Groutless Micro Mosaic Jewelry Project Sheet

To download the pdf, visit Streuter's project gallery.

 Using No Days Groutless Mosaic Adhesive, you can create finished micro mosaic jewelry in no time at all and eliminate the mess and trouble of grouting to boot! The video below is an introduction to using No Days Groutless...

Approximate time to complete project = 1 hour

Find more project sheets at Streuter.com.

The Vinery Stained Glass Shop Road Show ~ Madison, WI

Denny gave me a quick tour of his new location.
He's got this Saguaro skeleton that's been with him for years.

Denny's new location is HUGE! He's been there for 6 months and it still smells brand new. He's got tons of glass on display, as well as finished projects. I got the grand tour as soon as I arrived.

Next to the front door of the store

There's plenty of room to walk around and everywhere you look there's eye candy. The store is divided into areas for make and take fused glass pendants, lampworking, stained glass, mosaic and fused glass classes.

He's also got his very first stained glass piece that he made by teaching himself
from a book when he was 24...just a few years ago. He's also got his very own Peter McGrain portrait looking over his precious.

Denny planned a full day with his Customer Appreciation Event occurring at the same time as the No days Road Show. The first 150 customers through the door got swag bags. There was a full demo schedule for glass cutting, the Morton System, bottle cutters, flameworking, foil repair, fusing ideas, programming your kiln, and of course, No Days adhesives!

Mosaic Adhesive...film or groutless?

Streuter Technologies offers several different adhesive solutions for mosaic artists. Each one was developed for a specific use. So how do you know which one you should use? This post will hopefully help you to answer that question, specifically for No Days Mosaic Adhesive film vs. No Days Groutless Mosaic Adhesive.

How do you decide which adhesive to use?

No Days Mosaic Adhesive Film is dry-to-the-touch and comes in rolls of thin, film sheets that can be cut to size. It comes in "clear," which has a yellowish tint to it.
No Days Groutless Mosaic Adhesive is a thick heat activated colored adhesive sheet designed not only to adhere tiles to a variety of substrates but also to fill in your grout lines between tiles during heating. It comes in "clear," pewter & black.

To help illustrate the questions to consider, I'll be using this glass on glass mosaic held together with No Days Mosaic Adhesive Film:

Various textured stained glass bits on plate glass.

It's a perfect example, because it was built with various textures of stained glass on a perfectly flat plate glass substrate with one sheet of adhesive film. By looking at the backside, you can see the areas of the glass that have adhered to the substrate as well as the areas that are not touching the substrate. ("Substrate" = the base you're building on.)

Looking through the flat glass, you can see where the adhesive is sticking (transparent) and where it's not.

The picture above illustrates what mosaics built with No Days Adhesive Film look like underneath the tiles. The adhesive has turned transparent where it is holding onto the glass (bonded) after heat setting the pieces in place. Now imagine that these glass pieces are on mdf, hardibacker, cement, wedi or other substrate. The surface area of the bond is enough to hold the pieces in place. The piece can be grouted and finished with no fear of pieces popping off (assuming that the mosaic was heat set properly.)

For tiles that have more texture and depth on the backside, No Days Groutless fills in
the gaps to provide more surface area for a secure bond.

 If, however, you are using tiles like the ones above, you may opt to use No Days Groutless Mosaic Adhesive. This gorgeous dichroic coated, ceramic tile from Coatings by Sandberg has a more textured back surface. That means that if you were using the mosaic adhesive film (which is thinner), that the adhesive wouldn't be as strong because the surface area for the adhesive to grab onto is reduced. But, if you're using the No Days Groutless (thicker), then there's no worry that the adhesive is grabbing onto the tile. The tile in the foreground is a tile that was adhered on wedi board with Groutless in pewter, then reheated and pulled off. You can see where the adhesive grabbed onto the tile.

To grout or not to grout?

The Groutless was developed for a teacher who wanted to skip the grouting process with her elementary school students because, well...it's messy! It's up to you whether or not you want to grout after the tiles are in place. The sunflower piece above has been adhered with pewter on wedi board. I am going to grout this piece, but used the Groutless Mosaic Adhesive because the ceramic tiles I used needed a little more adhesive to grab onto them. 

Glass on glass mosaic using No Days Groutless in black

By the way, you can use the No Days Groutless Mosaic Adhesive for glass on glass mosaics, and I've got some great secrets to share. But...that's gonna have to wait for another post!

Got any questions for me? Leave a comment so I can answer them :)

Video Tutorial ~ Creating A Photo Mosaic Coaster

  

Q&A Monday ~ Prepping Substrate with Film Adhesive

No Days Instructor and Support Carrie Strope Sohayda

Hi, there! Carrie, here... Not only do I travel the country teaching folks how to use No Days adhesives (and other techniques), but I also answer customer support emails about using No Days. So, if you're having an issue with the adhesives, chances are good that I'll be answering your questions! Since I get so many good questions, I thought it might be a great learning opportunity for people that may be having some of the same issues but haven't thought to email us. Don't worry, I'll keep the emails anonymous! Also, don't forget that we've got a lot of really fabulous videos (I put those together, too...) on our YouTube channel. So for those of you who are visual learners (umm...we're visual artists, right?), you may want to check them out! If you've got questions, feel free to contact us at info@streuter.com.

---

 Subject: Streuter Technologies: No Days Mosaic Adhesive film use

No Days Mosaic Adhesive is available in bulk rolls,
which are a great solution for studio classes

Hi, Carrie ~

I teach a little easy mosaics class and am trying to come up with a no fuss way to use your adhesive film for class. I find that when I use it in my studio... the film sheets can slide around and affect the alignment and spacing of my tesserae. Is there any way to make it easier on my students and prep the film on the substrate first. Like maybe tacking it down or just melting it slightly?

I have tried this and the film just disintegrates. I tried using the pink sheets of paper over it also...no luck.
N.

Prepping paver stones with No Days Mosaic Adhesive

Hi, N~
The film can definitely be frustrating to use if it's not set in place! I can totally relate. I've been teaching with it for a few years and have found that if you prep the substrate in advance that it makes the process so much easier. In fact, I've been doing this on every piece that I work on now. Here is a large scale project I completed with a group of k-12 students:
http://streutertechnologies.blogspot.com/2013/01/no-days-artist-residency-in-rural.html#more

Finished mosaic panels : 9th-12th graders
102" x 36", glass & mirror mosaic

The pink paper is not release paper. Our new packaging now comes with the release paper in rolls of adhesive. The white paper (shiny side) is the release surface. It has always come with the No Days Mosaic Mesh (if you have any of that around), but we have recently started including it in the No Days Mosaic Adhesive film packages (and No Days Groutless Mosaic Adhesive), as well.

 To prep my substrates, I will lay down the adhesive film, then put the release paper shiny side down. I use an iron on top (the release paper prevents the adhesive from getting on the iron). It's best to cut your release paper larger than the adhesive underneath so you don't accidentally get any on your iron. (It can be cleaned off the iron by wiping it down while it's hot and then when it cools using acetone to remove any residue.) If you're working glass on glass, you can use the same technique to prep the pieces of glass, or if you've got an electric skillet (or you can use the oven ~200ºF), you can use that: http://streutertechnologies.blogspot.com/2013/03/artist-residency-with-mosaic-glass.html

"It's hard to see in the photo, but I prepped the clear glass squares by
laying a square of No Days Mosaic Adhesive on it, and then placing
the squares on an electric skillet that I use for crafts."

If you have a bunch of the old packages of No Days Mosaic Adhesive, but need some release paper, you can contact customer service to order the silicon release paper separately.
Good luck!
Carrie

Hi Carrie....that is hugely helpful. Thank you for responding.
This may be my answer to offering a one day class....grouting same day!

Thanks.....fyi...love your work. Lucky for Strueter to have you.
~N.

Undersea Gardens Tutorial

Carrie Strope Sohayda ~ "Undersea Gardens" 12" x 6"

Materials:

• 1/4 lb 96 Fusing Canes Alternating 3 Red 2 Aqua Inner Helix
• 1/4 lb 96 Fusing Canes Green 5 Line Inner Helix
• 1/4 lb 96 Fusing Canes Cobalt 5 Line Inner Helix
• Spectrum System 96 Dark Blue Transparent
• Spectrum System 96 Clear
• Spectrum System 96 Cherry Red Transparent
• Spectrum System 96 Medium Green Transparent
• Spectrum System 96 Deep Aqua Transparent
• Slumpy's SM-6130 Ripple Swoop Mold
• HoneyDoo Zuper Glue 

Tools:

• Mosaic Nippers
• Fine Tip Sharpie
• Ruler
• Glass Cutter
• Running Pliers
• Safety Glasses
• Kiln
• Papyros Shelf Paper
• Kilnwashed Kiln Furniture

1. Begin by cutting glass and nipping cane.
•Cut two 2” x 12” and two 1½” x 12” pieces of clear glass.
•Cut two 1½” x 12” pieces of dark blue glass.
•Cut two ⅜” x 12” strips each of dark blue, cherry red, medium green, and deep aqua.
•Mark fusing cane at 2” lengths. Using mosaic nippers, cut fusing canes in each color to 2.”

2. Layout pieces according to the pattern below.
•For the first layer, lay down the smaller piece of clear glass in the middle. On either side, place the
strips of glass on edge, and then lay down the  dark blue pieces of glass to the outside.
•For the second layer, place the two remaining pieces of clear glass on top of the dark blue, and lay the cane out across the clear piece in the middle, securing the outer pieces with a dab of glue.

TIP: If you build on a piece of cardboard, you can easily transport and load the pieces into the kiln.

3. Full fuse & then slump.

Pattern Alterations: •To eliminate strips, add ½” to
the width of the dark blue and clear rectangles.
•To avoid using kiln furniture or fiber paper dams,
cut two ½” x 2” pieces of dark blue & clear to hold
the fusing cane in the middle section.

FIRING TIPS:
•To prevent the fusing cane from shifting off of the base layer of glass while firing, use kiln dams
against the ends. If you don’t have dams or fiber paper, you can alter the pattern using the above
instructions.
•If you want to eliminate bubbles from between the canes, space the canes so that there is a little
wiggle room between the pieces.

Suggested full fuse firing schedule:

200 dph to 1000ºF hold for 45 min
50 dph to 1250ºF hold for 25 min
500 dph to 1450ºF hold for 45 min
full to 1000ºF with no hold
200 dph to 950ºF hold for 60 min
100 dph to 800ºF with no hold
300 dph to 120ºF  with no hold

NOTE: This is a fairly conservative firing schedule, but you may need to make changes based on your kiln.