaic Information Guide.

Margin Trowel

The margin trowel has a 5 1/2 inch x 2 inch blade for mixing and spreading grout and thinset. Note that this isn’t a notched trowel of the type typically used for spreading adhesive over large areas for architectural projects. Instead, this trowel was selected for its small size and its shape, which makes it suitable for mixing grout in small tubs and buckets.

Margin Trowel

wooden handle
steel blade 5 1/2 inch x 2 inch

Using The Trowel

The most important tip we can give you concerning grout tools like the mounting trowel is to remember to wash them thoroughly after grouting your project. This is actually a common problem because people are so focused on their mosaic that they often don’t think about their tools until after the concrete has hardened, usually not until the next day.

Never Soak Your Tools

Note that hardened concrete can be scraped off and is not nearly as bad a soaking your tools, which can rust them literally overnight. Never soak your tools. Grout and thinset are mildly caustic and cause them to rust rapidly. Wash and dry them with a clean rag or let the concrete harden on them for removal later.

Grouting Tips

Grouting outdoors is best, especially some place you can run a water hose and don’t mind a little sand and residue being rinsed. Excess grout could kill grass or plants, so scoop up what you can for disposal as solid waste in the trash and wash away what little is left with ample water.

Grout and concrete harden by BINDING water not by drying out. If you let grout or concrete dry out while it is curing, then it will be soft and crumbly. This also happens if you did not add enough water to the grout when you mixed it up. Cover your mosaic with plastic if you are grouting in strong heat, sunlight, air conditioning, wind or any other condition that accelerates drying.

Make sure you rinse all the water out of sponge so that it is moist but not leaving drips of water when you rub it on the mosaic. You do not want to get drips of water in the grout in the gaps when you are rubbing the residue off the faces of the tile.

Do not pour left over grout or grout sludge down plumbing or drains. Grout is concrete and can harden under water. Even sand can clog drains. Instead, pour your grout and grout water into an old plastic container. After it hardens, you can pour off the water and dispose what is left as solid waste.

We use traditional grouts and NOT the new epoxy-grouts, and all our advice is written for traditional grout. If you use the new epoxy-base products, then make sure you read manufacturer recommendations for safety and disposal.

Safety

Always wear safety glasses with side shields when mixing and applying grout. Grouting is a physical process with lots of mixing and rubbing and wiping, and these motions cause pieces of sand and grit to fly unexpectedly.

Grout contains powdered silica (sand) and is mildly caustic. Avoid breathing the dust. Use an ordinary dust mask rated N95 when mixing or use a misting water bottle to avoid creating dust. To protect your skin from grout, wear heavy-duty grouting gloves.

How To Make Mosaics

For more advice on designing your mosaic project or mounting, cutting, and grouting tile, please see our page of Mosaic Frequently Asked Questions or our Mosaic Information Guide, which lists instructional pages described by topic. We also post new articles about making mosaics at our How to Mosaic Blog.

Diamond Drill Bit Set

The Diamond Drill Bit Set includes 10 TINY bits for drilling small holes in mosaic tile, glass, ceramics, and metal. The sizes range from #42 through #70 (0.0935 inches through 0.0280 inches).

WARNING

These bits are TINY, and small drill bits snap easily. These will snap ridiculously easy. Please do not order if you aren’t experienced with small bits or you aren’t willing to break a few bits. We recommend using these in a rotary tool such as a Dremel Tool instead of a full-sized drill.

Diamond Drill Bit Set

TINY. These are not ordinary drill bits.
1/8-inch shank
steel tip impregnated with diamond dust
10 bits
sizes: #42 through #70 (0.0935 inches through 0.0280 inches)
for drilling glass, ceramics and metals

Safety

Always wear safety glasses with side shields when drilling materials or using power tools, especially rotary tools. An ordinary Dust Mask rated N95 should be worn when creating dusts from construction materials.

How To Make Mosaics

Diamond Hole Saw 1/4 Inch 6.5mm

Diamond Hole Saw is for cutting holes in mosaic tile, glass, metal, and ceramic using a rotary tool such as a Dremel tool. The nominal dimension of the hole saw is 1/4-inch, so the hole it cuts will be slightly larger.

Product Specifications

1/4-inch hole
steel cutting edge impregnated with diamond dust
for drilling mosaic tile, glass, ceramics, and metals

Safety

How To Make Mosaics

Dual-Grit Rubbing Stone

The Dual-Grit Rubbing Stone is a double sided sanding block for smoothing rough edges on ceramic, stone, and marble mosaic tile after cutting. One side is made of size 80 grit, and the other is size 60 grit for more aggressive removal of material. Note that the stone erodes as it is used. You can minimize the problem of creating a rut in the stone by dragging the tile sideways instead of straight along the edge, and you can vary the place on the stone where you rub.

When to Use This Tool

Smoothing Cuts

The Dual-Grit Rubbing Stone can be more useful than a marble file for quickly processing tile because it can sit on a flat surface and not move around when a tile is rapidly brushed on it. This allows the artist to rub the tile with one hand immediately after cutting without ever setting down the tile. This might seem trivial, but think about all the tiles you would need to cut in order to install a a large mosaic mural of 100 square feet or more, or even 10 square feet. Reducing hand motions and combining smoothing with cutting can save a significant amount of time when tens of thousands of tiles are to be processed, or even hundreds.

Safety

Dust

Avoid breathing construction dusts of any type, especially glass, cement, ceramics, stone, etc. An ordinary dust mask rated N95 is recommended as a precaution when using the rubbing stone, but we prefer to contain the dust with mist at the source. Keeping the dust wet is an easy was to make sure it stays out of the air. Dispose of the wet dust as solid waste in a trash bag and not down your drains.

We set the rubbing stone inside a plastic dishpan and mist with water from a spray bottle. The bucket collects the waste and acts as a moisture reservoir for keeping the air around the rubbing stone humid, which causes dust to fall out of the air faster.

Safety Glasses

Always wear safety glasses with side shields when cutting, filing and sanding materials.

Slivers and Surfaces

Be aware that cutting and sanding mosaic tile can produce tiny slivers that are surprisingly sharp. Never sweep off a work surface with your bare hand. This is how most cuts happen in the studio (seriously). Use a vacuum or counter brush instead.

How To Make Mosaics

Dust Masks N95 particulate box of 20

Dust Masks N95 Particulate box of 20 are recommended for tasks that generate non-oily dusts, tasks such as sanding, filing, and mixing up grout. The N95 rating means they capture 95% of all particles 0.3 microns in diameter or larger. You can buy an individual mask at your local building material store, but we sell the bulk pack as a convenience for instructors offering mosaic classes in their studios.

Product Specifications

3M brand 8200 series
quantity: 20 masks
adjustable nose clip with nose foam for better seal
elastic straps

When and How To Use This Tool

Keep in mind that dust masks are only part of a strategy to prevent breathing dust. You should also mimimize the amount of dust you generate by pouring and mixing carefully and using spray bottles to mist the grout as you mix it.

The masks are not individually wrapped, so keep the box closed during storage to prevent incidental contamination.

Vacuum off used masks before storing them in individual Ziplock sandwich bags labeled with the student’s name.

How To Make Mosaics

Economy Artist Palette Knife 1 Piece

The Economy Artist Palette Knife is a steel blade in a wooden handle and was made for spreading and mixing paint. We use them for spreading and manipulating thinset mortar and mosaic adhesives. Note that thinset, grout, and other concrete products are mildly caustic and therefore corrosive to steel and other metals. What this means is that you should take extra care to clean and dry your knives after use and not let them soak overnight even though you are worn out from a full day in the studio. You should also be prepared for the tools to rust and wear out over time, much sooner than ordinary trowels and putty knives, which are made of thicker steel. All that being said, many tools in the studio and workshop have a limited working life and yet are indispensable. The palette knife is extremely useful for detailed mosaic work, especially when pressing non-flat found objects such as seashells and artifacts into thinset mortar.

Economy Artist Palette Knife

Steel blade mounted in a wooden handle
approximately 8 inches in length
subject to rusting by mortars and grouts

Safety

The blade is not sharpened in the manner of ordinary knives, but it is a thin pieces of steel that is sharp enough to cut if handled carelessly.

How To Make Mosaics

Economy Artist Palette Knife 5-Piece Set

The Economy Artist Palette Knife Set is five different sizes of steel knives with wooden handles that were made for spreading and mixing paint. We use them for spreading and manipulating thinset mortar and mosaic adhesives. Note that thinset, grout, and other concrete products are mildly caustic and therefore corrosive to steel and other metals. What this means is that you should take extra care to clean and dry your knives after use and not let them soak overnight even though you are tired from a full day in the studio. You should also be prepared for the tools to rust and wear out over time, much sooner than ordinary trowels and putty knives, which are made of thicker steel. All that being said, many tools in the studio and workshop have a limited working life, and yet they are indispensable. The palette knives are extremely useful for detailed mosaic work, especially when setting non-flat found objects such as seashells and artifacts into thinset mortar.

Economy Artist Palette Knife Set

Steel blades mounted in wooden handles
5 pieces, each with a different style of blade
longest knife ~8.5 inches
shortest knife ~6.875 inches
subject to rusting by mortars and grouts

Safety

The blades are not sharpened in the manner of ordinary knives, but they are thin pieces of steel that are sharp enough to cut if handled carelessly.

How To Make Mosaics

Denim Shop Apron

The Heavy-Duty Denim Shop Apron is worn to protect clothing while cutting mosaic tile, grouting, and cleaning up. At our studio, we use aprons with long-sleeve shirts while cutting large amounts of tile (if the temperature and humidity aren’t too high). We leave the long-sleeve shirts unbuttoned like a lab coat. When we take breaks, we remove the long-sleeve shirt and aprons off. That way our clothing stays free from cutting slivers and dust that occasionally pop onto your cloths when you cut tile for a long period.

Denim Shop Apron

one heavy-duty denim apron with neck loop and tie straps

When To Use This Tool

The denim apron is worn when cutting large amounts of tile or mixing and applying grout. Wearing the apron with an unbuttoned long-sleeve shirt provides extra protection, but both are optional when it is hot. We use a shop vac and brush to dust off our clothing during summer months instead of wearing aprons and over-clothing.

Cleaning

After we are done grouting, we rinse out any concrete smears in the fabric outside in our back yard with the water hose. The back yard is also where we clean the mosaic tools, grouting sponge and bucket. (Excess grout could kill grass or plants, so scoop up what you can and dispose in the trash and wash away what is left with plenty of water.) We are careful not to rinse concrete down drains for obvious reasons, including the drains of washing machines.

Safety

The denim apron can be considered a piece of safety equipment because it helps keep your clothing free from cutting slivers and grout dust.

How To Make Mosaics

Dental Pick Set 4 Pieces

The Dental Pick 4-Piece Set is used for cleaning grout from cracks and pits and for removing glue residue from gaps between mosaic tile. WARNING: THESE ARE SHARP. The shape of the points can vary from the photo shown, but the tips can be bent and reshaped, and each unit has a pick at either end of the tool. The 4-piece set is better than buying an individual pick because the styles of the ends vary, and multiple picks help ensure that you have what you need.

Dental Pick 4-Piece Set

double-ended steel dental picks
4 pieces
shapes of pick ends vary from photos

The Importance of Cleaning Glue Residue

It is important that no glue residue extends up the sides of your tile. If adhesive isn’t covered with grout, then water can wick underneath the grout over time and cause tiles to pop off. You should inspect your mosaic by misting it before grouting. Any traces of glue on the sides and faces of the tile will start to turn white after a few minutes of being misted with water. You can use the point of a knife or box cutter to scrape away any glue residues you see coming up the sides of the tile to the top. However, tile in artistic mosaics made from hand-cut tile sometimes has points where tile actually touch each other at points, or the tile has extremely small grout gaps, similar to the spacing of human teeth. This makes a dental pick ideal for cleaning glue residue in these tight gaps.

How to Reduce Frustration

Tools like tweezers and dental picks can save hours of tedium and reduce frustration by allowing you to position tile without disturbing tile that you have already positioned. With these simple tools, you will be able to attempt more detailed designs than you would consider if using only your fingertips.