How to Create an Outdoor Stepping Stone Mosaic with No Days Adhesive

No Days Mosaic Stepping Stone

Tools & Materials:
-Paving Stone from home improvement store
-No Days Mosaic Adhesive Film (2 layers)
-heat gun
-sheets of stained glass
-tweezers
-glass cutting tools
-sanded grout


Approximate Time Start to Finish: 60-90 minutes depending upon size of stone, and skill level




Using No Days Mosaic Adhesive and a pre-formed cement paving stone, you can create mosaic stepping stones for your garden in just an hour!

The materials you will need include: a pre-formed paving stone, No Days Mosaic Adhesive, sheets of stained glass in a variety of colors, and grout.

The tools used include the standard heat gun from Streuter Technologies, tweezers, latex gloves, glass cutting tools and the Morton Glass Cutting System. 



----PREP STONE WITH ADHESIVE-----

Cut No Days Mosaic Adhesive to size using scissors or an exacto blade. You can overlap pieces and even use scrap and leftover adhesive film. Create two layers so that the adhesive fills in the porous cement when it melts.


You can lightly heat set the adhesive to meld the two layers into one. Using the heat gun on low, quickly heat the layers, and trim the adhesive to size.


You can mark your design on the cement, but it is much kinder on your sharpie to mark the adhesive film.


-----Cutting the glass-------

Using the Morton Glass Cutting System is a quick and easy way to cut multiple, accurate shapes.  If you need exact squares, start by setting the glass stops to the proper width. Cut a strip off of a length of glass, and then you can quickly cut many squares from that strip. Make sure to groze or grind any burrs or flares on the glass edge that could get in the way of cutting straight lines. For cutting smaller squares, use the shuttle strip to help you remove small glass pieces. 


For cutting triangles from the squares, set up the 90 degree fast angle, securing it in place with the glass stops.  I like to hold the piece in place from the top of the glass square and cut toward my finger. This prevents glass shards from chipping off and getting stuck in the bottom of the fast angle, which can unseat the square and throw the angle of the cut off.


For more detailed directions, you can view instructional videos on the Morton website.


----BUILD YOUR DESIGN------

After you’ve cut all your glass, you can begin to build your design. If you are interrupted, or only want to build small portions of the mosaic at one time, you can trim away the unused adhesive and set it aside for later use. Make sure that you place the excess adhesive well away from your workspace because you’ll be working with the heat gun, which can inadvertently melt any scraps that are nearby. 


----BEGIN TO HEAT----

Hold the heat gun approximately 4-6” away from the mosaic and begin to heat on low. As you begin heating, the adhesive will melt where it is not covered by glass. You need to continue to heat the glass until it is warm enough to melt the adhesive under it, or the mosaic pieces won’t fully adhere and can peel away or pop off while you’re grouting. As the pieces start to heat, you can move the gun a little closer to your project. Make sure to heat slowly and evenly to prevent thermal shocking the glass.


It’s helpful to have a tool handy to put pieces in place and to check on the adhesive. If you push on the glass while heating and it starts to slide across the surface of the stone, then you know that the piece will stick. If the piece skids or doesn’t move easily, then you need to keep heating. The more you work with No Days Mosaic Adhesive, the easier it will become to know when the adhesive has fully grabbed onto and secured the pieces in place. Both the glass and the substrate need to warm up for the adhesive to grab onto them. 


If your design changes while you’re working on the mosaic, or if you misplace tesserae, you can easily reheat the pieces to remove, reset and straighten them.

Once the adhesive has cooled, the stepping stone is ready to grout.


------GROUT------

After mixing the grout with water or latex additive, push the grout into the spaces between the glass pieces. We’re using a dry grout technique that is great for classroom situations, as it is much less messy and is easier to clean. To mix your grout for dry grouting, add just a little liquid while mixing so that the grout only holds together when balled up in your hand. 


For grouting the edges of the stepping stone, you’ll want to mix the grout a little bit wetter so that it can grab onto the edges of the stone without falling off. The grout should not fall apart when you ball it up in your hand and should hold its shape. Push the grout against the glass and off of the edge of the stone. Gently brush away any excess grout and polish lightly with a rag or paper towel.


By using a pre-formed stone with NO Days Mosaic Adhesive, you can greatly speed the process of creating stepping stones. In just 60-90 minutes, you’ve finished a project that would normally take days to finish.


As soon as the grout has cured, the stepping stone can be put outside in your garden!


For more instructional videos, visit http://www.Streuter.com.
For ordering information or help with questions, email: Info@streuter.com.