Anyone out there ever set a pinwheel pattern in tile? I foresee nothing but trouble. How do I keep the pattern straight when I cover up my layout lines with thinset? How much extra time is It going to take in light of all the cuts at the borders and the inevitable slivers that will appear. thoughts?
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instead of troweling the setting bed over the whole shootin match can't you just spread it up to one of the layout lines? That should get you started. Perhaps you could just butter the backside of the tiles.
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use heavy marker to lay the pattern out (pencil first if you are uncertain) then use a square notched trowel so the teeth are scraping to the underlayment. That way you can see the marks every quarter inch.
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Haven't done it myself, but my friend made us a mosaic table top in a compass rose design. He laid the pattern out like he wanted it onto some kind of tacky paper made for this purpose, covered the top with an even stickier tacky paper when he was done laying it out, turned it over and took the paper off the bottom, turned it over right side up into the mortar bed, let it set and then took the paper off the top of the tiles. He said this is standard practice for mosaics like that. It's a small table, though, less than 3' across. If your pinwheel is much bigger, maybe you could do it in sections?
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