please make a bullet summary :) 

if you're new to mosaics but aren't quite sure what tools you need to get started this video is for you i'll show you my seven best tools to help you start creating mosaics confidently and successfully sound good let's get to it welcome back to my channel and if you're new here my name is julie and for over 20 years i've owned a mosaic art and lifestyle studio here in miami called mosaic madness we teach students just like you how to create mosaics for your home family and friends on this channel we discuss specific projects tips tricks hand tools power tools adhesives and materials all to shorten your learning curve when it comes to creating mosaic art so if that sounds like something you'd be interested in please consider subscribing so you may have stumbled onto mosaics and wanted to give it a try you aren't sure what's involved you're not even sure if you're gonna stick with it or enjoy it although how could you not and you just want a bare bones list of what's involved in starting and creating mosaics i totally understand before i share with you this list of tools and honorable mentions i want to show you the tool that i started using in my very first mosaic project over 23 years ago are you ready it's this right here yep it's a hammer simple little hammer and although it's a super viable tool it's not a tool i would recommend when first starting out in mosaics when i first started mosaics over 23 years ago i didn't know what tools i needed i didn't know what i didn't know i went for a hammer because it's what i had the information was not out there like it is now they can decimate pieces of ceramic and glass to the point where you end up with a bunch of small teeny tiny little pieces that aren't usable if you start using super small pieces in your mosaics you may start to lose interest in doing mosaics so we don't want that to happen i keep one in the studio because it is useful for some projects it's not what i would recommend initially so obviously a hammer is not on my list today all right let's get to the list the first tool i would recommend is the ceramic tile nippers and this is the first tool that i graduated to from the hammer you can cut ceramic porcelain stone china all sorts of things with it it's quite durable and i've spent many hours with a ceramic tile number however if you're working on a really big project long project you're really into your project and you want to keep going you may want to have a compound tile nipper it takes less hand strength in order to use it it cuts the same things as the ceramic tile nipper ceramic porcelain stone china but it takes less effort on your part so it allows you to go longer cut longer and save your hands so the number two item on my list is the wheeled glass nippers these are probably my favorite tool in the studio don't tell the others i love this tool they allow me to cut pretty much anything that's glass so glass tile stained glass small t glass rod glass beads glass bottles anything glass they work pretty much like the ceramic tile nippers where you squeeze the handle and the carbide wheels come together and at that point is where your brake will happen in your material and you can unscrew them in the center you can turn the wheel around and then you have a new cutting surface so these glass nippers will last you a really long time with proper care i love them the number three tool on my list is a stained glass cutter this is the thomas grip style there's also the pistol grip as well as the pencil grip i just went with the thomas grip because that's what felt most comfortable to me if you're able to get yourself to a stained glass store oftentimes they will have all three styles available for you to try before you make that investment they're not very expensive but again it's personal preference and you need cutting oil with it you fill it up there's a little reservoir here and i don't fill it up all the way i just put a couple drops in it lasts for a long time and it's just got a little self-oiling carbide wheel here down at the bottom with it being oiled it helps you glide it across your surface of your glass i generally use a glass cutter when i'm breaking down larger pieces of glass i tend to use the wheeled glass snippers to break down smaller pieces of glass number four on my list is the running pliers this is the best friend to the stained glass cutter you've scored your glass and created that tension line on the surface but you need the piece of glass to be broken and so the running pliers are what's going to do that for you as you can see on the outside of the jaws is a line and so you line up this line with the line that you scored on your glass you center it you squeeze down and your pieces of glass will break this is an invaluable tool if you're going to go the glass route with the glass cutter there are many different options to breaking glass but the running pliers is the most common number five on my list is a grinding stone man oh man do i wish i had one of these when i was first starting out in mosaics i wish i knew about it if you aren't ready to make the financial commitment in buying an electrical glass grinder the grinding stone is your best bet it takes away any jagged edges or points and does a really great job with minimal effort so you can use it on glass ceramic stone china tile you name it it's very helpful number six on my list are what i consider the unsung heroes of the studio and these are steel picks you might also think of them as dental instruments but they are so helpful they come in so many different points there's even a flat ended one there's a super pointed one also you'll usually find in a set you've got the long tweezers or pinchers these help get small pieces into place they can help dig out small pieces sometimes if pieces have sunk down into your adhesive you can pull them back out basically you can get in and without disturbing pieces around your particular problem piece you can pull it out angle it there's so many things you can do with the dental picks and they're so inexpensive number seven on my list is something that's not exactly a tool but i find it to be extremely useful and important in the studio and that is permanent markers i prefer the extra fine tip permanent markers they're so important to me because i use them pretty much every day whether i'm drawing on a substrate marking up a piece of glass or ceramic for cutting or the grinder whether i'm marking up a design that i have on a piece of paper i use these so often i keep them around different colors depending on the item that i'm marking on because i want to be able to see what i'm marking on but i i find them to be invaluable if you'd like to see the video where i demonstrate how to use all of these tools i'll put a link in the video card here and as promised i have a few honorable mentions let's start with band-aids okay i know you're laughing but band-aids are part of mosaic making because we're dealing with sharp objects we're dealing with broken glass we're dealing with broken tile uh things can happen and i have tried so many different brands but i have found a brand that i will use forever they better not change is all i'm saying and that is next care waterproof i love these band-aids i'm able to put these band-aids on and continue working i don't feel the band-aid on my finger i'm able to feel the tile or the glass or whatever it is i'm cutting through the band-aid not in a bad way but they don't mentally mess with me as far as now you know it's not a clunky band-aid i'm able to continue with my work they're thin but they're thick it's really weird so i can feel what it is i'm touching and working with and mentally i'm able to stay in the game which when you do mosaics you don't want distractions you're totally in the zone and these are awesome they come in regular hold max hold i love them next care thank you for this product another honorable mention is protective eyewear and please learn from my mistakes i have over the years gotten tile or glass in my eyes and as you can imagine it's not enjoyable now of course i often wear glasses just so i can see what i'm doing but oftentimes i also wear protective eyewear so this is my pear protective eyewear it's very chic it's very classy um but most importantly it serves its purpose which is protecting my eyes it's obviously got a bigger frame i've got these little side shields that protect should something come up i'm fully enclosed here and i feel really safe in these glasses and the best part is they're about 12 or less so get yourself some protective eyewear it doesn't cost much and it'll certainly save your your precious eyes and finally you'll learn pretty quickly how important it is to clean your work surface as you're making your mosaics and something i've discovered that has helped me immensely is a really good dust brush this is not a dust brush that i use on my floors this is exclusively for my work surface the bristles just catch everything on my work surface you don't want to use your bare hand because what's going on on your work surface are like splinters very very painful splinters so you're dealing with you're cutting tile you're cutting glass maybe you've got some dry grout maybe you've got you know micro beads you've got stuff on your work surface oh yeah hello dust you want to make sure that you are cleaning off your work surface regularly otherwise you're going to be reaching for these next care band-aids because you're going to be all cut up so let's avoid that get yourself a dust brush and keep your work surface clean now you might say julie i have a 50 budget that i want to spend on tools and i know that mosaic wise i want to go ceramic and glass what would you recommend i purchase first you want to get yourself one of the ceramic tile nippers whether it's the original or the compound you want to get yourself the wheeled glass nippers a box of band-aids trust me i know you're still laughing box of band-aids and your protective eyewear so that's what i would recommend if you decide that you don't want to go the ceramic route and you just want to go the glass route in your mosaics at least to start with obviously don't get ceramic tile nippers you're going to get the wheeled glass snippers glass cutter a pair of running pliers your band-aids and your protective eyewear and this will allow you to cut larger pieces of glass down to smaller pieces you'll be able to get really specific cuts with your glass you can experiment then with the glass and then decide if you want to incorporate some of the ceramic tools in your mosaic making you can substitute the dental picks for regular wood toothpicks and as far as the dust brush you could use instead an old t-shirt or an old towel but again never ever ever use your hands to clean off your work surface again everything from today's video is listed and linked down below i encourage you to check out each listing read the info on each tool and decide what direction do you want to take your mosaic artwork in or do you want to cover ceramic and glass and stone and tile and porcelain in china you just need to decide what direction you want to go in question of the day what is your favorite tool for making mosaics let me know in the comments down below thank you so much for watching please give this video a thumbs up as it really does help my channel subscribe if you haven't already and ring the bell notification so you never miss a single upload and let me know in the comments if there's something you'd like me to cover in a future video i'll see you soon bye rats herbal mint okay getting tongue tied oh yeah okay piece of fuzz going [Laughter] get yourself [Music] okay [Music] get yourself i think it's coming from the dust brush okay enough about the hammer glass tile ceramic oh no [Music] oh that was funny no and as promised i do have a funeral a funeral oh boy okay okay oh