Krystal tile

I recently received this email from a customer:

I am new to mosaics and so have a question. I recently purchased glass tiles that have a white paper on the back. Do these need to be removed? Thanks.

My response:

Those are Krystal tiles. The white backing is the back of the color that is fused to the clear glass tile. It won't soak off, and if by some chance you are able to remove it, you will be left with a clear glass tile.

Our Krystal tile line comes in 4 sizes/shapes.

• Small square tiles are 10mm (3/8"), 4mm deep or
• Larger square tiles are 20mm (3/4"), 4mm deep.
• The round tiles are 15mm (5/8") diameter, 4mm deep.
• The rectangular tiles are 10mm (3/8") x 32mm (1 1/4") x 4mm deep.

These tiles are also available in a limited range of metallic tiles (more on these in a separate article).

Krystal tiles are clear glass with a color backing fused on. Because they are glass, they are suitable for indoor or outdoor use. Since the color is fully fused to the back of the tile there is no danger of it desilvering (mirrored backings can turn black or dissolve with some adhesives) or changing color due to the adhesive used. However, the color may fade after years of UV (full sunlight) exposure.

So why or when would you want to use these tiles? Because the color is applied rather than throughout the glass (like Kismet tiles, stained glass, or vitreous glass tiles) the range of color can be much wider. If you look over the range of colors and compare it to the Kismet tiles, you’ll find that Krystal has more reds and purples than Kismet does.

What are the downfalls of this product line? Because the body of the tile is clear glass you’ll find that it cuts differently than glass tiles. Comparing and contrasting it to Kismet tiles and stained glass, it cuts more like stained glass.

I’m also not able to stock it as quickly as most of the other products we carry. So if a color is out of stock, it could be unavailable for a while.

But it can be incorporated with the other products we carry at Kismet Mosaic.

Krystal rectangles and 10mm tiles incorporated with 12mm Kismet tiles, stained glass, and Velvet Matte Belli Buttons.

How do you use Krystal tiles?