Hello,
I have a question about adhesives. Is there an adhesive that you know of that doesn’t have to cure for hours before you can grout? I’ve never thought about that myself but I have a workshop owner that wants me to teach a class but says the class can only be 1 session that is 2or 3 hours long. Is that even doable?
The piece will be 8”x8” and I will give them several patterns to choose from. I’m just not sure that completely finishing grout and all is possible.
Thanks,
Nicki Albright
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Hi Nicki, strangely, this is not an uncommon question.
The only product I can recommend with a quick cure is Crazy Glue or another brand of that nature. It sets up almost immediately, which is not advantageous to newbies because they cannot go back and adjust tiles as they're learning.
I once taught a workshop to a group of local art teachers where we did 2 or 3 pieces, all on 4"x4" MDF blanks. We did one design with tile, another with stained glass to let them play with both materials. Both of these projects used Tacky Glue.
Then, once they were comfortable with cutting, designing and gluing, we did the 3rd project. Same size, but used Crazy Glue as the adhesive. This project they then got to grout because the adhesive was set.
I've had another instructor do a 6 hour session where they used Tacky Glue in the morning and Crazy Glue in the afternoon. By the time it came for them to grout most of the Tacky Glue had set well enough to withstand it.
For a shorter session, plan a smaller project. 8"x8" will be too much for a 2-3 hour session.
1. Have the students tract the base on paper.
2. Design and cut their tiles to fit into the outline.
3. Finalize their designs on paper.
3. Have them glue their pieces onto the base with Crazy Glue.
4. Grout
I don't know that I would call this an optimum learning experience because selecting the right adhesive is key to any project. You may want to have some other water-based glues on hand to let them play with away from their base.
You could also use No Days Mosaic Adhesive but that would be an additional cost for the adhesive and you'd need heat guns to pass around. I tried it once but wasn't happy with it enough to try it again.
Juanita
Kismet Mosaic