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How I created a
Mosaic Tile Octopus
using recycled tiles

A few years ago I made this mosaic tile octopus in one of my bathrooms. I originally planned on making it outside on my patio, but the bathroom needed some attention after I pulled up the carpet. Yes, the people who built this house actually put carpet in both bathrooms. It might have felt good on naked feet in the winter, but it was also a perfect environment for germs and bugs to live and thrive.

The large tub is a jacuzzi tub that had a foot deep tiled side enclosure, which created a challenge just to climb over the side to get in to take a shower. I've never used the jacuzzi part because it would waste too much water filling the thing. I'm very conservative with my water usage, as we all should be, because contrary to popular assumption, water is not an unlimited commodity.

I got brave and removed the large side enclosure, not knowing what I'd find underneath the tile. Turns out it was a plywood box of sorts, so I re-built it making it as narrow as possible, then I put it back without the ceramic tile. This gave me a new “canvas” on which to create my mosaic tile octopus. First I drew it out with a pencil, placing the octopus head on the side of the tub and the tentacles going in various directions along the side and onto the floor, making sure there were 8 of them.

I planned on recycling some old yellow broken tiles that came from my sister's kitchen when I helped her update it. The yellow tiles became the actual octopus, while using sample tiles that I'd gotten from a local flooring store for everything else. The store owner offered the samples to me when I asked her for some old carpet to use as a garden weed barrier that turned out to be a failed experiment. The blue eyes came from a piece of broken blue Chinese pottery that I split in two and rounded by chipping the edges.

It was relatively easy to place the tiles, first the yellow within the pencil lines, and then the sample tiles as background. I didn't have a tile cutter, so I simply broke large pieces when necessary and then I filled in the spaces with broken pieces, breaking them further until they fit, leaving a small space for grout. It was like putting together a giant jig saw puzzle but having to create the pieces as I went along. I used some clear marbles and small river stones from the dollar store as an added feature. The marbles represent bubbles. They are sometimes a pain to walk on, but art is a lot like love....sometimes it hurts. I've gotten quite used to them.

(Note: above photo was taken before black grout was added)

I had a lot of the large sample tiles as you may have noticed on a previous page where I used them as a pedestal. For the bathroom project I selected the tiles with similar tones and coloring. For most of the background I used unbroken tiles, breaking them only when they didn't fit. The black grout helps make everything pop with appeal. The overall result is very pleasing because of the various sizes, shapes, shades and textures. Somehow it all came together well, with the end result being a one of a kind bathroom floor that I enjoy every time I see it. My only cost was the grout, adhesive and dollar store stones and marbles. Everything else was recycled and cost me nothing.