with Chieko Shimizu Fujioka

Chieko Shimizu Fujioka (csfglassworks) is a broken glass mosaic artist capturing the colors of nature under glass. She creates beautiful pieces for home decoration and lives in Santa Clara, California.

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Renegade Craft \ Renegade Craft Virtual Fair

She was recently featured at the Renegade Craft Virtual Fair, along with many other talented artists. During the virtual fair, she shared a virtual workshop of her process for creating incredible broken glass mosaics.

Check out her Instagram, where she has shared an IG TV recap of the virtual workshop. It is also available on YouTube.

Step-by-Step Process for Broken Glass Mosaics

Materials

• Newspaper to protect work space

• Wooden board in desired shape and size

• Masking tape

• Primer

• Acrylic paints in your desired color scheme

• Clear Gesso

• UV Spray

• Iridescent flakes

• Glitter

• Clear Elmer's glue

• Paint brushes

• Clear and/or frosted tempered glass

• Small hammer to break the glass

• Large plastic bag

• Weldbond glue

• Polyblend Sanded Grout

• Cloth rags for cleaning

• Pearlescent pigment powder

• Optional: Water squirt bottle

Stage 1: Background

1. Select a photo that you love for color scheme inspiration!
2. Gather supplies and set up your workspace. You may want to put down newspaper or something to keep surfaces clean.
3. Take your wooden board in your desired shape and size and add masking tape around the edges. (Note that you should try not to leave the masking tape on too long or else it gets sticky, so try to finish the whole project in a couple days.)
4. Cover one side of the wood piece in primer. Let dry.
5. Use acrylic paints to paint over the primed surface. Layer on paint in your desired color scheme, covering the whole surface. Let dry.
6. Paint on clear gesso. Let dry.
7. Spray on UV protective spray. Let dry.
8. Use the clear Elmer's glue mixed with water to paint over surface. Sprinkle on glitter and paint iridescent flakes to the surface using a paintbrush and the glue mixture. Let dry.

Stage 2: Glass Puzzle

1. Take the large plastic bag and put the tempered glass inside, and seal it.
2. Use the small hammer to break glass from the side. You can't break the glass by hitting it from the top.
3. Open the bag and collect the fractured glass pieces of various shapes and sizes into a box.
4. Put Weldbond glue onto a glass piece and push it down onto the painted surface. The glue will dry clear.
5. Continue to glue the glass to your painted surface until it is fully covered. This is the mosaic puzzle part of the process that requires a lot of patience. Try to keep the spaces between the glass pieces small.
6. If you use both clear and frosted glass, you may want to start with one type to create a continuous "vein" through the piece.
7. Allow the glue to set before moving on to the grouting.

Stage 3: Grout

1. Mix dry grout with water until it has a peanut butter texture.
2. Put on gloves and use fingers to push the grout into the glass gaps gently.
3. Also add grout around the edges of the glass where it meets the masking tape.
4. Use a cloth rag to clean the surface thoroughly before the grout dries. Let dry.
5. Use paint to color the dried grout. Mix the acrylic paint in a small bowl with water and pearlescent pigment powder. Paint all over the grout (its okay to paint glass too).
6. Set aside for 5-10 minutes, then wipe off all the paint from the glass using a cloth rag, it should remain in the grout.
7. If you used frosted glass, you may want to use a little water to clean the frosted glass.
8. Take the masking tape off of the sides of the wood, and paint the edges.