How To...Grout Without Staining Your Scrabble Tiles

Scrabble tiles are so popular to use amongst crafters and mosaic artists. They allow you, as the artist, to say something in your art. As a mosaic artist using grout, however, they can pose a problem as the wood sucks up the grout and becomes discolored. This month, I am posting a "how to" grout without staining your wood letter tiles. The answer is simple: cover each tile with blue painters tape before you grout!

For this blog post, I am including photos from a project I just completed. I wanted to make a little sign that said, "I [love] Chico" (Chico is my hometown). The heart I used on my sign is a painted styrofoam heart that I found at a yard sale. I needed to cover that as well so that the paint would not rub off the heart during the grouting process.

So, now that my pieces are covered, I can dive right in and grout just like I normally do. You do not need to avoid getting grout on the tape. The tape holds very well-- but not too well that it leaves residue behind when you want to take it off.

After the grouting is done, it's time to clean! I use my dry q-tips and clean off the excess grout. Sometimes I need to sort of "sculpt" or re-shape the grout here and there to porperly fill in all the spaces evenly and with clean lines, and to do that I use a wet q-tip (not too wet though- I usually dab it on a paper towel after dipping it in water). Then, once all the grout is cleaned off, you can peel off the painters tape. I use a toothpick to grab the corner of the tape up and then peel it off the rest of the way with my fingers.

The tape will lift some grout up here and there. If you need to, you can wet a q-tip and mash down and smooth out the grout along the edges, but do this carefully as it will get grout on the edges of your tiles. If you do get some grout on your wood letter tiles, you can take a q-tip and dip it in white vinegar, then dry it off a bit by dabbing it on a paper towel. Then clean off the wood tile with the vinegar. You may have to do it twice and you may still get some discoloration. I did not need to do any fixing of my grout after peeling off the blue painters tape. And my wood letter tiles looked just as clean as before I grouted!

And one final tip: If you notice my Scrabble tiles are blank besides the "O", it's because I did not have the letters I needed, so I simply used the back side. In the past I have then just painted on the letter and number onto each tile. But I am going to experiment with a wood burning tool to "write" on each letter. If you look at a Scrabble tile you will notice that the letter and number are sort of carved into the wood, rather than sitting directly on top. I want to try to match this look. If this works, I will write a blog about it and spread the word! Imagine...being able to use all those extra letter tiles like Q's,  X's and Z's, by flipping them over and making your own letter!