Handmade Mosaics Made Easy with Our Adult Mosaic Craft Kit, Square 7inch (20cm) Dolphin

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 loved this craft so much that I bought it as a retirement gift. The precut tiles are easy to place and the art piece comes together quickly. The only downside is the weight when it's done. The tiny tiles and back board tougher is heavy. The mosaic took about an hour to craft.

Was looking forward to putting together and giving as a gift. Very disappointed!! Was not a complete set!! Of course you don’t find out until it is completed. Frustrating, put money and time into a project that I could not finish. And give as a gift. Not sure what to do with it now. I would not recommend. Unless you can count all the tiny individual pieces to make sure you have a complete set. One star for the Orca design.

The white tiles are not included, so you have to flip the others over which doesn’t have the same sheen. The glued substance is splattered, so make sure you have some other glue handy or they won’t all stick. You have to have your own tools to cut the tiles.

There weren't enough Tiles provided to finish the project. All the colors were in tight supply, the pattern color and box picture didn't match the Tile colors which complicated things, I had to keep adjusting as I went along. The tiles were virtually un-cuttable, little squares of ceramic with a dot of color on top and I tried several different cutters designed for the purpose. All that being said, the water-based system was simple and easy and performed well, I enjoyed working on this and even unfinished, as you see, it came out pretty nice. I contacted their customer support about getting some more tiles for the finish but it just became a fruitless run-a-round.

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 :-)

This was a really fun project to work on. Highly recommend it, just make sure that you have some kind of tool to break the mosaic pieces apart with.

I bought four of these mosaic kits (different styles) for friends who were visiting me during the holidays. Thinking t would be something fun to do. My kit was the Orca. As you can see, I was short MANY dark blue tiles, ran out of white and light green, but made due. Unacceptable for a kit costing $30 each. Those tiles need to be cut which isn’t easy to cut AND make if it fit properly. 😕 I could not find anyone to reach to let them know about the tile shortage. Again unacceptable. I like the idea of at home projects, but not when they are not complete. Would not buy again.