Well, some of my wrinkles are going to 'challenge' mine real soon!

I just bought a wood bird house and I want mosaic the thing. What's the best glue to use to glue those glass stones and other glass / pottery pieces to a wood birdhouse that will be exposed to the weather?

Sally, I keep using E6000.
I've found no problems with it unless it sits in standing water.

Thanks Sharon. I thought that's probably what I would use but was not sure about the adhesion wood to glass.

The glue doesn't absorb easily into porous things like wood, so it's pretty safe to say that there'll be no problems.
Same with porous concrete. In other words the glue's so thick it cures before it has time to absorb into anything.
My thoughts about it anyway.

There are no doubt others that will do the same thing, but my experience has been with the E6.

That E6000 stuff ROCKS!

I had never even heard about it until Garden Art.

It holds to everything I've ever used it with

Heh! The only problem I've had was with stacks. I had glued one of my stack/totems to a bird bath base which was sort of like a high gloss metal surface. It held rain water, which I wanted it to do. But when I was going to put the whole thing in shelter for winter, the standing water had somehow made the glue unstable and the top of the totem separated from the base. So I suspect E6 loses its power if left in standing water.

Good to know

OK, I need some help from a concrete expert (or anyone who can answer my question for that matter!). I am making concrete stepping stones / garden stones. I have one that I have embedded aquarium gravel to create a yin yang design. I want to coat the concrete with something to seal it to make sure none of the little gravel stones wear off, even if I decide to use it in a walk way. I checked at Home Depot but the guy said they don't carry anything that would do what I want. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I wonder why you couldn't put a marine type varnish like they varnish boats with on it? Might make it slick though - are you going to actually walk on these stones?

I'm not sure if this one will be used to walk on. Right now, all the stepping stones I have made are sitting in the new hibiscus garden just being garden art. They look so pretty there that I will probably leave them and make more stones. This one was just a thought yesterday after a visit to the pet store where I had to pick up a new algae eater for the yard pond. I saw the pretty blue and a white that glowed in the dark and the idea for the yin yang stone came to me. I just want to make sure that the gravel does not eventually fall off the stone, since it looks so awesome.

Didn't Dave and Trish do something like that with their garden stones? I thought some of their stones had colored pebbles in them.

If you are going to walk on it, maybe a heavy sealer like Vic suggested, but the thing that I would be concerned with is how slick it would be in order to coat it thick enough so the stones aren't really touched. I know they make sealers like that because they make those walkway paths with pebbles and it is mixed with or covered with the sealer. Maybe contact one of those companies that do the concrete floors. I don't walk on mine so they aren't very thick and I use that Krylon triple thick gloss spray.

There is going to be some stone movement due to the cement curing, Watch for loose stones before you seal.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I've decided that it will not be walked on, so will use a matte sealer on it.

Sharon, thanks for posting about the water standing in E6000, causing it to come lose. My stackable did the same thing, and yes, only on the part that held rain water. When I put it back together, I will drill small drain holes in it , with a glass drill bit, before gluing it back together again.

Now that's something I didn't think about, E6000 with standing water. I've got a cement birdbath I want to mosaic as soon as I'm able and had planned to use E6000. My friend used E6000 for hers but now I'm thinking maybe I should reconsider? I had thought about using thinset but it's so much easier with E6000. BUT if it's going to cause problems down the road I'll make the extra effort and use thinset. Thanks Sharon, I'm putting on my thinking cap, definitely don't want to create future problems!

Sossman said:I just bought a wood bird house and I want mosaic the thing. What's the best glue to use to glue those glass stones and other glass / pottery pieces to a wood birdhouse that will be exposed to the weather?

Sorry, just seeing this and you've probably already finished the birdhouse since you work so fast! One of the most important things I've found in my research is to seal the wood BEFORE using anything to mosaic the wood. The first wooden birdhouse I applied mosaics to last winter is already showing a few cracks in the grout which I suspect is from moisture in the wood? I know I did seal it with a primer first but one, I think I used the wrong glue and then I'm not sure I sealed the grout properly. Fortunately none of the china has come loose and it's easy enough to fill in the thin cracks with more grout. I've had to bring it inside for the winter and planning to put more coats of sealer on it before it goes back outside this spring.

I have something called 'Mosaic Tile Adhesive' made by 'Mosaic Mercantile Inc'. It is specifically for gluing tile to wood, metal, concrete, plaster, plastic, glass and most other surfaces. If it works for ceramic tile, it should work to glue glass to glass. I haven't tried it for the totems yet, but I'm going to use it when making more for this summer. We'll see what happens.

What I've learned is that E6000 works for most things, it's standing water that weakens it. I think it would be OK on the sides of a birdhouse, but wouldn't be OK for the bowl of a birdbath.

Thanks Sharon, I don't think I need my thinking cap any more, I'm not even going to chance it - thinset it is!