Make simple mosaics very cheaply. I'm mostly against buying special tiles and tools for doing mosaics because it seems a little backward to me to buy new tiles to end up breaking them. In this instructible I will document my method (I guess this could be similar to other ideas out there).

Step 1: Tools & Tiles

Use stuff you have at home.

1) Broken tiles picked up at a construction site etc.
2) Hammer.
3) Wood glue (white glue).
4) Pencil.
5) Tweezers help.
6) Stiff cardboard.
7) Sponge.
8) Idea/picture.
9) Scrap piece of wood, Masonite works well. You could use a whole tile and garden pots, picture frames, mirror frames, small/big side tables, coffee tables, coasters...................

Step 2: Hammer Your Broken Tiles Into Pieces.

You have found some tiles at a construction site or broken ones in your basement. You will need to make these fairly large tiles into smaller pieces. I took some news paper, put the tile inside and then hammered it until the pieces were of a usable size. The size depends on you and what size project or effect that you are going for. The news paper it to stop shards of tile going all over the place and into your eye, I guess goggles are a good idea. Tiles come in various hardnesses. The tiles I found were floor tiles and were very hard to break.

Step 3: Stick Pieces of Tile Onto Something.

Stick your broken pieces onto your project piece. You can draw something and create a picture or just do random patterns, up to you. Here you can see some coffee mug coasters I'm busy making. They are about 10cm to 15cm in diameter and took maybe 45min to an hour to stick.

Step 4: Grouting.

Buy some suitable grouting from a hardware store. By suitable I mean colour and if your piece will stand outside you will need some kind of weather proof grouting. Mix to instructions on the bag. Because my tiles are different thicknesses I used a piece of stiff cardboard to push the grouting between the tiles. Scrape off the excess. Use a sponge to wipe between tiles and to get grouting off the tile surfaces. See the picture for an example.