Hi Jen and welcome. I believe the best nippers made for sale are Starrett Nippers and I hear someone on ebay is offering them for sale. The normal price is aroung $70 but most of us use Lepponties. I am not sure if that is spelled right. They won't be available locally either, They are wheeled nippers and great on glass, china etc. You can get them from an online supplier. If your river mosaic is for inside there is a product called Wendi board that is lightweight and comes with a hanging system. Go check it out at www.marylandmosaics.com and if you order use gardenweb in the coupon box and get a 10% discount. She has a lot of good stuff there, she may even have the nippers and her shipping is fast and customer service is the greatest. If you don't go with the Wendiboard, you can get Hardibacker board which is at Lowes usually at the end of the tile or grout aisle. This board is made to apply tile to like in showers but a lot of us use it for everything. I can't tell you how to figure out how to hang it though. Maybe someone else on here can do that.
Good luck and keep us posted. Carol

Thanks for the advice. Looking on marylandmosaics right now :) I found the Leponitt nippers there. The Wendiboard board looks perfect just not big enough. I will go to Lowes later and look for the other. Thanks again

Hi Floridagirl!! You might want to check out a tile store, they usually have hardibacker board, which is what they use to make subfloors/walls for tiling. I hope you keep us up to date with work in progress(WIP)pics!!! have fun!

Whatever you choose, take my advice and figure out the hanger and put it on BEFORE you do your piece. there are many ways to hang a heavy piece but its too late after you have glassed or it will be ruined. wedi has special hanger screw thingys that are applied before you start to work. If its really huge, or really heavy a french cleat may be needed.