| Tips and Techniques
CHOOSING YOUR ADHESIVE
Now that you have chosen your design, your substrate and your tessera it is time to pick your adhesive. There are many to chose from and usually the first question you want to ask yourself is “will my piece be an outdoor or indoor piece?” Each adhesive has qualities that make it important to really pay attention to what you are working on.
If you are doing an indoor piece with ceramic tile or stained glass you can use tile mastic. It is a premixed adhesive that usually comes in a white color and is the consistency of thick whipped cream cheese. The dry time with mastic is at least 24 hours.
Another good adhesive for indoor projects when working with stained glass is Weldbond glue. Weldbond glue is great as it dries clear so if your stained glass is translucent than you will see whatever is behind your glass, i.e. your substrate. There are other glues and silicone adhesives on the market, each with it’s own pro’s and con’s. I find Weldbond the most all around good product.
If you are doing an outdoor piece you will want to use a more sturdy adhesive which would be thin set. Thin set is a mortar adhesive and is what most tile contractors use when doing any type of tile work in bathrooms, kitchens or floors. Thin set is very durable. The best kind of thin set to buy is one that is polymer fortified. This type of thin set has great bond strength and will bond most tesserae to your substrate.
Reminder if you want to purchase any of these adhesives they are for sale at the SBSMA supply store.
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