What Do You Use to Glue Ceramic Tile Down on a Glass Picture Frame?

White Craft Glue

• White craft glue, or PVA, is suitable for most small tile jobs, such as mosaics. It grips well on glass and works well for use in such projects as mirror frames. It will glue glass or ceramic mosaic tiles to the glass of a picture frame or mirror, allowing you to create a tile frame on a mirror that originally had no frame.

Transparent Polyurethane Glue

• For larger tile projects, use transparent polyurethane glue for gluing glass to glass or ceramic to glass. It does not produce fumes and grips sufficiently that the tiles will not slide, despite its slow drying time. This allows the tiles to be repositioned for more accurate placement. Being flexible and weather-resistant, polyurethane glue is suitable for outdoor tile work on glass.

How to Glue Tiles

• Spread a little glue on the glass surface and press the mosaic tiles into the glue. Work methodically and slowly, covering one area of the surface at a time to prevent the glue from drying before you have fixed the tiles in place. Once the tiles have dried, which may take from several hours up to a day or more, they will be ready for grouting.

Considerations

• Mosaic, or tile work, is heavy. When you tile the frame of a picture you’re likely to double the weight of the non-tiled glass. Make sure the wall fixings on the back of the mirror are strong enough to bear the extra weight. Also, while regularly shaped store-bought ceramic tiles intended for domestic use in kitchens or bathrooms have smooth, non-sharp edges, decorative mosaic tile is often sharp. Take care not to run your fingers over the edges of the tiles when you're grouting; lightly sand the sharp edges of the tiles to round them, either before you glue them down or afterwards, if they will end up placed on the edges of the object being decorated.