Hi all

I don't post often but I lurk very often. I have a great stash of plates for mosaicing but no cutting methods are working for me.

My first technique was to smash a plate with a hammer. When I did I usually got a bunch of random pieces, most of which included part of the bumpy plate heel so they were basically useless.

So next I bought tile cutters. I've tried the methods on Youtube where the artist puts the tile cutter in a logical place, easily cuts, and the cut goes right directly across the plate where they expect it, so they can cut into about 8 even sized pie shaped pieces and take it from there. When I try, it is much physically harder to push down to make the cut happen, and when I do, it often doesn't go evenly across but instead just chips off a little triangular piece.

So then I bought a wet tile saw. My husband spent hours struggling to put it together for me. It actually cuts pretty well, but it often takes off some of the china paint. Not to mention it is scary when sometimes sparks come off the plate while cutting. All in all, I probably like the wet saw method the best, except for cutting off a fair amount of the plate.

So what is the secret to turning china plates into mosiac pieces? Is there a certain type of plate to get? (that is easier said than done since I basically shop at garage sales). Is there a certain brand of tile cutters that might work better in which case I could try the tile cutting method again? Is there a way to use the wet saw so that even if I can't completely eliminate losing paint, I could minimize the damage? Any other advice would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!