I have nothing useful to say other than was a GORGEOUS tile

Wow that is really pretty. Is that real MOP? How do you clean that? Very very pretty. Please send pic's when it's up.

kate!!!! you have outdone us all. I have been lusting after MoP for years just couldnt afford it.

PLEASE tell us your source and your co$t.. That is gorgeous. I have seen it in a restaurant and it looked fab!

oh, i found it! wow... slabs of MoP. I am salivating. i wonder how much this stuff costs. I am telling you, cant compete with the chinese manufacturing industry...

Here is a link that might be useful: MoP gallore

Although the larger tiles would be easier to install, I think the smaller ones would look nicer in that you wouldn't see the larger joints every so often. Of course, that's personal opinion. From a technical standpoint, either one is fine. As for the grout joints helping, I don't know whether that is or isn't necessary, being that I don't know what the CoF is for that tile.

Pharaoh-- I don't even want to imagine the cost of putting that shower together.

i have lusted after the MOP for years and haven't given it much thought, as i assumed cost would be prohibitive. i found myself in hoity toity tile store one day and selected a very beautiful hand made iridescent ceramic mosaic tile for $81 a square foot. i marched angrily out. that's nerve, i thought.
a few weeks later i found myself in artistic tile and found myself equally attracted to a beautiful glass tile from oceanside glass, at only $56 a square. ONLY! but after the $81 sticker shock i thought i was doing okay.
and then one day i found myself surfing the internet. i find a chinese manufacturer and have been exchanging messages with him for a couple of months now. i have never done business with him, nor do i know anyone else who has purchased from him. i have a friend who has purchased other products through other chinese sources and all went well for her. it doesn't seem as if this is a scam and i'm willing to be the guinea pig.
presently, 15x15 mm MOP (mesh mount, per square ft) is $167 through artistic. OUCH.
attached is the price list through the chinese manufacturer i've been dealing with. as you can see, the 15x15mm is $11.63 a square. most of the cost is in the freight. i don't believe they take credit cards so obviously i would have little or no recourse should there be a problem.

BUT: i have been cashing in on kharma points lately. things have been working out for me. i get the prime parking spots whenever i go shopping, and we've been blessed with our dealings (so far) with our GC and other sub contractors. i will continue to accumulate good kharma on a daily basis (by allowing other drivers in front of me during heavy traffic, assisting others by leading them to their destinations when they are lost, etc...) and hopefully all will go according to plan.

in recent messages, it has been indicated that they have some sizes but not others and they are constantly replenishing their inventory. it seems they ship what the market demands. this is a good sign to me, as no one is sending me messages saying, oh yeah, we've got that, send us your money... instead emails to me state i need to give them a heads-up as to the size and quantity i'd be needing. i don't think anyone who was just going to collect my money without sending any product would go to the trouble.

so pharaoh, i haven't "out done' anyone, nor is that my intention. i have, if all goes well, found a tremendous resource which i will gladly share in the hopes of banking my kharma points. i need all i can get.

this is the site. lots going on here:
http://www.chinesemosaic.com/sdp/186638/4/main-1013053/0/Home.html

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1417574}}

and bill:

the 15mm seems pretty small... they also have 10x10 mm. i have to "see" what these sizes look like in person before deciding. i know what you mean about the larger sizes and i agree, the smaller mosaics really look much nicer.

while i have you on the horn, do you know anything about lacquering this stuff? is there anything available?
from what i understand, it scratches pretty easily so i was going to limit it to walls and around my tub, using porcelain mosaic and the MOP as a border. i'm wondering if lacquering would add protection or if it's even possible. TIA!

presently, 15x15 mm MOP (mesh mount, per square ft) is $167 through artistic. OUCH.

Back a couple of years ago, someone came in here with a link to mother of pearl tiles for 473.00 PER FOOT.

while i have you on the horn, do you know anything about lacquering this stuff? is there anything available?

I wouldn't touch it with ANYTHING. I'd be too scared of changing the look of it, and the only thing that WON'T change the look would be a penetrating sealer, which won't protect the surface. Being that you're only going to use it on the walls, I don't think I'd even worry about it.

kateskouros I am so happy you posted your reply with the prices. I sent this company an email this afternoon with a list of questions. They sent me a ton of pictures but didn't answer one question. Which made me suspicious. I sell silver jewelry and some of it I have ordered from overseas. Here is what happens they pack it and ship it to you but because it is made from a living thing (once living) they ship it to you it arrives in your airport and the gets sent to Alaska to the Fish and Wildlife Dept for inspection. Then they ship it to you. This not only slows the process down because Fish and Wildlife only works 1 day of the week. (sign me up) Then they charge you for it. It was years since I got snookered like this so I don't really remember all the details now the company doesn't use UPS they use regular mail and that seems to keep the package going in a strait line. So before you order you need to ask this tile company and then I would place a call to fish and wildlife dept and see what they have to say about the matter. I am very excited about the product and the price at under 12.00 is very doable if they don't get ya in extras. I myself would love to use this an will continue to investigate.

thanks very much for the heads up, jjaazzy. i'll continue to probe them. and while they did answer questions, it was impossible to get them to answer every question in ONE email.
i took this as a problem with the language, though. please keep me updated on your progress and i'll do the same.

do i need to call the fish & wildlife dept in alaska? ...or are there any US environmental dept's i need to question as well?

i'm sensing i may need to find yet ANOTHER alternative. she sighs and wipes the beaded sweat from her brow. i had such hopes for the MOP. i won't let the dream die just yet.

i found this site. looks promising as you are able to obtain samples...

http://www.eleganceofliving.com/

kate, thank you so much for sharing the great resource. I am thoroughly impressed. You have gained more karma points by sharing this with the rest of us.
Now that my bling bath is done, it is too late to use MoP in there. It would have been fantastic but I am filing this in my bookmarks.
Dont think MoP says wabi-sabi, does it ? :)

Now that my bling bath is done,

There's one more tool you need in your "arsenal"--

JACKHAMMER!

:-)

(THEN you could use the MOP! It's only money! LOL)

dear pharaoh, i have seen your bling bathroom and i would consider it a terrible crime against art and humanity if you were to take a jackhammer to it!

and about the MOP and wabi-sabi:
i think it just be the embodiment of it, don't you think?

if i am able to obtain these beauties i fear i may somehow let you all down by not designing the bath up to snuff. no time to worry. i am putting my trust in the universe.

Kate I just sent a letter to US Customs with a note of what I found before and what should I expect these days. I guess I won't hear anything till later next week. Also checked out the web site you sent and ordered some free samples. Did they give you any idea on pricing? I think your right about the language barrier with other company will wait to see what happens there.

Luckily i dont own a jackhammer ;)

kate, I am eager to see how you incorporate the MoP in your bathroom. I would cover all non-shower walls in it. that material is simply divine...

jjaazzy: thanks for letting me know. i'll send off a letter to US customs, as well as fish and wildlife when we get home from vacation. (i'm in the sunny caribbean now!) and with the holiday i'm sure there will be a delay in communicating with the other producer in the phillipines. i have no idea of their pricing; i know as much as you. just what's on their website.
so are we in this together then? i'll be sure and keep you posted on any info i get. please keep me up to speed at where you're at! thanks and good luck to you!

pharaoh: i'm thinking i'll do a ten foot backsplash at the vanity with just the straight mosaic, no other tile and also a "matt" under the stand alone tub, although only a border around some kind of white marble or porcelain mosaic ...maybe botticello? honestly, i have no idea what to mix with the MOP as i don't have a sample. i'll have to wait and see. as for the shower, dh and i were talking about doing a 5x7' panel on the main wall with whatever (botticello) on floors, ceiling and remaining walls.
also would like to do a couple of panels in the dry areas with sconces a top. ...so not going from floor midway or all the way up to ceiling, but using decorative wood moulding in basically a rectangle (sort of) with the tile inside, and then the sconces. kwim?

we're also carrying it inside the master bedroom as a surround for the gas fireplace. i'm talking like it's already here, when in fact not sure if i can actually pull this off. i guess i like to think positively.

what do you think would work with it? the floors will be american black walnut and i'm thinking a chandy in there as well. any ideas?
in other words: i'm begging, please help. and, would you not place it in the shower at all?

kate,
as you know I am not a fan of grout. So I like the solid MoP (on backing) better than the mesh.
I think you could do the entire wall behind the vanity in MoP.

I like your idea of the mat or rug of MoP under the tub.
Then do the rest of the bathroom floor in thassos or a white porcelain.
I love the idea of using MoP around the fireplace.

Now for the shower. I am not sure if it will stand up to water but the best thing would be to get a sample and leave it in your current shower.see if it etches, discolors, delaminates etc. given that it is a product of the ocean it will survive in the shower. So do one wall of the shower in MoP and the others in the white marble or porcelain.

Make the vanity of black walnut.

Add a crystal chandelier above the vanity or centered in the bathroom.

I am getting excited just thinking about the MoP master suite. You may be the first person in the world to have this :)

I've been toying with the idea of using MOP as some type of border or something (just in the tub area) in our master bath. I might end up with some sort of glass tile overall, white field tile with glass, or white field tile (matte or glossy) with MOP. Lucky for me we're not planning to tile the walls outside the tub, so I might be able to choose something as special as MOP for my little bit o' bling! Glad I'll be in such good company if I do!

How fabulous. Please keep us posted on your mother of pearl adventure. I would love to use this in my master as I have been invisioning white iridescent tile for sometime. I think the MOP would be even better than the tiles I've seen.

I would also be interested to see how it holds up in the shower!

ok, i got an email from the source in the phillipines and while the prices are higher, the MOP is backed. after further email discussion with chinese source, they said they wouldn't ship the porcelain backed MOP for "small" orders.

there are different types of shell of course, but the hammershell seems reasonable in price at $28 per square. more than the chinese source but much less than my glass tile at $56. also, the contact is fluent in english which makes things much easier.

in fact we just got home a few hours ago from our trip to grand cayman and there was a voice mail message from the guy who runs the operation in the philippines. he wanted to speak with me in order to send me the correct samples. sounds very legit. i'll try and speak directly with him tomorrow about freight, customs, payment.

i have a catalog that was sent as a pdf file and i'll try and get to posting that later on tonight.

it's not $12 a square but this source seems much easier to deal with. the man on the phone spoke perfect english and wanted to make sure i had all of my questions answered.

i really hope this works out!

pharaoh: i was planning on carrying the black walnut from the rest of the house into the master bath (thus the "carpet" of tile under the tub) so i was thinking of doing a painted vanity. and yes, a chandelier!

i don't think i can attach the catalog i received from elegance of living. if anyone would like it, send me an email and i'll forward it to you. please remember to describe yourself as a gardenweb member in the title.

although it doesn't talk about shipping/freight charges it does have pricing for the product within. choose any three products and they'll send samples free of charge.

michelabelle@yahoo.com

I sent you an e-mail, kate...

This is really cool.
I was already considering a mosaic border for bath
stimulated by posting from flyleft.
following through some of the examples from mosaic artists at the site I was delighted with the example from Ruth Greenberg
http://web.mac.com/francegarrido/iWeb/Masterful%20Mosaics/Wall%20Pieces_files/slideshow.html?slideIndex=5

Pearls and river rocks and now MOP
My head is spinning

Here is a link that might be useful: rock site

Kate, I just typed this long note and lost it so here is the short on what I have found. First MOP is very soft, softer then marble so you mentioned using it on the floor it would have to go somewhere with no foot traffic. Elegance of living puts a coating on his tiles. It can be used in pool, spa's and showers. Clean it with non abrasive cleaners. I spoke with John at Elegance and he was very nice and sent me 2 samples. When he quotes his price it includes the shipping an said that if there is any extra let him know and he pays the difference. He sent me 2 samples 1 MOP white and 1 Abalone. It is beautiful and my glass sink sings nest to it. But here is something weird. Ok going to post this and continue I keep hitting something on this lap top and loosing my message.

Ok I was speaking about how great my green glass sink looks next to this sample. He sent me the one that kinda looks like bow ties the workmanship is beautiful and it is on a tile I would guess it is ceramic and it is 4x4 I think. Here is something very strange, I set up the new vanity area to have 3 50watt spot lights wash down the wall to really showcase whatever tile I picked. When I held up the tile at eye level the tile lost it's shimmer and got a very fleshy look. When held higher under where the light hit the wall directly it showed up well with all the MOP bling you would expect. When I held it up on the side wall it looked good. But I did not plan on putting it there. Then I turned off the lights and moved the tile all around the room and it looked terrific. There was something about it being on a vertical plane with the halogen lights that did not look good. So I don't know what to do now. I am going to post this and come back again I want to talk about pricing.

When I was on the phone with John from Elegance he gave me the following pricing. For example 100 sq feet of MOP 75.00 per sq ft. plus 840.00 for shipping I believe he said 6.00 per pound this is pricing for salt water fresh water pearl. Whatever size tile you want, whatever backing you want.
There is a Fresh water MOP and the rep (Rita) different company shelltile.net told me it has just as much shimmer it has a touch of brown in it IOW has a tweedy look but for a little bit more they can make the tiles with a cleaner white look I have these prices written down 16.2 and for all white mop 18.6 plus 7.00 shipping. I think I want to see these tiles up close. This is a mosaic type tile that would have grout between where as the other is tight and they will make what ever size tile you want. This company also said if there was any extra on the shipping we would have to pay. They send it with the proper docs that report that it is a natural product but no living animals were harmed. So there you have it. If your still confused,,,, well why should you be any different then me! I think I will try and order fresh water MOP and see what it looks like.

thanks jjaazzy! i too finally got to speak with john yesterday. my uneasiness about ordering from a source on another continent was put to rest. he is sending me three samples of the hammershell tile. i wanted to see the square and the rectangle patterns so he is making them up for me. the backing is porcelain and i knew about the coating from the website.
so, for the hammershell tile the price is $28 US per square and he told me the shipping for 80 sq (my guesstimate) would be $300 US via UPS.

i was planning to use it on the floor as a trim/border for marble or porcelain under the tub so it wouldn't be in a high traffic area. i had my suspicions about it's softness. i think by the tub would be safe though, just as long as we don't bring it out too far. i guess i'll make my decisions about that as we get a little closer.

that's very strange about the shimmer under the halogens. i wonder if it would make a difference if viewed from another light source? i'll have to see it when it comes in. we don't have any lighting yet (they've just gotten to our roof) so i think i'll take it to a lighting showroom. THANK YOU for the heads up! in the meantime, let me know how you do with shelltile.net. i'll have to look them up as i haven't come across them before. i'll let you know when my samples come in. ...oh, and which of the tile are you looking to buy? thanks again!

omg... i'm looking at the pics on shelltile.net and i'm getting VERRRRRRRY excited!

gotta go take a cold shower...

Droooolll...

Looks like a LOT of manual work to put these tiles together but they are out of this world.

What is next? MoP countertops for your kitchen? backlit?

just when i thought that my connemara counters were unique :)

Hi Kate --

Boy, do I hope this works out for you (and any others)!

Just as an FYI in case it doesn't work out with one of the manufacturers, we used a shell tile liner in our bath that was from Dal's Ocean Jewels collection (I went with Brown Lip vs MOP). The Dal options are quite limited in sizing (1x6, 2x6, 2x2 or 3x3) but thought I'd throw them out there as they do have several shell colors and patterns.

I was about 99% sure that John was/is one of Dal's sources (I mean what are the odds, right?). But for a variety of reasons we stayed with Dal. However, fingers crossed that sourcing works out for you so you get your full-on wall of delight!

Though our project was more modest in scope, we love love love our shell tile: I know you'll have no regrets. IMO it looks amazing in every light, but dim natural light lets the colors shine most beautifully. And man is it ever nice to have been looking at it on the walls for six months...

...vs as a sample for months on end!

Here is a link that might be useful: if you need it -- Dal Tile Ocean Jewels series

it WILL work out! as an fyi: i never have a plan B since i always believe in plan A. if i need a plan B i'll think of one when the time comes. i don't think i'd buy tiles that small ...and not from dalite. i'm sure they'd be much too expensive to do a whole wall and panels. just the thought makes me cringe!

it's got to come from the source or it's a no-go, i'm afraid.

counters? i haven't even thought about it! i'm feeling overwhelmed again...

Kate what color is your hammer shell? That is considerably less then the MOP. If it came in a white that might work for me. I still have to figure out my layout plans and square footage. I think your plans of running this material under the tub is a fabulous idea cause it looks really good looking down/across on it as per my sample. Kate how are you thinking about having it made up all placed tight on tiles, individual tiles or slabs. the good news is I think my cost might be very close going with this material rather then the linen look tile from porcelanosa. I can go with a nice white porcelain tile for around 2 per tile I am anxious to figure out what the difference will be just have been working on other projects.
House... thanks for the photo's very nice and thanks for the notes about how it reacts to light.

see pg. 21 of the pdf file from john. the "natural" color is shown, and the following page shows a pink color i thought my daughter would like. i also wanted to see the brown lip (pg 24) that was running at $31 per sq.
the white high lustre mop is gorgeous but out of my range (i have five other baths to do). "natural" looks off white or more like champagne in the pic but that's more the coloration i was hoping for. i can't wait to see it. john said he was making up the samples and would let me know when they were shipping ...probably by mid week. i'll post as soon as they arrive. i really can't wait to get the samples in my hands. i'm very anxious to find something to go with them!

Kate I went to my momÂs house yesterday to show her my samples and she has florescent lighting in her kitchen the tile was drop dead gorgeous in this lighting. I am anxious to hear what you have to say about your samples when you get them. They ship pretty darn quick. I know what you mean about the price I am on a tight budget as well but I figure I can use a much less expensive plain white rectified porcelain tile and still have the bath look like a million dollar bath. I am going to do some drawings today and figure the square footage and see where IÂm.at. I look forward to your findings. I will try and find the tiles via page number.