I think it turned out great! I really enjoyed doing this... I can't wait to do another one after we move! So, my mom was right, it was a lot of fun and I really appreciate her letting me use her tools and glass. She may regret it, I think I may have another hobby that could get expensive.
For this mosaic, I cut some left-over cement board from a tiling project to shape, drilled two screw holes and gave it a nice even, light coating of mortar. That gave the cement board extra protection since it'll be outside. It also gave the very dry cement board something to soak up (that way it didn't soak up the glue I was using for the glass.)
Then I traced the shape of the numbers out with pencil, so it would be easier to follow my plan. Then I glued the glass down. I used a really nice glue called Weldbond. It's easier to follow your plans if you do sections. For example, I glued the black glass of the numbers first. Then I did the white, followed by the red border and the gray edge pieces. I just found it easier that way.
After all of the pieces were glued down, I grouted. Since the spacing between each piece of glass was so small, I could use un-sanded grout, which is finer than sanded grout. I went with a gray that we had left over from a bathroom tiling project. Grouting went pretty easy, the hardest part being the waiting!
I love the way it looks... It really pops against the house! :-) And I've gotten many compliments!
