Trivetal Pursuit

 Once upon a time, there was an awesome trivet who hung on my wall. It was wrought iron and tile, and it joined us for dinner nearly every night.

And then my son Thom happened to it.

Wrought iron is no match for my boy.

And glue was not the answer.

 Fine. I've had a crush on glass mosaics for a while now, so before we attempt a huge project, let's do a little practice work on something everyone can manage without fancy tiling tools.
I bought the tiles months ago for a different project, which I abandoned, so there they were, just taking up space in my work shop.

And yes, I've tiled before, but not with this stuff, and I always like to do dry runs on something with very little commitment.

Seriously. Let's give this a whirl. You'll need:

One 12x12 tile, cheap please. Like $1.25

One 12x12 sheet of mosaic tiles in the clearance bin, $3.50

Grout. I was lazy and bought pre-mixed this time

Goop. This gets used in almost all of my projects except recipes. And I'm tempted

A butter knife

A sponge

 Okay, first, on your 12x12 solid tile, slather a generous amount of silicone adhesive, which is wonderfully water proof.

 Set the mosaic on the tile and arrange it evenly.

 This is way too easy.

 Let it set and grab your butter knife.

 It's just grout, don't be scared.

 Pretend you're making a peanut butter sandwich, but violently force the peanut butter into the bread.

 Scrape the excess off with the flat side of the knife.

 Wipe the tiles off with a barely damp sponge. There will still be a film over the tiles. Don't panic, it's supposed to be there. Walk away and find Ty Pennington on TV.

 Now, the next evening come back and grab that damp sponge again and wipe off the haze.

 Haze being the remainder of the grout on the tile.

 See how easy that was?

 I think we're ready for the the hearth project!

 And we're also ready for a hot pot of spaghetti sauce.

 Ever wanted to tile but you were a tad hesitant? Here's the project to give you confidence.
And wouldn't a matching backsplash and trivet be kinda cool?