Glass Mosaic Tiles For a Beautiful Home
Any kitchen or bathroom will look good with glass mosaic tiles. They can also be sued to beautify your ceiling, floor, wall, shower or tub, even your fireplace hearth. Glass mosaic tiles are available in many sizes and thickness. The standard size is ¾” x ¾” with a thickness of about 1/8”. Various tile types manufactured by different companies can be used to design custom mosaics. Larger tiles are usually a bit thicker but the difference in thickness can actually give a peculiar but interesting texture to the mosaic’s surface. For obvious reasons however, this is not applicable to floor mosaic designs.
The most common glass mosaic type is called vitreous and also often referred to as “Venetian.” It is opaque and its texture is grainy stone-like and can be cut easily.
The original type of mosaic glass used in medieval churches is the smalti. This is more expensive than molded tiles but the hand-cut tiles have unique surface and shape, which makes them suitable for art mosaics. Smalti is available in earth and flesh tones, as well as many bright colors. Italy and Mexico are the major sources of smalti. Other types of glass mosaic tiles include swirled or marbleized, translucent, iridescent and metallic,