Sawdust and Hops

What are Mosaic pins? All a mosaic pin is, is different sizes of brass, copper, aluminum, and steel tubing or wire inside one another, then filled with an epoxy, they primarily have a decorative purpose. (disclaimer) I am by no means an expert on this subject, but I have dabbled a little... and all that makes a person an expert in a craft is practice, so lets practice.... The tubing can be anything from round, square, or you can use wire as a filler. Here is a picture I pulled off Google, to give you an idea of different patterns.

This is a list of the supplies I used.

Easy Cast. This can be found at Michael's or most craft stores.
Tubing. I don't remember the sizes, you really have to play with this part of the project and just see what fits.
Latex gloves.
A drill
Wax paper
Hot glue gun
Acrylic paint. color is your choice
Hacksaw. or something to cut metal with. A dremel with a metal cutting wheel works perfect.
and a metal file and fine grit sandpaper (250 to 500 grit)

Once you have all the supplies, you can start assembling the pins. I found that working in 6" sections was ideal. It made lining up the top and bottom inside tubes easier.

First drill the holes in a scrap piece of wood, don't drill all the way through, that way if there is a leak it doesn't drain the epoxy from your pin. ( I made that mistake)

Use the wax paper as a kind of plug, also it keeps the pin from being epoxied to the board. Once you have the pin in place, cut off the excess paper and hot glue the pin in place. This just keeps it from moving around.

The next step is to mix the epoxy. It's really simple, equal parts from both containers. Now that you have them mixed in one container, you can add some color. There is probably 100 different ways you could do this with dyes and pigments, but I have a lot of acrylic paint on hand. The amount of paint you use varies, If you want a dark color mix more, for lighter mix less. But it really doesn't take a whole lot.

There are 2 ways you can fill the pins. This is where your going to want to wear your gloves.

poor the epoxy directly into the main cavity, then insert the inside tubes or wire.
insert the tubes or wire, then drizzle the epoxy over the top of the project.

either way will work, but I think the second way makes more internal air pockets. Also this is going to be messy, but any epoxy on the outside of the pin can be sanded off easily once it dries.

Once the epoxy has set (give it 24hrs) then peel off the hot glue and wax paper. There is your Mosaic pin. The only thing left to do is insert them in to something. They look great in knife handles or in the place of a dowel rod pin (where it will be visible)

To insert a mosaic pin in a piece of wood, just drill a hole the size of the outside diameter tube, cut the piece to size, then add some epoxy to the hole, and insert the pin. Once the epoxy has dried, file and sand flush.

That's it!

This is one I put in a brewing mash paddle. It was a last minute addition, after I had already stained it so I couldn't file it down as much as I would have liked. That's why you can see some rough edges. This is why its important to plan the project out from start to finish.

I hope this was helpful, Have fun creating! Thanks.

Hey guys, this is my first blog post so I hope its helpful. My wife just made the local roller derby team and she needed some way to practice and strengthen her balance. I've seen balance boards online that can cost as much as $150. My philosophy is 'if it's possible, make it YOURSELF!' I took pictures as I went along, I however forgot to incorporate how I dyed the PVC pipe, I'll try and get a post about that later. So here we go.

The first thing I recommend is always start on paper before you move to wood, the paper is much more forgiving. This is a pretty basic design that can be found with a quick Google search.

After you get your pattern drawn out, the next thing is trace it to your piece of wood. There are a lot of choices that can be used. The piece I used was a 1/2" plywood, but you can use everything from plywood to solid wood boards. I will also recommend using a thicker board 3/4" if your a little heaver than say 150lbs. I can feel it bow a little when I use it.

Cut out the end pieces using the extra scrap

USE CLAMPS, there worth the couple of bucks they cost from Harbor Freight, and you will get a better bond. I use electricians tape to tape off the drill bits, that way there is no risk of drilling all the way through your piece.

I use dowel rods in a lot in projects in the place of hardware, I like the end result and it shows craftsmanship. Plus screws are getting expensive... lol. If you choose to use screws just swap them in place of the dowel pins.

These are just cut dowel, the length doesn't matter as long as there not to short. They will be cut of and sanded later.

Once the holes have been drilled, fill them with wood glue and insert the pins.

Cut the pins off flush, and begin sanding. Start with a lower grit and move to a higher grit. 80 grit to 220 grit should get the job done.

I taped off a roller derby kinda theme.

Instead of painting this project, which is always an option. I used wood stain. If you are going to tape of a design in something you want to look nice don't be cheap with the tape. If you buy dollar store painters tape, you will get dollar store results. Go ahead and get a roll of Edge Lock or Frogtape, its worth it.