Back Mount Paper | Mosaic Tile Supplies

APPLYING TILE TAPE

Keeping The Pieces Still

The simplest way is to spray adhesive on your table top or on paperboard. Otherwise, get the widest masking tape available. Make a jig with 4 pieces of 1” x 2” wood a little bigger than the length and width of your pattern. Now place the masking tape on the jig until the space is full, then simply flip it over and it’s ready to build a mosaic or border. Because the blue masking tape is low tack, you can place and remove your pieces easily. Once your pattern is done, you apply our TILE TAPE.

If you are to be making a number of borders or accents with the same basic pattern you can make a mold out of wood and glue tile separators on it to space your tiles, then assemble your pattern and apply our TILE TAPE. Some of our customers set up a workbench with a tape dispenser mounted horizontally on the side of where they build their pattern.

Advantages of Tile Tape Over Other Preassembly Techniques

Kraft facing - This requires applying water-soluble glue to one side of kraft paper and, while still wet, applying it to the face of one’s pattern. Once it is dry it is then installed. The obvious problems here are: having to mix the glue; having to apply the glue; having to clean up the glue container and brushes and tables; and more importantly, the installer cannot see the pattern. I’ve heard many stories about installers discovering that they’ve put in the work upside down and the subsequent headaches of correcting this, stories differing depending upon whether the mistake is discovered while the mortar is still wet or not. With TILE TAPE the installer can see all the parts and, as long as they were assembled correctly to begin with, will not need to adjust pieces. If there is adjusting to do TILE TAPE is easily cut with any knife.

Another common problem is the accidental spilling of water on kraft facing, causing pieces of the tile to fall off before installations. TILE TAPE is not water-soluble so this is not a problem when one uses TILE TAPE.

Photos and tiles supplied by Trikeenan Tileworks, Peterborough, NH. Tiles furnished by Quantum Stones & Cibola Glass Works.