Grout Lessons

I spent all morning cleaning up and polishing my glass projects.  The goal was to get the grout off the glass leaving it just in the gaps. 

Mostly I used this stiff brush...but I also used a knife for a little scraping and fine sandpaper.  It was tedious and messy.  The grout comes off in a fine black powder....it was everywhere. Remember...I'm learning as I go. This is my first crack at mosaic.



When I made that first glass piece....I wasn't happy with the off white grout.  After doing some research I found some helpful tips.

1.  Contrast is key...you want the glass to stand out and the individual pieces to stand apart.
2.  Think of it as an outline.
3.  When in doubt...use black.
4.  Avoid colors....leave that for the glass.
5.  Avoid white...unless you want it to look like a summer camp project.

So I bought a dark charcoal gray grout for the rest of the projects and....I'm sold!

I was a little worried about this one after it was all glued down....but dark grout made a big difference.

And that first one I wasn't happy with...

...the grout sunk in enough so I was able to add a thin layer of the dark gray grout and it's much better now. 

Contrast, definition, outline....lessons learned.