Pin Your Interest

Amy Donnelly
Sigma Kappa

The one thing I have taken out of my three and half years of being in the sorority world is crafting. I am now a frequent shopper at Hobby Lobby to the point that, when referring to the store, I simply say "HobLob." Last semester, some of my friends and I discovered a site called Pinterest (which has now moved up to my number one site of procrastination), sliding Facebook and other social websites down to the number two spot.  Discovering this website has not only sparked my creativity, but also enhanced it. I now not only have my whole future house planned out, but also all my meals for this semester and new fashion tricks I am planning to try out. 

One of the beauties I have learned about creativity is creating your own masterpiece. I have discoverd a form of creativity and art called mosaic, that is now a hobby that I enjoy.  It is extremely time consuming, but in the end, mosaic crafts make good room fillers, gifts, furniture, and other decorations.

The first step of mosiacing is to find a piece of furniture that is sturdy and and has an unfinished wood surface.  These both are important so the adhesive will stick to the surface and the piece of wood is sturdy enough to hold the ceramic. Next, you will need to figure out what patterns, colors, or themes you want to create with your mosaic. One of the last pieces I made were bookshelves for my room.  I mosaiced the side of the bookshelf, and since I painted the inside of the bookshelves turquoise and the other colors in my room are black and white, I decided to find black and white plates, bowls, and mugs to break. I also got some big pieces of glass at HobLob which I was able to cut and incorporate as well.

Once you have chosen what colors you would like and have found the dishware you will use, you have to break them up into usable pieces.  The first step in breaking any dishware is to put it in a brown paper bag and break it with a hammer. The bag keeps all the pieces together and preventing them from taking flight. After you break the dishware into chunks,  ceramic nippers can be used to create the size and shape you want.  After you break your pieces, you will use ceramic adhesive to hold your pieces to whatever you are mosaicing. Mosaicing creates a puzzle look, matching shapes and edges together. It is important when gluing your piece to leave room in between each for grout.  Also, you must leave room around all edges as well for the grout to adhere.

The glue will need a day to dry and then you may grout. Something to know about this step is that grouting takes time and once you start you have to finish. Their are lots of different grout colors but the most common ones are grey, white and black.  You can find grout at any hardware store or HobLob.  Once you have grout in between each piece and on the edges, you will have to let it sit for another day.  After the grout is dry, you can clean off the extra grout that was left on top of the ceramic pieces. 

This is just one of my of my favortie Pinterest ideas. Whether you are looking for ideas for a room, meals, or even a date party, Pinterest is the one-stop site guranteed to jumpstart your creativity. Most importantly Wildcats, whether creating new fashion or crafting at a gathering, remember to always use your class and never your trash!

Amy is a senior studying elementary education and English. You may contact her at amymd@ksu.edu..