Create a Beautiful Mosaic Floor Covering

Figure A

Steps:

1. For a 2 x 3-foot floor cloth, cut a piece of canvas measuring 26 x 38 inches. Paint both sides of the cloth with one coat of white or cream house paint and allow it to dry completely. Mark a 1-inch hem along all four sides by scoring it lightly using a ruler and scissors. The stenciling will sit on this line.

2. Colorwash the background by mixing approximately 1/4 cup water with 2 teaspoons of light brown or taupe acrylic paint. Use a rag to apply this mixture to the floor cloth, circling and dabbing until the cloth is covered with a broken finish. Allow the paint to dry thoroughly.

Figure C

3. Stencil the corners by applying a repositionable adhesive or tape to the corner of stencil #1 then place it on one of the floor cloth corners along both the hem lines. Mark the three registration marks lightly with a pencil (or put tape under registration holes and mark the tape). Pounce the adhered stencil (No. 1) with Red Oxide paint, then shade the outsides of the square and the middle lightly with Hookers Green. To add more contrast, stipple the paint on to shaded areas instead of using a swirl stroke. Repeat for the remaining three corners.

4. To stencil the border, position border stencil No. 2 so that the bottom single row of mosaics aligns with the second row from the bottom on the corner stencil. Place a good deal of the border over the tile stencil so that you can be sure the line is straight. The base of the No. 2 figure cut into the stencil should align exactly with the hem. Mask off the tile so that it does not get stenciled again. Leave a gap equal to the bridges on the stencils. Mark the registration dots as before. Tip: For other projects, draw a line onto the stencil.

Figure D

5. Stencil the ribbon using Red Oxide paint, stenciling more lightly in the middle. Shade the top and bottom corners lightly with Hookers Green. Stencil the top and bottom lines of the mosaic in Red Oxide, with occasional stipples of Hookers Green. Use a clean brush to stencil Hookers Green for the leaves (the "shading" brush will now be contaminated with Red, so keep it for shading). Use light pressure on the top leaves and stem; heavier on the leaf behind.

6. Remove the stencil and reposition it using the registration mark to ensure it's straight. Use the No. 2 stencil shape to help you. Repeat until you reach the next corner, which you must mask off, leaving a small gap. Continue until you have gone all the way around, then clean the stencil so it'll be clean when you need it again later. Spray and position border stencil No. 1 using the registration marks and stencil in Soft White.

7. Fill in the second overlay of tile with the white or gild it, if preferred, following the instructions in the next step.

Figure F

8. To gild through a stencil, rub the surface area lightly with a dusting of talcum powder. Use tape with the stencil, but not adhesive. Using gold size and the dry brush method, stipple or swirl the adhesive through the stencil, applying lightly. Cut a small area from the sheet of Dutch Metal and place it gold side down onto the dry tacky size. Press it firmly into place on the paper backing. When the two surfaces have adhered, pull the paper backing away. Brush away the excess gold firmly using a clean stencil brush. If you are gilding overlay No. 2, stencil overlay No. 3 with black. If not, gild stencil No. 3. You could even do both if desired. Take the clean, dry border stencil No. 2 and use the row of single mosaics to fill in the space between the border stencil and the hem line with a row of Soft White. To help keep the line straight, place a piece of tape along the stencil to marry up with the hemline.

Figure G

9. To stencil the middle, use the plain mosaic square stencil and Soft White paint to fill in the space, masking off the areas you've stenciled with paper or masking tape. For large areas, use a paint roller or large brush.To avoid creating "blocks" of squares, try this technique. Use the stencil the same way up. It might be helpful to mark it with an arrow. Start in the corner then you have stenciled one square, overlap the next one by one vertical row of mosaics to ensure the spacing is even. Cover the overlapped row with some paper so that you don't stencil through it again. Once you've completed one line of squares, overlap the square below it by one horizontal row of mosaics, then one horizontal and one vertical on the next repeat, remembering to mask the overlapped rows. Let it dry completely before finishing.

10. To finishing the floor cloth, turn over the dried floor cloth and trim away the corners. Wipe it with a damp cloth to remove any talc. Apply glue to the edges and turn up the 1- inch hem, pressing it down. Keep pressing until the glue sets. For extra durability, treat the floor cloth with several coats of acrylic finish. Upon varnishing, the gold leaf can sometimes lose its brilliance. If this occurs, just re-gild over the varnish. The gold is tough and can withstand foot traffic.