The Secrets of Mosaicking
with Beads

Add sparkle, texture, and depth to your mosaic artwork!

Here’s why you might love working with beads:

• Scale: When you’re making mosaics, you usually start with larger materials such as tiles, glass pieces, china, stained glass, or porcelain. These pieces are beautiful, but their scale is generally quite big. If you want to add more interest, texture, and variety to a mosaic, beads are the perfect solution.
• Detail, detail, detail: Beads allow you to include tiny details, layered textures, and subtle sparkle. They come in a variety of finishes such as metallic, iridescent, matte or shiny, which adds depth and visual richness to your work.
• Budget-friendly: while beads might have a reputation for being expensive, you’ll discover that your purchases may last you for years. I have a bundle of vintage orange seed beads that have lasted me for more than a decade and I still treasure!
• Treasure hunting: From finding new beads from a local bead or craft store, to sourcing vintage or unique, whimsical beads, the discovery of the next new exciting bundle of beads to add to my collection will be your new addiction! Then bringing them into your studio is pure joy — displaying them, admiring them, and finding new ways to make them shine in your mosaics.

What You’ll Learn

• The benefits of using beads and when and how to use beads in a mosaic for intricate detail and visual depth.
• A deep dive into various types of beads: glass beads, seed beads and bugle beads, pearls: freshwater and imitation, shell and natural materials, rhinestones – new and vintage, plastic beads, found objects, findings and repurposed beads, as well as beads I recommend avoiding!
• Adhesives, adhesives, adhesives! What to avoid and what you will love!
• Grouting techniques that protect your beads while preserving their sparkle — including which grout supplies to use, when to paint grout, alternatives to traditional grouting, using India ink, and working with GlamGrout.
• A sample mixed media mosaic project you can follow along with, stepping tou through making a glue baggie, mixing Apoxie Sculpt, framing your substrate with tile edges and brass bead caps, beaed trim around your front perimeter, outlining facial features with loose bugle beads, adding hair, necklace and accents, filling in skin tone with strung seed beads, grouting, painting grout and using mica powder and adding finishing touches.
• Five of Sharra’s featured work samples for lots of visual inspiration and insight into what I learned along the way with these projects.
• Tips for sourcing, selecting, and storing beads for your future projects, including online retail and wholesale options, bead shows, what prices to expect and how much you should buy.
• Creative ways to mix beads with shells, glass, rhinestones, and china for stunning mixed-media effects