Kitchen Splashback

[Charli!]

I will be having an almost-new kitchen! And I'd really like a funky brightly coloured (rainbow?) splashback behind the hob. Most of the purchased ones are a bit dull, only a single colour, or are ridiculously expensive to have patterns on- so I would like to make my own! Any ideas from you crafty folk? It doesn't necessarily have to be made of glass (is there any way to colour and seal stainless steel or aluminium?), though fused glass is the first thing i thought of! Any ideas welcome!

[Eileen]

You could mosaic your own.
http://www.glassmosaictileart.com/lesson_page01.html

[squirrellglider]

Hello Charli,
Eileen is right, and following in the same vein, you could, depending on the size of your kiln, make glass tiles from recycled window glass and use vitreous enamels as your colours. When you fire them on you don't need to go high enough to round the edges of the glass so some cold working in advance could be called for. Just another suggestion Terry

[swamper]

Ooooooh, I just had to pin that for future reference. thank you.

[Nolly]

I've always wanted to make my own backsplash. Here's a quick project:

http://www.glass-fusing-made-easy.co...lass-tile.html

Don't know how easy it really is; research about how to keep the glass from flowing over the edge of the tile seems to be in order.

Speaking of glass, my kiln is up to temp ... bye for now!

Nolly

[mcorey01]

Originally Posted by Charli!

I will be having an almost-new kitchen! And I'd really like a funky brightly colored (rainbow?) splash-back behind the hob. Most of the purchased ones are a bit dull, only a single color, or are ridiculously expensive to have patterns on- so I would like to make my own! Any ideas from you crafty folk? It doesn't necessarily have to be made of glass (is there any way to color and seal stainless steel or aluminum?), though fused glass is the first thing i thought of! Any ideas welcome!

Hello,
Another idea is to make ceramic tiles of different colors, with or without designs, of the same size or various sizes and create an unusual and interesting design that you can live with. Tiles are not a hard item to create, you can also us hardy backer board and use mastic to stick and any color of grouts to create a wonderful display of color. You could also intersperse different glass focal pieces, which would add another layer of a personal touch.

[Charli!]

I knew you guys would come up with some good ideas! I can't believe I didn't think of mosaics! Or ceramics! I was so set on the for-sale splashbacks being either a giant sheet of glass, or stainelss steel that I forgot to think about other things! Thanks so much! More ideas aappreciated, and I'll keep you informed of what i end up doing (currently the kitchen is an empty shell lacking plaster! Or a ceiling. So i have a ways to go before the splashback stage)

[tammydownunder]

I can remember if I saw it on Kirsti's homemade projects or Sarah Beeney's Property Developer, but one of the British Lifestyle shows had a few specially made tiles to work into her design and it looked great. There were maybe 9 tiles set into the store bought tile design.

The only thing you need to make sure of is the size of your tiles will work with your store bought ones and the thickness is similar. Grout is your best friend to fill in any imperfections. Another thing to keep in mind, is to make sure that if you use a clear or transparent glass, that your mastic (glue) won't show through when you set your tiles.

Good luck and make sure you take lots of photos.

[jaci]

My friend jen just took a few (like 3-4) tiles of that small glass squares on mesh backing tiles (12x12 size) mounted them on a piece of wood and framed it. She is using it for a headboard for her bed She is gonna mount it on the wall above the bed! It looks awesome! She is a framer, so she found a frame that looks like mosaic glass that matches the tiles she got nicley. I saw the in progress and its amazing! She said it was so easy... and the finished look looks like it took weeks! She has spent maybe 2 hours on it work time (not drying time lol)

[PiP]

I made accent tiles to be used with 2" and 4" stone tiles. Stamped with pixie dust.

[ingetraud]

Check out the new dichroic glass tiles by Coatings by Sandberg. http://cbs-dichroic.com/

[kbinkster]

I really like that, Nance. I think having little colorful accents with the stone backdrop adds the right "pop" and keeps it from being overwhelming.