Thanks to reader Lynn, you and I might well have a new obsession!  Making ceramic and bead mosaic art!  She spotted Sharra Frank's work on Instagram, which led me to find her Youtube channel,  AND her lovely shop, sharrafrankmosaics. 

Sharra is a wonderful instructor and her mosaic work is so inspirational. Watch below for a couple of her shorts as well as her informative guide.





Her owl design :


Her starting guide is worth a watch as she also covers the two different kinds of grout material she uses. I have worked with epoxy clay before. It's much more economical to purchase it in bigger quantities than the jewelry grade ones.  Apoxie clay is a good make available online or from wood working shops. 



Sharra sells the large wood mosaic frames, tesserae (mosaic squares) and bead bundles as well a great PDF guide as well as her favourite brand of nipper tool over on her shop, sharrafrankmosaics.

Mosaic Wood Frames

Nipper Tool

Mosaic Resource Guide

Mosaic Tesserae and Bead Bundle

I know many of you have loads of beads so making mosaics is a wonderful way of using them up.  Also consider your local thrift stores. I see a lot of chinaware there especially those with gilt edges which will not survive modern dishwashers!  

If you are not ready to make larger craft pieces and want to start smaller or prefer jewelry sized items, please consider using my laser cut wood bezels. You can use little beads, sprinkles, real flowers and/resin to fill the spaces.  I am going to be releasing new flower bezels soon. 

Beadinggem's Wood Bezels for Jewelry Making

I also suggest a layer of coloured epoxy resin as an alternative to epoxy clay or grout. It acts like a very strong glue which you can easily colour with alcohol inks.  Get 15% off with BG1516 from Little Windows for their excellent Brilliant Resin - low odor and safe to use. 

Always seal the two wood pieces well along the inside edge after gluing them together. This prevents seepage. I recommend using Starboard medium glue which is a very strong glue for crafts. 

Before You Go:

jewelry making supplies

Disclosure 

This blog may contain affiliate links. I do receive a small fee for any products purchased through affiliate links. This goes towards the support of this blog and to provide resource information to readers. The opinions expressed are solely my own. They would be the same whether or not I receive any compensation. 
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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM