Making No Days Mosaic Night Lights

Tools & Materials:

• glass base - can be a circle, square, rectangle of plate glass or stained glass (textured stained glass adds a nice look)
• scrap glass, tiles, millefiori, etc.
• mosaic nippers
• circle cutting system (if you're going to cut circles, this is the easiest solution aside from buying them)
• glass grinder
• safety glasses
• No Days Mosaic Adhesive
• standard heat gun or embossing heat tool
• long tweezers
• night light hardware
• sanded grout : container to mix it in, water, gloves, paper towels (You can use No Days Groutless Mosaic Adhesive to skip this step, but you may need to use a different adhesive for gluing the bail, or come up with a creative jig for holding the clip.)
  
  

  To make a No Days Mosaic Night Light, start by cutting a piece of glass for the base of your mosaic. I’m using a Toyo circle cutter with Spectrum’s System 96 clear glass, which cuts and breaks easily leaving a nice flat surface for building your mosaic on. Set the circle cutter to the radius of the circle you want to cut & center it on your glass. Make sure that there are no obstacles in the way of the bar before pressing down and scoring the glass. When you return to the start of the score, stop turning the cutter head. You only want to score once. Square off your circle, removing any excess glass.

  
  
  

  Next, place the breaking button from the Morton Safety Break System under the scoreline on the glass and use the running tool to push down on top of the line. Make sure you’re holding the running tool perpendicular to your score. Start your score in a corner so there’s less chance of the score running to the edge of your glass. Press with gentle but firm pressure until you see a score start to run. Rotate your glass, placing the edge of the run on top of the button and press down with the running tool again. Repeat until your score line meets itself at the other side of the circle.

  
  
  

  Now, score some release cuts from the edge of the glass almost to the circle score lines. Do this on four sides of the glass, then gently break the scores.

  
  
  

  After cutting the glass base, it’s time to get on the grinder and soften up the sharp edges of the glass so that no one gets cut picking up the night light. Using a glass grinder with water, shape the glass if needed and remove sharp edges by grinding on an angle. If you're unsure of how to do this, find a local stained glass shop and they'll show you what you need to do.

  
  
  

  Make sure to wear safety glasses while grinding and prevent glass bits from flying at your face with a splash guard.

  
  
  

  Dry the base piece of glass and cut a piece of No Days Mosaic Adhesive the size of your glass base.

  
  
  

  Nip various bits of glass or follow a pattern and cover your glass substrate (base). When you've got it filled in, leaving some room for grout lines, you're ready to heat set the No Days Mosaic Adhesive.

  
  
  

  Working on a heatproof surface, use a standard heat gun to heat the mosaic from 8-10” away, which helps to prevent the glass pieces from being blown away by the force of the hot air. As the adhesive liquefies, some of the mosaic bits may move around. While the mosaic is still hot, use your tweezers to nudge the pieces into place. If you need to add extra pieces, make sure to heat them so that they firmly adhere. Then, let the mosaic cool and assemble your grouting station.

  
  
  

  Gather grout, a mixing cup, water, and gloves. When your mosaic has cooled, it's ready to grout. Mix unsanded grout with a very little bit of water, adding more until you get to the consistency of toothpaste or peanut butter. Wipe the grout across the surface of your mosaic so that it gets in between all of the tiles. Pull it around the edges of the mosaic, too. Scrape the excess grout off of the surface of the mosaic, then let it sit for about 10 minutes. Using a damp sponge, wipe across the surface of the mosaic to remove the grout from on top of the tiles turning the sponge to a clean side with each pass. Again, let the mosaic sit for 10 minutes, then buff with a dry paper towel or rag to remove any haze.

  
  
  

  Wait another 10 minutes before gluing the night light clip to the backside of your mosaic. Cut a small length of No Days Mosaic Adhesive. Place a few layers of the adhesive film on the back of the night light where you want to attach the clip.

  
  
  

  Working on the heatproof surface, turn the heat gun on and have tweezers out to hold onto the clip while heating it. It’s important to heat the glass base long enough to get it hot to the touch in order to ensure a good bond. Don’t worry about your mosaic pieces falling out. The grout and adhesive should hold them firmly in place while you heat. Let your mosaic cool down, and then check to see that the clip is firmly attached. If it pulls off, then it wasn’t heated long enough. Reheat and try again, pushing excess adhesive out from between the glass base and clip.

  
  
  

  Attach your nightlight hardware together securely, then plug it in, turn it on and enjoy!

  
  
  

  For more project ideas and instructional videos, visit streuter.com.

  For ordering information or help with questions, email info@streuter.com.

  
  

How to Make No Days Mosaic Nightlights

Tools & Materials:

• glass base - can be a circle, square, rectangle of plate glass or stained glass (textured stained glass adds a nice look)
• scrap glass, tiles, millefiori, etc.
• mosaic nippers
• circle cutting system (if you're going to cut circles, this is the easiest solution aside from buying them)
• glass grinder
• safety glasses
• No Days Mosaic Adhesive
• standard heat gun or embossing heat tool
• long tweezers
• night light hardware
• sanded grout : container to mix it in, water, gloves, paper towels (You can use No Days Groutless Mosaic Adhesive to skip this step, but you may need to use a different adhesive for gluing the bail, or come up with a creative jig for holding the clip.)

Start by cutting your base piece of glass. If you want to cut circles, here are a couple of videos to help you with that...

How to cut circles using a circle cutter:


I am using plate glass in the video above. However, plate glass can be kind of brittle. If you're having a hard time, you could try using Spectrum's System 96 clear glass; it cuts like butter!

How to cut circles using a the Morton teeny tiny circle cutter:


After you've cut your glass bases, you need to make sure that the edges aren't going to bite anyone. So, get on the grinder and soften them up. Just make sure to get rid of the sharp corners. When grinding glass, you need to use water. If you're unsure of how to do this, find a local stained glass shop and they'll show you what you need to do. They can sell you a grinder or rent you one to use in the shop. If you're really lucky, they'll let you rent it for take home use, but very few shops do this!

The short video above shows my grinder set up. I've got  Mr. Splash that lives behind my grinder to prevent splashing glass dust and water from getting everywhere. I wear safety glasses while grinding, but have often had glass bits fly at my face, so to prevent that I have a sheet of 1/4" plate glass that rests across the top of my splash guard.

Now, you're ready to start building your mosaic. Start by cutting the No Days Mosaic Adhesive to the size of your glass base. Nip various bits of glass or follow a pattern and cover your glass substrate (base). When you've got it filled, you're ready to heat set the No Days Mosaic Adhesive. Make sure you're working on a heat proof surface and that you've made sure that all melt-ables are out of the way. (This includes excess adhesive!)

Using an electric skillet to heat set glass on glass mosaics.

 If you've got an electric skillet or toaster oven, you can use those to heat set the adhesive, as well. Set the temperature to 200º F (93º C) and let them cook for 10-15 minutes.  As the adhesive liquefies, some of the mosaic bits may move around. While the mosaic is still hot, use your tweezers to nudge the pieces into place. Then, let the mosaic cool while you assemble your grouting station:

Grouting can be messy, so I like to grout outside!

Gather your grout, a mixing cup, water, and gloves. When your mosaic has cooled, it's ready to grout. Check out the video below to see the grouting process, starting at minute 4:00...



 Now, you need to glue the nightlight clip on the back of your mosaic. Cut a small length of No Days Mosaic Adhesive, about 2" x 1/4." Place the adhesive film on the back of the nightlight clip and put that on the back of your mosaic where you want it to attach.

Cut a 1/4" strip of No Days Mosaic Adhesive to put
under the night light clip.

Working on the heatproof surface again (I use a square homosote board. Most big box hardware stores carry this in large sizes, but some stained glass shops have this cut into smaller sizes.), turn your heat gun on and have your tweezers out to hold onto the clip while you hit it with heat. It's possible that if you heat too long, your mosaic pieces could fall out. But, I didn't have this problem. You have to heat long enough to get your glass base hot, and I stopped when the grout started to become blacker (that means the adhesive is wet). However, if you attach your clip right after grouting, you won't see this happen, because the grout is still wet.

Use tweezers to hold the clip in place while heat
setting the adhesive.

Again, let your mosaic cool down, so the clip is firmly attached.

I prefer the screw on clip for night lights because you can
really firm up the grip on the nightlight shade.

  Then put your nightlight hardware together and your night light is ready to plug in!

No Days Mosaic Nightlight by Carrie Strope Sohayda

Featured Artist Barb Byrne of Eclectic Treasures

Barb Byrne of Eclectic Treasures has always immersed herself in arts & crafts. She began sewing in high school, working with embroidery and needlework as a young adult, and then spinning and basket weaving when she moved with her husband to a 300-acre farm in mid-Missouri in 1990.
In the late 90s, she wove a full-sized baby cradle for her first grandchild and it was so well-received that she began a small business, aptly named Heirloom Cradles, making and selling doll cradles of all sizes, including miniatures. While on the farm, Barb began growing her own gourds after discovering gourd art, turning her gourds into decorated vases, bowls, and jewelry. She found a way to marry her love of weaving with gourds and her specialty became weaving natural materials onto the rims of decorated gourds.

Fused Glass Coasters using
No Days Liquid Fusing Adhesive
for Frit Detailing