I don't have any advice...but WOW! That is STUNNING!!! I LOVE the angel and I like how you have put so many different things..tiles, rocks, gems, beads, etc! I'm also interested in how to grout such a project.

I had a hard time with taking a pic of it, here is anoter.

I love evrything in there and the color scheme. It will look nice when you finally figure out how to grout it!

My thoughts are this, I would seal the rocks to prevent grout staining. Any item that you fear will not wipe off easily can be masked with white glue and allowed to dry but make sure your glue does not go deeper on the peices that the ht of the grout.

It's beautiful I love what you did.

Its hard to see all the colors but I agree with Nice, Wacky, and Cindiloo that it is beautiful.

Nice pretty much said all I could think of on the grouting.

Oh, I love it! The colors are beautiful. Love that angel in the corner. I think masking it, like nicetime said is probably the best thing to save all these precious things.
Bianchi

How sweet is that! The color scheme looks lovely with the angel. NT is right, esp about NOT allowing the white glue to go below where the top of your grout will be....made that mistake myself and it was a true PITA to get all the glue off...still had to re-grout some areas where the glue had to be dug out!

Ok, I am a little slow, Are you saying once the grout has dried, pull the glue off of the jewelry. excuse my ignorance. Learning something everyday
LaLa

Hello Lala,

First, my highest compliments! I love it!

I hope you don't mind, I took the liberty of
lightening the image just a bit to get a better
idea of the gems you were referring to.

Do you mean 'gems' as in the glass globs, or the
detailed pieces such as the two circles at the top and
the bottom? They appear to be possibly trimmed in
something gold, possibly intricate metal of some sort?
If I am guessing correctly, this is the area you wish
to keep free of excess grout?

Or do you mean the gems as in glass globs which are
at the edge of the mirror?

Just my opinion, I think I would tape off the mirror as
close to the gems as possible, not removing it until the
grout was dry. With regard to the detailed pieces, I
think the grout would really make most of it pop, although
you could always scrape the excess, unwanted grout out
with a soft toothbrush, careful not to scrape too hard
or have your brush too wet.

Very nice work, indeed. Have you decided on a grout color?

{{!gwi}}

Karen Marie

Karen, Thanks for taking the time for me. Yes, it is the jewelry pieces I am worried about they have tiny diamonds around the center stone, also the string of beads that make up the squiggly lines. They are tiny beads glued to a piece of string.
I was thinking about using a tooth brush. Hope I can pull this one off. It doesn't help when my 8 years old says NO DONT GROUT IT YOU WILL RUIEN IT! How do you like that.
Thanks again
LaLa

I think some poele have had succes putting the grout in a baggie and cutting the tip ..like a pastry bag to give you more control where the grout goes. I'd still mask the intricat pieces. Yes pull the glue off...you know how you pull it off when you get it on your hands? ( we used to do it on purpose in school). it'll work just like that

Maria

I agree that I would use a pastry bag application around the beads just to keep the clean up down.

On masking, ignore it during clean up and let it sit (the glue will rehydrate some during grouting) and you need that to dry up again before you peel it.

Oh I forgot to say that I'm really in awe of this, it's an amazing array of articles that really feels VINTAGE!

OK, HERE I GO.........................

I'll be here in case you need support.

Be sure to check back in with us!

:-)

So, how'd your grouting go?
It's a beautiful mirror. I know all the extra "stuff" on it makes it a PITA to grout, but it sure does make it extra special to!

Yeah I want to see it grouted!!!

Oh, that is superb, and is gonna be a REAL duzzy to grout, but w/a toothbrush you'll bring out the beauties that you bury. Anxious to see it grouted - TODAY?????

I decided to add some edging to it and haven't been able to get back to it. I will surely post a pic when I can Thanks All!
LaLa

LOL, I was all set to see the final picture, but I'll be back!:0

It sure is pretty.

Very pretty mirror. I will be back too. Hope everything works out all right for you. be careful around the pearls. I did one that had some pearls, and when I started the grout clean up, the shiny came off the pearls.

Instead of grout, have you thought of pouring resin over the entire frame? Would not hide all the beautiful pcs of jewelry...

becky

Love this work of art!

Oh my god, I saw this earlier and had to come back to it. How did I miss that really cool cherub in the corner? Must be all the other beautiful stuff going on!

I don't envy you the grout job, and I'm guessing you decided to edge it to put off the grouting, LOL!

Although your grout job will be a b*itch, this is going to be fantastic when you have finished it!

Barb

This is gonna be worth the wait!

(rubbing hands together)

This is gorgeous!
Although I'm a newbie, too, I thought I'd offer up my experience, fwiw...

I did rocks, smalti, glass globs, and some other stuff.

Rocks: The shine wore off, but re-grouting afterwards worked. I have yet to try sealing these weird things, but that's something I'll DEFINITELY do next time to avoid this trouble. Don't use a wire brush on rocks & stuff; the metal 'stains' rocks, and your grout.
Glass globs are the 'easiest' I found. Can easily work around them with toothbrush or other pointy-type object to get tidy around them.
Sea glass: A TOTAL GROUTING DISASTER!!! Seal it first, or find out what other people have done. I had to rip mine out because the grout wouldn't come off it.
Smalti- Somewhat same experience as the sea-glass, but not as bad. It stayed, but I'll have to find a better way to do that, too.
Beads: I ruined a good set; grout haze/stain, etc. One set worked just fine. Guess it depends on the bead. Both were styles from Michael's "Bead Gallery."
Buttons: Mine were plastic. Total grouting nightmare, really. Ripped out, re-did that section, and did not re-grout. Took the shine right off.

These are my newbie messes, and all experienced while doing the major backsplash project. Learned a lot from that project.

I'm thinking yup, sealing is definitely the KEY. I plan on doing a lot more with mixed-bag tesserae, so will be buying a lot more Elmer's next school season.

What a fantastic piece! It's going to be great...will be a grouting nightmare, but will be well worth the trouble! Can't wait to see it finished.

That is really beautiful! Very exotic. Don't blame you for not wanting to mess up your jewelry and hard work. Hope your grouting goes well.

did she grout yet? where oh where is it?

Sorry It took me awhile to post again. I had one kid getting a cast on her foot and one getting glasses and I was busy checking myself into funny farm for attempting to grout this piece!!!!! The string of beads was a flop. I put glue on them before grouting the problem was that the moisture from the grout loosend the glue that held it together.I will post a pic but just know, I am still working on this. I may paint the string beads or something.
I wish I could have taken a pic outside but it pretty dark now. Well here it is... live and learn, live and learn.
LaLA

AH OOOOHHHHH I LOVE IT! It's wonderful. and yeah, I've had varied results with bead strands too. Sometimes I yank em right off, clean them and glue them on top of the grout... it's never easy to know what will work or not. Other times it's worked great!

But this is really unique and beautiful!

Came out really great. Interested in the bead part, I want to do some boxes with them for my SILs.

Maria

That did turn out beautiful!

Hey, it looks great! So ,was the grouting that bad?

Oh, La la, you did such a great job! It really
is pretty and I love the grout color you chose.
It has a nice, clean, romantic look about it.

Very nice!

That is a great mirrow .I have put earedesent fingernail polish on my beads to make them pretty again .

WOW! BEAUTIFUL! Grouting sure softened the look...more romantic. Thanks for sharing all that you've done with this...it's good to know for future reference!

Truly a beautiful mosaiced mirror, LALA. You did a great job. It's just joy-filled.

Beautiful!!! It did really soften the look like Cindiloo said! Good job!!!

Beautiful and romantic looking plus your grout choice is perfect for this. Fantastic job! Did you end up sealing any of your tesserae first before you grouted?

Barb

This turned out beautiful! I REALLY love that cherub in the corner, and all the different things going on.

Barb, I did seal the plastic beads and jewels. I just finished sealing the whole thing with clear coat spray. It brought all the shine back from the stones and other pieces.

Your mirror is beautiful. You really have all different kinds of tesserae for the first piece. You are really getting experienced. I have never even attempted beads or jewelery yet.