Doing Mosaics is much more complicated than it may appear. You first off need a little art background or basic knowledge of art theories. While i never went  too college art or advanced art, in my younger years i was very artistically inclined, including painted a large mural on the wall in my school. Many factors come in to  play including and not limited to shape  line design value color design substrates and surfaces glues grouts sealants thinsets sealers..etc...etc......An outdoor mosaic is not necessarily constructed the same as an indoor mosaic. a  1d 2d or 3d mosaic may also have other variables that come into play knowing what when and where and how to use substrates tessarrae and tools can in itself take some advanced knowledge. There are a few schools who teach the art of mosaic including the Chicago Mosaic School which i will be visiting soon. There is a California school and an Italian school. where one can learn histories of Byanzanite and ancient mosaics along with forms lines and color .Like any other profession they can all give you the basics necessary to proceed in your journey the roads you choose to take are up to you! Beauty is in the eye of the beholder,and with that said .I believe so is art. If you give a basic design to 10 different artists all 10 will execute it differently as all have different perceptions of the same idea. This does not make one wrong and one right. It may however  may make one more desirable to you depending how you perceive it.....Each and every person has their own distinct style or shall I say fingerprint in their art form
which makes us all unique and all different. What a boring place it would be if all were the same, do you agree so far?
Lets then explore the basic components of a mosaic.
The tesserae or tile may be from many different objects depending on the artists tastes and perceptions. You may use stained glass smalti pebbles broken dishes buttons fish gravel the possiblities are really quite endless.
Now the next step will be to glue them to a surface ....ok sounds easy but now knowing what adhesives will work on what tessarae and surface can be all together another trial! Some people prefer weldbond....but now weld is not a suggested outdoor adhesive they may want to use thinset ...
then the artist is faced with another dilema will mastic be a strong enough adhesive to hold my pebbles to this plastic or maybe arilyte surface?
will the surface itself upstand the freezing or high heat temperatures.............An inexperieced person may then rethink the situation and decide on an indoor project ,,,,,,,,,,,,,just to be on the safe side.......well maybe........ Many of these questions can be answered through artist peer groups .... Which is why we have started a group here on ebay do you have more posing questions than what were outlined here I do not have enough characters to write a whole book here but you are welcome to join us in our humble group..... Master Mosaic Artists.
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