[MR] Searching for a Good Mosaic Tile Supplier

Jessica Wilbur jessica at pop.net
Mon Jan 14 07:19:50 PST 2002


Oh, honey, have I got resources for you!  =) 

The prices you'll find for mosaic supplies will vary, depending on 
where you order from and what kind of tiles you're looking for. 
Prices will vary even with the same kind of material, depending on 
the color. Some colors of vitreous glass are less expensive to 
produce, hence you will pay less for them. Smalti (which is the 
period type of glass tile) will cost more than modern vitreous glass. 
Metallic smalti (which has had gold or silver leaf fused into it) will 
be yet more expensive. I haven't done any work with ceramic tile 
yet, but again, price will vary depending on what color you're 
looking for - I understand that red is more expensive than other 
colors. 

These are the online sources that I've had personal experience with:
http://www.mosaicmercantile.com/

http://www.mosaic-witsend.com/

http://www.delphiglass.com/index.cfm?page=homepage

I have links to other suppliers but haven't tried them yet. I've had 
VERY good experience with Wit's End Mosaics, in Florida. I highly 
recommend them - their prices are good and their customer service 
is excellent. If you're looking for ceramic tile, you could try 
http://mosaicsupply.com/ I haven't ordered from them before but 
they have some really cool stuff on their website. You might also 
try your local Home Depot or Lowe's and see if they have any 
broken tile that's just going to get thrown away. They might give it 
to you or sell it to you very cheaply. Also, if you have a discount 
craft supply store near you (like Pearl Art & Craft), that's a good 
place to check as they often have prices that are cheaper than 
even online sources (the Pearl near me carries Mosaic Mercantile 
products cheaper than Mosaic Mercantile does!).

I've been studying mosaics for a little while now and I have a ton of 
books on the subject. If you're looking for recommendations, let me 
know - I have some favorites. I also have a ton of pictures of 
mosaics that I took on my recent trip to Italy - many of them date 
from the SCA period. I'd be happy to bring them to an event to 
share.

Mosaic is a subject near and dear to my heart!  =)  
Best of luck!

--Muireann


On 11 Jan 02, at 20:26, Becky McEllistrem wrote:

> I'm interested in a study of mosaics both for SCA
> reasons and modern reasons.  However I'm increasingly
> amazed at the prices of mosaic tiles in local craft
> suppliers.  Does anyone have a good online supplier
> that they've bought from before?
> 
> I'm thinking mostly of glass mosaic tiles that are
> less than 1 inch but ceramic tiles would be OK too.
> 
> Rebecca




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