Looking for a way to spice up your garden? Mosaic art flower pots and planters allow you to decorate your outdoor spaces with color and texture. This is the perfect time of the year to create usable art that nurtures your plants.
We’ve found some inspiration for easy weekend craft projects that use broken china, mosaic tiles, found objects, and more. Let’s recharge your garden’s look, now!
Tools Needed
- Clear Work Surface
- Work Gloves
- Small Hammer
- Eye Protection
- Old Towels
- Tile Nipper
- Pencil
- Putty Knife
- Premixed Sanded Grout
- Clear Silicone Adhesive or Permanent Craft Glue
- Optional: Mosaic Grout Sealer
- Empty pots and planters
- Your choice of broken plates, china, mosaic tiles, and other found objects.
This mosaic craft can be used on terracotta pots, cement, and more! Be sure to use only clean, dry pieces — this will ensure that the adhesive and grout will cure properly. Use a clean towel with warm water and soap to scrub the inside and outside of your pot, and rinse. Let it air dry before starting your mosaic design.
Prepare Your Tiles
Try to find a variety of colors for your first pieces. This is a great way to recycle old pottery, plates, and ceramic tiles — or to include found objects or small souvenirs you’ve picked up on your travels. You may also wish to include pre-cut mosaic tessera for cleaner lines.
After you’ve gathered up your raw materials, you may begin to create the small tile pieces yourself. Using protective eyewear, and your gloves, place your large piece on your work surface, and cover it with a towel. Gently tap over the section under the towel until you feel it break.
Check to see if your tile pieces are the correct size. If they need additional shaping or trimming, use your tile nippers. At this point, it’s a good idea to sort your pieces by color or type, so that you’re ready to grab tiles easily.
Place the Tiles
Now you’re ready to work out your design! There are no hard-and-fast rules for this. You might be a spontaneous artist — or feel more comfortable with a plan.
Option One: If you’re ready to just dive in and let the Mosaic Muse guide you, use your craft glue to place each piece on the pot or planter. Don’t worry about the blank spaces — you’ll be filling those in with grout soon.
Press the piece of tile firmly against the pot and hold it for several seconds or until you’re sure it’s firmly adhered. (This is one of the reasons you want to work with only clean, dry pots.) Continue adding your tile pieces and accents until you’ve covered the pot. Remember to leave at least ¼ inch between pieces.
Option Two: Work with a pattern or design you’ve mapped out. You can play around with your tile pieces and figure out the placement on your work surface, or sketch out a design onto the pot itself. Use your pencil to draw out your idea on the planter. Remember to leave the minimum ¼ inch gap between tiles!
Once you’re happy with the plan, then glue the pieces onto the pot, following the map you’ve prepared.
Add Grout
Using your gloves, mix your sanded grout according to the directions on the label. Helpful tip: Use less water than you need at first. You’ll be able to keep stirring and add more water if the mixture is too dry. The perfect consistency is going to be like peanut butter, believe it or not!
The grout will stay workable for about 15 minutes, so have your design completed before you begin mixing.
A note about color: Grey is probably the most popular color for these types of projects — but you might consider using white or black for contrast. You can also play around with adding acrylic paint to the grout mixture to get other colors.
Using your gloved fingers or a putty knife, begin working the grout in between the tile pieces. Slather it all over the pot, and fill every empty gap. Once you’ve achieved full grouting success, it’s time to clean up the messy spots.
Use a clean damp towel or sponge to wipe off the extra grout — being extra careful to remove it from your carefully-placed tile design! After 30 minutes, you’ll be ready to buff the haze off with another clean damp towel. Check it again after another 30 minutes of drying to ensure you’ve gotten it all.
The next day, you can also seal the surface of the tiles and grout with a grout sealer — which will make your mosaic craft water-resistant.
Design Inspiration
So, now that you’re itching to try this fun, simple craft for yourself, let’s look at some inspo! Truly, this is one craft that can be enjoyed by mosaic artists of all abilities.
Sweet and Simple
We love the contrast of the sandy grout texture with these glass mosaic tiles! The cool colors are a mix of round shapes, pressed glass seashells, and a few mirrored pieces. It’s easy for even little fingers to put together.
Ode to Romance
Figuring out the source of each piece on this planter is part of the charm. Old pieces of china figurines, teacups, individual colored mosaic tiles, and even a few faux gems pepper the surface of this utterly romantic pot.
Vertical Aspirations
Working with old pieces of pipe, the creator of this trio of tall beauties tried different styles. In front, broken cream tiles are dotted with brilliant pressed glass shells. In the center, sea glass, shells, and smooth beach pebbles create an ode to oceanside adventures. Last, a simple vertical design in tall rectangles has a casual elegance.
Smash It Up, We’ll Take It
A total hodgepodge of broken china, glass mosaic tile sections, figurine fragments, and even tin containers somehow come together harmoniously here. Using different shapes of pots and a similar freeform approach to design gives this grouping more impact.
Block Party
Looking for a way to dress up your elevated garden beds? Use your concrete blocks as a blank canvas, and you’ll love every moment of weeding and reaping! The flat, evenly-sized surfaces are easy to plan designs on.
Succulent Patterns
This is a design that requires some sketching and planning — but just look at the glorious results! Everything from glass gems to natural stones highlight the intricate geometric design.
Mid Century Modern, Please
Nothing could be easier than this planter adorned with an MCM-era color spectrum. The crafty creators simply used standard building tiles to create a crisp geometric design.
Feline Fine
What a charming group of recycled tile pieces! Look deeper, and you’ll spy old dinnerware plate borders, cat-themed tile touches, and even some gorgeous chunks of clamshells on this zesty planter pot.
Maximize the Impact With a Mosaic Kit-It-Up
If you’d like to add an even more sophisticated look to your garden, check out our Mosaic Kits! These 12x12” projects are a fun way to create richly detailed mosaic art. Everything is included — Mesh and PVC sheet, the flat artwork print, a nipper, relevant mosaic tesserae, and simple guided instructions. The tiles are beautiful and rich — each mosaic includes natural stones.
They’re perfect for projects that include large planters, mosaic garden wall art, benches, and more. All Mozaico art is suitable for outdoor use — even in swimming pools! We can also create custom mosaic kits using the designs from our huge catalog — or from your own submitted art! Our custom mosaic pieces can be made to fit any garden object or space, using your measurements or template. In other words — irregular shapes are not a problem! Simply contact us to find out how to start the process!
Don’t Change Your Mind
This chameleon displays the whole spectrum of colors as he encourages you to make time for our fun mosaic craft. His clever details include a bit of hardware, a charming free-form approach, and some black-colored grout to make his color-shifting body really pop.
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