Mosaic Tile Trivets or Pot Stands

After Mosaic tiling the porch of my shed I had a couple of tiles left, when I bought them I bought 2 extra of the random pattern ones "just in case" and the vendor gave me a spare star motif one as a couple of the stones had split laterally on it and he wanted to make sure that if the same had happened to any others I could repair.

So - what to make?

They are approximately 30cm x 30 cm (12 inches square) and have a mesh backing holding the stones together, now I got a real bargain with these at $12 each!

I picked up at the "free" bin at the local tile depot some plain brown ceramic tiles - they were end of line and only a few of them there. they are slightly larger than the mosaic tiles 32cm x 32cm

I also had some recycled cedar tongue and groove left from panelling my shed ceiling.

I turned the tiles over to use the reverse side (rough side) of the ceramic tiles

Mixed up a bit of exterior tile cement and spread it on the back of the mosaic tiles and then positioned the mosaic tile centrally on the ceramic tile, and allowed to set.

I also lifted the stones that had split and set them a bit higher on some tile cement so they were level with the rest

I ripped down some of the recycled tongue and groove into 10mm strips and panel pinned it together to make a frame. The first one I did mitre joints, but got lazy and just did butt joints on the rest.

I sanded the frame and applied a layer of stain and varnish. (I did the first one in a different order (my mistake as difficult to varnish after the sand is in))

When the varnish was dry, I grouted the gaps with a product called Pavelock, it is essentially a sand and cement mixture, I brushed it with a small paint brush into all the gaps , then sprayed with a fine water mist to bind it. I did a second dusting later to ensure full coverage.

At present only one has been stained as I am deciding which finish I prefer, I may seal the stone with a clear coat.

I also stuck four of the little self adhesive felt feet on the bottom (I actually used Velcro dots) so they don't scratch the work surfaces

So we now have somewhere to place hot pans or pots or vases or whatever.

Total cost (as I had most of the stuff lying around) NZ$24 (2x tiles) to make 3

Actual cost if you had to buy everything for it about $20 each I would guess