A new twist on mosaic DIY art

I have recently been looking for some kind of art piece for my bedroom that would bring all of the colors of the room together in one place.  I decided to do a mosaic but I just was not in love with the square ones.  Then, I had an idea.  I LOVE that glass tile that people use on their kitchen back splashes.  And I love the long, log shaped ones.  So, I decided to to a mosaic using that pattern, except I kept mine aligned for a cleaner look.  I thought that would look better since I was using such a wide variety of colors.  I love the way it turned out.

 

 I should have done a step by step and I seriously thought about it, but then I figured everyone knows how to do this.  If not, I will briefly explain.  If you need a more detailed explanation, you can search Google or Pinterest for mosaic art and find some really great tutes.

1.  Purchase MDF in size and thickness you desire.  TIP: MDF is heavy so make sure you are able to anchor it properly to the wall if you are going to hang it.

2.  Prime MDF.  Necessary step.  You could also use canvas but MDF is much cheaper and you can really press down on it when you are mounting your pieces.  Plus, you can have it cut down to any size you want at Home Depot or Lowe's for only .25 per cut.  Bonus! 

3.  Paint MDF.  I used spray paint because I'm impatient and it dries in no time. :)

4.  Assemble color chips.  I used paint chips because I have never thrown one away and had a trillion.  You could also use scrapbooking paper, or paint your own water colors and use those.

5.  Cut chips to desired size.  My canvas is 24x30 and I knew I wanted to have a 2x2 inch border all the way around so I cut my strips 1x4 inches and used 26 rows of 5.  FYI: this took me quite a while.  It's tedious, but you MUST make sure that all of your pieces are EXACTLY the same size.  If not, it will cause trouble in the end.

6.  You could lay your chips out, but I just went for it.  I wanted a really random look so I put the same colors together sometimes...makes it seem more accidental.  I used a glue/water mixture.  50% school glue and 50% water.  I brushed the back of each of the rectangles with my mixture and stuck it down to the board.  I went in rows across until I reached 5 and then went to the next one.

7.  Once I had all of the pieces down, I used my homemade Mod Podge mixture and coated the entire thing.

8.  When that had dried, I wiped the whole thing down with a small bit of stain to give it a little more of an aged look.