How were they defective? If a few here and there had little chips at the the edges, I got the idea that you smooth them down with a file of some sort. Tedious. (Call the mfr to find out what's to be expected). I did Bizazza once and there were some chips here and there.

I just hope your tile guy has experience specifically with those little glass tiles. Definitely not for the inexperienced.

I've purchased tile from both fastfloors.com and builddirect.com. My experiences with both have been good. My preference is builddirect (best bang for the buck) but they have a minimum purchase for most things and a limited selection.

Here is a link that might be useful: Glass tile at Build Direct

thank you both for sharing your recommendations.
homebound:
i'm glad to hear the bisazza also has some chips, though maybe not as many as mine (about 6-8/sheet). the showroom here had a small wall of bisazza and i did notice a few small chips here and there, like you say. but it's not noticeable because of the striations and irridescence of that particular tile. since mine are monotone and opaque, i'm worried that the chips will read as a defect. i'm considering changing the grout color from white to putty or something more closely matching the tile, in order to conceal the chips better. the tile is a blue-green, any suggestions? and i was surprised that the backing is not netting, but a sheet of sticky plastic (better for replacing tiles before application, i guess).
yadax3:
thanks for your info. i'll probably end up going with the "defective" tile though just because my money/investments have shrank by 30%, like everyone else's in the last few days. spending another $3k on tile is an unnecessary and extravagant expense at this point. trend is sending me a replacement for the average number of chipped tiles per sheet. at least they're doing that. but what a mammoth PAIN to sit there and replace each one, one by one (and some need to be repositioned because they were applied skewed!). but i will definitely check out those websites for future reference. who knows, maybe i'll find a real bargain??

I'm only an occasional tiler, so I can't really say. And I'm not familiar with "sticky plastic" sheet backing; unless it's webbed.

When I did my first (and only) Bizzaza (3/4 x 3/4) translucent aqua, it was brown paper-faced (no backing), so when you set them, you couldn't see the grout lines, oozing, etc. or whether the mortar filled the little gap (somewhat concave) behind each tile You basically wait a short while (15-30 minutes...I forget) and then wet the paper with a sponge (or moisten with spray bottle), wait a bit more, and it peels off (it's supposed to anyway, but some still sticks and pulls the tiles. Slow and tedious - a major pain. And after you've peeled the paper-face, you may see the thinset didn't back a few of those tiny things - annoying.

Might want to check out John Bridge tile forums for their comments.

We custom ordered our glass tiles from susan jablon tiles(http://www.susanjablonmosaics.com/). We had issues w/ our order (we didn't pay attention to the glass finish - gloss or flat), but Susan worked very closely with us to address our problem.. they have various styles and has good price.

Another source that our friends used is Modwalls. (http://www.modwalls.com/) Mostly contemporary, but nice stuff.

Good luck!

thanks, i'll take a look!