Art and Craft Kits for Adults: Make Your Own Mosaic, Square 20cm 7inch Tractor

Fairly easy project. The backboard has glue that's activated by the water from dipping each tile into water. The biggest issue is there weren't enough black tiles to make the lizard, which is the main focus of the kit I bought. I would think a project like this where cutting tiles is needed would have double the amount of tiles needed for a specific color. Also, the dark blue has white edges which defeats the purpose of blending the blue into the black on the lizard.The kit says not to use grout, but because of the too few black tiles, I intended to use black grout.

I enjoyed this mosaic kit very much. It was my first try at a mosaic since grade school, where the tiles were construction paper applied with a glue stick.This kit has a hardboard backer with a picture of the mosaic glued on, showing you not only the placement of tiles and colors, but the tiles that need nipping to fit in place. They call the surface magic, as you dip the back of the tile in water and put it in place, and it dries firmly attached. I feel the magic potion used is probably gum Arabic or a transparent type of wallpaper paste or mucilage, but it works well. You can wear it off by repositioning tiles and rewetting them. A drop of any pva glue will hold the tile in place. It holds well enough that I actually pulled up the paper attached to the tile when I tried to remove an already glued tile from their prepared surface.It is quite different from a paint by number kit, despite some similarities. You are responsible for placeing a tile correctly, making sure the tile is correctly shaped if needed, and that the way you place them gives a nice shaped line. There is also a little ambiguity in the colors of some of the tiles, which is why I removed and replaced several. There are multiple blues and some black tiles , and and in some cases I used the one that my eye liked, rather than the tile color on the surface.I ran out of deep blues tiles. I contacted Alea, and they had me send a picture of the mosaic, and a picture of my remaining tiles. They were very polite, and sent a packet of additional tiles. I also thought the gray tiles provided for the dolphin's belly edge were too close in color to the soft blue, and were not the browner gray pictured. They told me there would be enough color differentiation, but sent me tiles in another shade as well, so I could try both. I ended up using both, but more of the tile color sent in the kit. I was very pleased with the customer service.I did learn shaping tiles 'on the job', and my technique and the resulting pieces improved as I progressed.It is important to keep a close spacing between tiles, and make sure the line you make doesn't stagger, or you will have trouble placing full in between tiles in ajoining rows.I strongly recommend that you get a pair of tweezers. The kind with a sort of bird beak shape at the end worked best for me. Also, get actual tile nippers or a wheeled cutter plier to shape pieces. Regular pliers are not satisfactory. They crush the tile, crack it jaggedly, or pop off the glaze. Sometimes all on the same abused tile.The effect of the completed mosaic is very reminiscent of classic Greek or Roman mosaic. It is pleasing to my eye, and gives me a sense of accomplishment that well pays back the time I invested. I have not yet figured out how to display it.I intend to get additional kits from them, and also ordered more packets of their tiles to try an original effort. I ordered this size, and their nano sized tiles.I tried using the nano tiles on a small wooden circle, and designed a dolphin similar to the one in this kit.I've definitely found a new hobby. :)

I bought this in early February to make as a Valentine's Day gift for my daughter. It is now October and I just finished it lol. I've never done any craft with such small tiles and I found it to be tedious yet relaxing at the same time. I was only able to work on it in spurts because it is very time consuming if you want it to come out looking really good.I purchased tile nippers on Amazon and I used an old pair of tweezers for placing the tiles and sliding them to the proper positions. Tweezers are a must because it's impossible to use your fingers for such tiny tiles. When holding each tile with the tweezers, I dipped the back in a small bowl of water and positioned it on the board. When the tile was perfectly placed, I pressed it down with the tip of the tweezers to make sure it was secure.The tiles will slide around and fall off if you don't wet them enough and press them down. If that happens, you can just wet the back again and place it back on the board. Note that the larger border tiles are very absorbent and will not stick well unless you dip them in water for a few seconds. The most difficult part is cutting the tiles to the proper shapes and sizes. Also, some of the tiles are the same color on the back and front so you have to make sure the shiny part is facing up.In my opinion, these mosaic tile kits are not for children. They require a lot of time, patience, and skill. For an adult, it can be fun and relaxing, and very gratifying when you see the finished result. As shown in the photo, I bought a small easel for my daughter to display it. I already ordered 3 more kits so I will be busy for a while :-)

Well I find this particular design to be a challenge I wouldn't recommend it for beginners as their first one. And I highly recommend that you buy the tools to go with it. In particular the tile cutter. It's essential. I think these kits would be better if they came with a few more instructions. The QR code that leads to a YouTube video really doesn't help at all. Tips would be really useful.

This is a great product. Great craft for adults. Tools are not included.

I'm really enjoying working on this mosaic, but had some problems when i first started. I would suggest you practice with a few tiles to determine how long you should put them in water. I watched the video, and it showed them very quickly dipping the tiles and then placing them on the board. I started off this way, let it sit overnight to set, and the following day when I turned it over, 30-40 of the tiles fell off. Also, if submerged too long, you lose some of the glue on the tiles. Also, I find some of the colors are hard to differentiate so I keep going back to the picture on Amazon to make sure I'm placing them properly. I suggest keeping a toothpick handy to help place the tiles if they move a little. But it's a fun project and keeps me busy.

Item was as described and complete. But I had to throw it in the trash because I messed it all up. The colors in the picture provided don't really match the colors of the tile provided. So I wound up gluing the colors in the wrong spots which of course messess the entire thing up because then I couldn't complete it correctly. ☹️

les morceaux sont très petits, ça on le savait, mais minces c'était moins clair. Je cherchai de la vraie céramique... Belles couleurs par contre. Attention, le retour de l'article m"a coûté 15 dollars, car cela venait des EU. Cela n'est pas adéquat pour des enfants, trop complexe pour les jeux de couleurs (à moins d'avoir une patience incroyable et des outils appropriés : pinces minuscules, loupe...

Hi I had a very speedy delivery and as I am buying it as a gift I was very disapointed to open the parcel to discover the Item was in a plain white box with the product details on the inside (someone obviously made the box inside out). What could have looked like a quality product now looks like I bought it from a car boot sale. Lets hope the product is better than the box, which I am sure it is (hopefully). I would have given it full marks if it wasnt for the box but as it is a gift presentation is important.

Early delivery, good quality. The dark brown wasn’t enough tiles.

Fab little kit with gorgeous real ceramic micro tiles - very easy to cutShame it doesn't include grout and nippers but other than that one of the best mosaic kits out there

This was returned to you as it looked so difficult in that one has to cut the tiles to different shapes to complete the picture. This was supposed to be a new hobby for me but it just looked too difficult.