Basic Tools Besides a sturdy base, tesserae, and a good adhesive, the only things you’ll really need are: Safety Equipment Always wear safety goggles when cutting and breaking up tesserae. A dust mask or respirator should be worn when mixing powdered grouts, adhesives, and cements. Disposable latex-free gloves should be worn when handling grouts, adhesives, and cement products. Always read and follow all safety instructions.

Cutting Tools

Tile cutters are designed for cutting ceramic tiles, crockery, and china. Better tile nippers have tungsten-carbide cutting edges and spring-loaded handles.

Wheeled glass nippers have a set of wheels on spring-loaded handles. They can be used to cut glass, mirror, glass tiles, and the like, as you would with tile nippers.

Glass cutters, used for cutting and scoring stained glass and mirrors, come in many varieties. My preference is a pistol-grip glasscutter. You will also need a corkbacked ruler and running pliers, which break the scored glass.

Other Basic Tools

A few other basic tools are always good to have nearby. Many of them are basic household items.

1. Wire cutters
2. Needle-nose pliers
3. Self-closing tweezers are a little more expensive than regular tweezers but well worth the investment. Make sure to keep them glue-free!
4. Small hammers are used for breaking large tiles, crockery, glass, mirror, and such into randomly shaped pieces. Ordinary household versions are suitable, but I prefer using a smaller hammer to help control the break.
5. Always use an old kitchen towel to cover pieces that you break with a hammer.
6. Tools for nipping, pushing, and prodding are handy for moving pieces into place and scraping out excess adhesives, mastic, mortar, or grout. Toothpicks, shish kebab skewers, tweezers, and dental and manicure tools are just some of the options.
7. Foam paintbrushes are great for applying sealer before gluing.
8. Sandpaper to roughen surfaces.
9. Painter’s tape to cover delicate areas before grouting.
10. For cleanup, keep on hand: newspaper, a roll of paper towels, sponges (look for ones with smaller holes), vinegar, and water.

Adhesive Spreaders

There’s not a set way to spread adhesive. It really depends on your personal choice and the adhesives that are being used. Tile floats and trowels of different sizes and types are useful for applying grout, adhesive, and mastic to larger surfaces. For small work, plastic spatulas, butter knives, and palette knives work great. PVA and epoxy adhesives can be applied using small paintbrushes, popsicle sticks, and so on.

Grout Spreader

You may find situations that call for a grout spreader. Again, tile floats come in a variety shapes and sizes and are available at most home improvement stores. For smaller projects, gloved hands usually seem to work best for me!

Shaping and Smoothing Tools

A Dremel tool is a small handheld rotary grinder with multiple bits for grinding and smoothing surfaces. A really great tool to learn how to use, it’s available at most home improvement stores.

Power Max II Grinder is a professional grinder that helps to smooth and round out the sharp edges easily.