Welcome Pea!!! Way to go, making some future mosaic addicts!!!ha! I am trying premade adhesive right now and it says to wait 72hrs!!!! Well I usually wait till the next day!LOL! I haven't had any problems either, except some paper mache forms got cracked grout so they live inside now. With my marine silicone used to glue stuff down, I've even done it in the morning and grouted in the evening! I'm not much help but I sure do welcome ya!!! Jane

Hey Thanks for the welcome. I was just stopping by to say forget the premixed thinset question cause I can't find it available locally in anything smaller than 1 gallon buckets and it isn't cheap so I can't see me suggesting it.

I buy my thinset in 60lb bags. How am I ever going to talk my group into hauling big dusty heavy bags of thinset to class :) I've got to find a smaller solution. Anyone have any suggestions? I think another trip back to the stores is in my immediate future.(sigh)

p

Bag up individual portions of the dry stuff, then charge them a materials fee.

I just took a course and the mortar and cement were included in the price and we learned how to mix it up ourselves during the course, outta the big bags. I like the idea of premade step stones for your class. Maybe just buy a big bag of mortar and a couple colors of grout and just include it in the cost of the class, like $5 or so dollars more per person? Just thinkin' out loud! Jane

Welcome, Pea! Would love to see some of your stuff!

As for your class, my thought is to make it as simple as possible for your students. I like Calam's idea of including the material in the course. If it's a first timer's class I would make everything simple as possible.

Adding my welcome to you! I'm new here, too....just a couple of months now - and just love it. I see you're from Florida - Zone 10 - where abouts are you? I'm FL - Z10 also - in Cape Coral. So I know what you mean about rebuiling after the 2004 hurricanes....what a mess.

Welcome! You'll love it here. Oh, and would love to see pictures of your work when you get a chance!

Thanks for the welcome. The selling of parts of a bag might work. Tho the I only have one color grout...gray. I find the grout colors fade in the sun so gray makes everything easier for me, it is neutral, matches every thing and doesn't stain clothes. If they want another color, grout can be bought in 10 pound bags from lowes, 10 lbs isn't too excessive for a student to purchase and carry. I went and got the color chart for the colors Lowes carries. They have to go to there and get their tile nips and stone anyway. When I started learning I used premade stepping stones and they worked wonderful for learning. I went out and pulled out one of my first ones from the flower bed to show my group what they can expect to make.

lyndalu, I'm not to far from Cape Coral, I'm in Charlotte County. The eye of Charley went right over us. The hurricanes got my camera wet(and everything else, had to gut the house) and I haven't been able to replace it yet so sorry no pictures.

thanks again, p

Welcome and sorry to you lost so much to the hurricane!!!

Did you figure out the time table for your classes as far as length?? It would seem you would need at least two hours if not three and that is assuming you are having a repeat course..give em homework to do at home..if its more than one class..sometimes that is when some of their creative juices will flow the best!!! I know it did for me when I took my leaded glass class..

Good luck to you!!

Welcome pea!

Sorry to hear you had to rebuild. I can't even imagine how
tough that had to be.

Good luck with your class...that should be a lot of fun.
Let us know how it goes.

Great to have you here!

Hazie

Thanks, the storm was awful and I never want to go thru another.
The class is a 3 hour class running 6 weeks. I was going to demo a stone and a terra cotta flower pot. The first day they won't have their supplies. I was going to go over what they needed. What kind of dishes to buy and which not to buy(what kinda glazes scratch underfoot, and which fade badly in the sun). Show them how to break the plates and keep the design from fling all over so they don't have a jigsaw puzzle to put back together. And how to use the tile nips. The class is being held in a nonprofit community center which has a handy dandy thrift store on site so I was going to take them over there so they can look at what dishes they have(the thrift has some great prices on dishes) and pick up some if they want to with me being there to ask question so when they head out on their own they know what to look for. Thats the first day. I'm not sure how long it will take them to break up their plates, and complete the stone. And its hard to take a stone home to work on it when you have a bunch of little shards rolling all over. This first project will likely teach me much about teaching mosaics.

p