Here is a project that you can do with your children that involves breaking plates, cups ,statues and anything that has a pottery quality to it. Break your pottery with gloves and a hammer. You must wear safety goggles. Hold the item in you hand over a box that will collect the pieces; tap the item with a small hammer and it should break in your hands without much effort. Take the larger pieces and do the same process until you have the size of mosaic that you are looking for. Use a gloved hand to dig through the broken pottery when the kids are starting to layout their design. Get some trays from the local meat department they work the best to use a mosaic holder. I usually have all of the breaking done before I get to school, but the kids will be involved in every phase except the mixing of the grout and the cleaning of the final product.
Divide the pot into as many areas as you have children. I place the pot upside down to start with, you can draw with a regular pencil. You can lay it out in a grid and you won't see that you did when you are done. You will need to get a tile adhesive I used Omni Grip. It is premixed and come in a re-seal able tub. Wet the pot with either a sponge or a spray bottle. It is imperative that you keep the pot damp because the terracotta pot is extremely dry and will wick the moisture of the adhesive before it adheres.
Keep a pinkie finger width between each of the pieces, so you have room for the grout. You will need to review the pot after the kids are finised to see if you need to add some small pieces to finish it out. Keep a finger width away from the top and the bottom of the pot so the grout can go all the way around those pieces. You will need to flip the pot to make sure this happened.
Let this dry over night. I keep a bucket of water for the kids to wash their hands off before they head to the bathroom sink. They should have all of the adhesive chunks off their hands before they go to the sink. The adhesive will settle to the bottom of the bucket and you will be able to scoop it our and throw it away. Unless your sink has a plaster trap this is the way you want to handle the clean up of the adhesive and the grout or your janitor will be really angry at you when he has to hire a plumber to undo what you did!
You can buy just about any color of grout you want. I used a color called fawn. You will have to mix this your self. Mix about 6/2 grout to water, and see if that is the consistency of a thick cake batter. You will want to wear a mask and don't do it around the kids. Once the particles are wet it won't be a danger to your lungs because of the silica.
Have the kids use their hands, I let about three work on it at a time. Go slow or you will cut yourself.
They will need to work it between the pieces. Again, spray the pot with water to help it not wick out the water in the grout.
You will need to cover the whole pot to make sure the mosaics are sealed.
Once you do that you will take sponges and look for buried treasures! You will need to be flipping the pot over to make sure everything is covered and smooth. Once you have exposed the mosaics and you like the way it looks, let it dry for 24 hours. Then clean with a tile cleaner and grout sealer, it is an all-in-one product. I use TileLab OneStep, Cleaner & Resealer. It is amazing how they will come to life!
This little guy I think is a Mockingbird chick. I thought he hid quite well in the cacti.
Michael Martin Murphey at the fire with some of the guests.
A barrel cactus, sometimes pointy things can be beautiful. When they don't poke you!
All the guests sitting by the campfire listening to dad, Michael and Bruce sing.
