Day Three

This was to be the day of my "field trip" to a tile shop in Connecticut to purchase my art mosaic tiles. The store is a bricks and mortar operation, though they have a website. I called first to make sure they would have a selection in stock of the type of tiles and the colors I was looking for. Some items are better seen and felt before buying. It was not to be. They have white, black and some blues only. "We can order tiles for you though." Thanks but no thanks. I can order tiles without driving anywhere. After trying to figure out how many square feet of each color I might need of the red/orange/yellow mix, the green mix, the terra cotta/brown mix, the black mix and the grays, I sought out online sources. I went with Mosaic Art Supply and KP Tiles. KP had some close out sales but it was frustrating to select an item for my cart only to find it was "not available." I liked the site though and was able to find more than half of the tiles I would like there. Mosaic Art Supply had a great selection but the site was not as satisfying to use as KP because as I selected items for the cart, the image of the colors did not show up as they did at KP Tiles. Once I went to the next step to start buying I finally was able to see what colors I had picked. The color names just were too obscure. Who could remember that "dusk" and "lava" were red colors? With shipping I spent about $280. I know I will have leftovers because the mosaic will be 21 square feet and generally tiles cost on average less than the $13.30 per square foot I paid. Yet I feel that I made good choices. Fingers are crossed. I want the design to have color and textural variety. I ended up with much more in the way of glass tiles than I expected. Glazed ceramic was what I thought I was after but the current market has much more in selection of unglazed ceramic and varieties of glass in the squares. There are many irregular shapes to buy and pottery shards - not the look I am going for. Stone pieces and some ceramics come thicker. I want a uniform thickness - I don't want the mosaic to look too busy on the surface, and I want it to be relatively easy to wipe clean.