Mosaics Tutorials How To Mix and Tint Grout For Mosaics

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Thanks for watching our video. If you like it, we hope you’ll subscribe! Click “SHOW MORE” to see more details about how to mix and tint grout. • • Let’s connect! • Twitter: / oneilsisters • Facebook: / theoneilsist. . • Instagram: / oneilsisters • Pinterest: / oneilsisters • How To Mix and Tint Grout For Mosaics • If you’ve ever wanted to make a mosaic, you might have wondered a little about the grout. How do you mix grout? What consistency should the grout be? Can I tint the grout? How do I tint grout? What can I use to tint grout? We can answer those questions! • A Little About The Grout • We buy grout with other mosaic supplies at the craft store. We like white sanded grout. The sand in the grout helps keep the grout from shrinking. But it cannot fill very fine lines. If your mosaic has very very small spaces between the tiles, you might want unsanded grout. Every grout will say how big a span it can fill. That means how big the grout lines should be in your project – that is the spaces between the mosaic tiles. Our white sanded grout specifies a grout width of 1/8 inch to 1/2 inch. If there are spaces larger than that, the grout might crack. Pay attention to the package your grout came in to decide how close together to place your mosaic tiles. • Sanded grout can scratch polished stone. Test an area if this might be a concern. We have used sanded grout with vitreous glass tiles, broken china mosaics, and glass mosaic and have never had any problem. • How To Mix The Grout • To mix the grout, you will need a disposable container to mix it in. We recommend a smooth sided container like a cottage cheese container or a plastic pail. It is easier to mix the grout well in a container that is not ridged. • We usually use a paint stirring stick or a putty knife to mix the grout. It is helpful to use a larger flat stirring device. It makes mixing faster and more thorough. • Start by reading your grout package to see what ratio of water to grout your grout requires. Our grout needs 7 parts grout to 1 part water. We can use this ratio to make any amount of grout, but we usually mix small amounts of grout. Once it is mixed, you only have 15 minutes to apply it. So you don’t want to mix up more than you can apply in 15 minutes. For this project, we used 1 tablespoon of water and 7 tablespoons of grout. We like to add the water to the container first. The grout is very powdery. Be careful not to inhale it. Adding the powdered grout to the water helps a little. Once you add the grout to the water, mix it well. If it is too dry, add a little more water. Even though our package calls for 1 part water to 7 parts grout, we ended up using 7 tablespoons of grout and 2.5 tablespoons of water. Maybe it is just very dry where we are. If it were humid, we might not have needed so much water. That is why you should start with the ratio on your package, but mix the grout and add more grout or more water to get it the right consistency. The grout should be the texture of natural peanut butter. It will be thicker than pancake batter, but more pasty than biscuit dough. The texture should be smearable but not runny. • How To Tint The Grout • Our grout is white. We like to start with white grout and then tint it. If you want to tint a very dark color, you can start with gray grout and then tint it. We think it is nice to choose a color that sets off the tiles. For this grout, we chose gray. • To tint the grout, squeeze a small amount of acrylic craft paint into the grout. Mix thoroughly. Keep in mind you only have about 15 minutes to work with the mixed grout including applying it, so don’t take too long with this part. See if you like the color, if not add more paint and stir. The grout will look darker when wet and will dry a little lighter. • Once you like the color of the grout, you are ready to grout your project! • If you have any questions at all, leave us a comment. We love to help! • Jennifer Kitty • If you enjoy this lesson, you might also like these videos: • Mosaics 101: How To Break Off China Roses for Mosaics • • Mosaics 101: How To Break Off China R... • Mosaics 101: How To Cut Tiles For Mosaics • • Mosaics 101: How To Cut Tiles For Mos... • Mosaics 101: How To Break China for Mosaics • • Mosaics 101: How To Break China for M... • Our blog is www.RunningWithSisters.com. It is loaded with DIY crafts, jewelry tutorials, and all kinds of gift crafts to make. • • To see more of our mosaic videos and get our printable how-tos for each one, go over to Curious.com and try a subscription. Here's a 20% off coupon in this link. http://tinyurl.com/CURIOUSTEACHER20 If you haven’t tried Curious, it’s awesome. Tons of great teachers and lessons in just about everything!

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