Mosaic Butterflies to fly to Florida

Here are the steps to make a mosaic on mesh and ship (ungrouted) to its final destination where it will be installed and grouted as part of a larger mural. The artist in Florida (Eve Lynch) will trim away the mesh from the edges of the design. These butterflies and many many others will form a cloud of butterflies at the Calusa Nature Center and Planetarium.

Note that on the blue butterfly and the orange butterfly, I pieced together two scraps of mesh. Just overlay one piece over the other and glue together.

Step 1 -- a design on paper.
Step 2 -- the paper overlaid with a piece of clear plastic such as a sandwich baggie.
Step 3 -- the paper and the plastic overlaid with the mesh.

Mosaic onto the mesh, buttering each tile with glue by dotting the back of the tile with glue but not covering the entire tile. Continue with this procedure until your mosaic is finished. Allow it to completely dry. Peel the mosaic on mesh free of the plastic. Sometimes it's easier to turn it over and work from the back, and sometimes it helps to peel at an angle. I like to turn the mosaic over, free up a corner of the plastic, place my hand over the mosaic, and then jerk the plastic off quickly.

Step 1 - a design on paper

Step 2 - clear plastic over the design

Step 3 - mesh layered on top of the plastic