Options for joining edges of mosaic pieces?

[Purplie]

Anybody have any favorite trick for joining side-by-side mosaic pieces at the edges, other than the obvious,

• Glue everything onto a backing substrate;
• Make them interlocking like a jigsaw, or one of @evansd2’s edge joints, or finger joints? (I don’t want to disturb the shapes.)

[evansd2]

If they’re coplanar you could use a surround frame to hold them in place as you glue them to each other, but somehow I think maybe you’re not talking coplanar.

[Purplie]

Actually I am. Want to do some simple ornaments.

[Purplie]

what glue is good for filling the gaps?

[evansd2]

Monotile Jigsaw Puzzle

So I don’t usually go for jigsaw puzzle projects, but the newly-ish discovered monotile seemed interesting enough to get me to make one. The hook here is that all of the pieces have the same shape, but unlike a traditional tesselation the pattern never repeats. Just a quick score of some random recognizable art on some baltic birch. [image] You can really see the piece layout when you look at the reverse. I didn’t bother to remove the double-lines where the pieces butted up against each ot…

Then that?

Assemble them on some sort of glue proof surface, so that you don’t adhere to the substrate?

[Purplie]

here’s a thought, engrave an area on the back for gluing a sort of exposed spline (I guess it would be called a decorative spline if it were on the front).

[evansd2]

Now you’re talking about like bow ties?

[evermorian]

@evansd2

glue proof surface

You can get cheap flexible silicone mats.

[ekla]

Or standard kitchen Saran wrap/cling film.

[Purplie]

@evansd2

like bow ties

exactly, but hidden

[evansd2]

Now you’re in for reverse aligning issues. If only you knew someone who was good at that?

I still think I’d use a kerf-corrected frame. You can arrange your materials “face down” and backside-masked so there is zero gap between the back sides (cut profile works in your favor here). Then you can just flood the keystone kerf gaps with glue from what will eventually be the back of your finished piece.

Wipe off excess… let it dry in frame, then remove it and flip over, demask and clean up if necessary, and I bet you’d have a nearly perfect end result.

Of course, I elected not to do this and instead changed my design to have an integrated frame (yellowheart) and made it a kerf corrected flipmated inlay:

https://community.glowforge.com/t/spindle-shaped-round-inlay-box-includes-a-poll-come-vote/4966

it just seemed a lot simpler than trying to rig up so many layers of hackery. Your design needs may be different, and a border might not be acceptable. You’re the artist, what you say goes

[Purplie]

both options sounds good. I’ll play with it… thanks!