Horse Ceramic Tile Mosaic On Sandstone

This horse mosaic on sandstone is an outdoor garden decoration for my daughter’s garden. The mosaic depicts “Zinc”, a horse that Lauren, owned many years ago on the Sunshine Coast, Queensland. I guess you could call it, a “pet portrait mosaic”. 

I came across a sandstone “stepping stone” in a local landscape supply yard and thought it would be the perfect shape for the mosaic of “Zinc” the horse. I love the natural patterns and colour tones that appear in cut sandstone slabs. Sandstone is well suited to outdoor placement, able to withstand the harsh elements of sun, wind, rain, changing temperatures.

Firstly, Using a photo as a reference, I sketched Zinc onto heavy gauge paper then cut out a template. That way, it can be moved around to find the best placement. I depicted Zinc rearing up, flinging his tail, a real action pose!

Zinc was a grey colour. I chose two shades of grey ceramic tiles as the colour scheme. The darker grey ceramic tile pieces (tesserae) were cut precisely then placed in “shadow” areas on Zinc’s body to give more definition.

Tiles were cut to shape, then stuck down with ceramic tile adhesive, suitable for exterior use.

The colour of the grout is just as important as the colour of the tiles. I have found that a smokey/light blue coloured grout goes well with grey tones. I added some phthalo blue and black pigments to a light grey coloured grout to produce a light blue coloured grout. I am really happy with the result.

After approximately twenty hours work the “Zinc pet portrait mosaic” was completed and delivered to its new home, my daughter Lauren’s back garden.