DIY Mosaic Nine Drawer Chest – Part 3

Greetings and welcome to all.

You’d think time wouldn’t fly so fast when you’re ‘stuck’ at home all day, everyday, but that’s just what’s happening to me.  I’m going to blame it on my husband – 1. Because he’s here all the time now and 2. It simply can’t be that I’m undisciplined and can’t manage my time any better than this. Yeah, definitely just going to blame hubby.

Anyways, I pretty much have this project in the bag.  Time to get you caught up.

In my last photo I showed you two drawers side by side with one drawer that had the glaze on so you could see the shiny difference.

Now I’m moving to the back of the project.  I found a really nice butterfly in my paper search and I decided to use it as a large focal point for the back.  Once I had it centered where I wanted it, I just kept going and filling in the rest of the back.

 

And just like that, it’s finished.  I will remind everyone, try not to overthink your tile pieces.  And don’t make them too exact in their spacing.  I have a real problem with this!

Moving on to the sides – same process different papers.

This is the top of the piece.  I like to do the corner pieces first on the tops, it seems to anchor the look for me and keeps this area balanced.  Since the top is going to be viewed more frequently than the sides or back, I want to make sure this part shows well.

Alright, I’ve got tiles all the way around now.  Next step, glaze each piece of tile.  Do one side at a time and let that side dry before moving to another section.  Which ever side you’re glazing be sure that side is lying flat – never try to glaze a piece with it standing upright or at an angle.

The final bit is the little tiny accent pieces.  Remember the diamond shaped paper punch back at the beginning?

I chose two different colors of paper, one lavender and one lime green (I know, it looks yellow here in the pic).

I punch out enough diamonds of both colors to cover all the surface area I intended to accent.

And it’s a lot.  I’ll place these all over the front (as seen above) and on the sides and back borders.  To start, I place one entire row of diamonds and once I have them pretty much where I want them, then I go back and glue them down.  The first row is the hardest, after that you can just sort of copy the placement/spacing for the rest.

Now that they’re all on and the glue is completely dry I glaze them all.  Follow the instructions for the large tiles – after glazing a side be sure your glaze is completely dry before going to another section.

I like to put these sort of pieces up on feet.  It just looks more finished to me that way.  I used four wood plugs (you can find these at craft or building stores).  I poke a push pin into the bottom of each one, this gives me something to hold on to while painting them and then I don’t get paint all over me (well, in theory as I ALWAYS get paint all over me).

When they’re dry, I use Liquid Nails or another good wood glue to attach them.  I let the glued feet set for a few minutes and then I gently flip it right side up and set the piece down on the new feet.  Then just leave it alone while it drys and let the weight of the cabinet keep the feet where they’re supposed to be.

And I’m done.

The trick is to get a picture that shows the glaze but doesn’t obscure the pattern of the paper.  I’ll have to work on that.

But you can see in this one, the glaze looks just like a high gloss on porcelain tiles.  So cool!  I love playing with this stuff.  And if you can’t find Tim Holtz Distress Mosaic kit any where and you’d really like to give this a try – don’t worry.  There are so many products out there that will cover you for each of the three steps.

1.  For the grout try Deco Art Texture Sand Paste
2. For the matte glue try ModPodge Matte
3. For the glaze try Glossy Accents

And this is just naming one replacement of each product when there is a large variety out there to choose from.  A little surfing and you’ll find any number of choices.

But, if you’re happy to watch the process but would just as soon purchase your mosaic chest already done – click on the link to go right to my Etsy shop Old Raven and this little beauty can be all yours!

Nine Drawer Mosaic Chest

Thanks for joining me on this (and all my postings).  Stay safe, folks. – Kriss