Dust a Tesera mosaic with a dry cloth and nothing else. Never soak the grout: the glass and glazed ceramic shrug off water, but the lime mortar and grout between them should stay dry. Direct sun is fine, because the colour is in the glass and the glaze, not on them. That is the whole routine.
How do I dust a mosaic?
With a dry cloth, over the whole surface. The faces of the tesserae are glass and fired glaze, so dust comes off them cleanly; the cloth needs no polish and no spray.
Work across the panel rather than into it. The surface is not flat, because every piece was cut by hand and sits at its own angle, so a cloth drawn lightly over it does more than one pressed hard into the joins. Fingerprints on the glass come off the same way. If the panel is where people pass close to it, on a landing or by a door, a dry wipe now and then is all it asks.
Can I wash it?
No. Never soak the grout. The glass and the ceramic would not mind, but the grout and the lime mortar beneath it are what water gets into, and a dry panel is a panel that stays as it was set.
| Situation | What to do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Dust on the surface | Dry cloth | Glass and glaze release dust cleanly; nothing else is needed |
| Fingerprints on the glass | Dry cloth | The wax finish lets a dry wipe take them off |
| A spill or a splash | Blot it dry at once; do not rinse | Water in the grout is the one thing the panel should not have |
| Direct sun | Leave it where it is | It is glass and clay; the colour is in the material |
| A damp room | Hang it somewhere drier | Wet air is still water for the grout |
Why the mortar matters this much, and what it does for the panel, is in Why lime mortar and birch.
Does sunlight fade a mosaic?
No. Direct sun is fine; it is glass and clay. The colour in smalti is melted into the glass with metal oxides, and the colour in the ceramic is a fired glaze, so there is nothing on the surface for light to lift.
The opposite is true: light is the point. Each face of each tessera sits at its own angle, and a panel opposite a window or a doorway moves as the light crosses it. One buyer hung hers in the hall opposite the front door on the assumption it would look flat there; around five in the afternoon, she wrote, the whole panel moves. Pick the wall for the light, not away from it. The hanging guide says where.
What about the wax?
The surface is waxed in the studio as the last step after the grout is cleaned off. It is what seals the surface and brings the colour up, and dusting does not take it away.
You do not need to wax it again, and we would rather you did not put anything on the panel we have not seen. If the surface ever looks dull to you, send us a photograph first. One of the artisans replies, normally before the day is out, and it is a far shorter conversation than one about a product that should not have gone on. What the wax sits on is listed on the materials page.
What if something goes wrong?
Write to us before you try anything on the panel. A photograph of the problem and a line about where it hangs tells us most of what we need.
The panel is sealed birch under lime mortar, with every tessera held around its sides by the bed and the grout; it is built to stay as it was set. In the crate it travels with foam corners and double walls, so if anything arrived other than how it left us, say so straight away and we will sort it out with you.
Questions this leaves
Can I use a damp cloth?
Use a dry one. The surface is glass and glaze, and a dry cloth takes dust and fingerprints off it; a wet one only moves water towards the grout, which is the one part of the panel that should stay dry. If something has been spilled on it, blot, do not rinse.
Can it hang in a kitchen or a bathroom?
A kitchen wall away from the sink and the steam is fine; one buyer's tabby cat mosaic hangs in a kitchen. A bathroom is wet air, and wet air is still water for the grout, so we would hang it somewhere drier. Never soak the grout is the whole rule.
Will the colours change over time?
The colour is in the glass and in the fired glaze, not on them, so direct sun does nothing to it. Dust is the only thing that dulls a panel, and a dry cloth takes that off. What you hang is what you will have.
