| Picking out the best color of grout for your | | | | medium to dark then use a corresponding grout |
| completed project is extremely important. The | | | | color. This allows you to keep your duck as the |
| wrong color can destroy your piece. This is true | | | | focus while incorporating the background into the |
| for mosaic art and for residential and commercial | | | | entire scene.Using the neutral grout colors will |
| installations. | | | | make it to where people don't see the grout, only |
| First understand that grout is just a filler. It is not | | | | the flow of the tiles. However, what if you want |
| an adhesive! It is simply for you to fill in the gaps | | | | to make your grout joints stand out? Black and |
| between your tiles. It will smooth out the overall | | | | white will do this. Black grout is an amazing choice |
| look of your piece and will hide some ragged | | | | for those brightly colored tiles. It will give your |
| edges on your glass.In the tile industry there is a | | | | piece a leaded stained glass feel. White will |
| rule of thumb for grout colors. Gray and brown | | | | fracture your entire piece so use it sparingly. I |
| are always good choices with varying shades | | | | only recommend white grout when most of your |
| depending upon your overall color. If you are using | | | | tiles are white. It is not as pleasing to the eye. |
| mainly cool colors then choose gray grout, if using | | | | These are great grout colors to use when |
| warm colors then use brown grout. For an overall | | | | creating a geometric piece since they really |
| light effect, choose a light colored grout and for | | | | accent the grout joints and pull out the geometry |
| darker tiles use a dark grout. So if you do your | | | | of the piece. |
| piece in mostly a rich cobalt blue with a hint of | | | | Grout colorants can give you a ton of options for |
| light aqua and white thrown, a dark gray grout is | | | | grout color. Grout colorants are a strong concrete |
| recommended. The cobalt is a cool color and dark | | | | dye that resists fading. A little goes a long way! |
| tile. If you choose to do your piece in varying | | | | Just a teaspoon will tint 2 cups of grout to the |
| shades of reds, oranges, and yellows, then a | | | | dark shades. Adding it to white grout gives you |
| medium tone brown grout is recommended. | | | | brighter colors. Some people will add it to gray |
| It gets tricky when you use both warm and cool | | | | grout. You will still get the colors but they are |
| colors in the same area. For instance, suppose | | | | muted. You can also add the colorant to thinset |
| you are creating a mosaic of a brown duck | | | | and concrete (like your stepping stones). |
| floating in a pool of water with a blue sky. Here | | | | Try mixing different colors together too. Mix terra |
| your focal point is the brown duck which is warm | | | | cotta grout with brown colorant. This takes the |
| and the background is the water and sky are a | | | | edge off of the redness of the terra cotta giving |
| cool blue and blue green. You really want the duck | | | | you a rich grout color. Also mix black grout with |
| to stand out not the water and sky. You could | | | | white grout to achieve gray tones. How about |
| grout in two colors (one for the duck and one for | | | | mixing blue and red colorant to get a beautiful |
| everything else) but that is a lot of work. To pick | | | | purple? Maybe add sandstone colorant to terra |
| the proper grout color for this piece focus on the | | | | cotta grout for a rich goldenrod grout. The |
| duck. If you were to use anything but brown then | | | | possibilities are endless!Remember to mix enough |
| your duck would be severely fractured (you | | | | of your grout to complete your entire project if |
| would see every individual tile piece). In order to | | | | using grout colorant. You won't be able to copy |
| keep your duck whole, you must use a brown | | | | the exact shade for the next batch. Grout can |
| grout. Now envision the background with brown | | | | ruin a piece or installation if you are not careful. |
| grout. It will be fractured a bit if you use the | | | | However, it can greatly enhance your mosaic |
| wrong shade of brown. If your background is light | | | | project when done correctly. You will definitely |
| then use a light to medium brown grout. If it is | | | | see a completely different picture after grouting. |