I’m looking for a quick and easy way to break old crockery and tiles into tesserae for mosaics. We bash items with a hammer and we use nippers to do more controlled work, but when you’re doing a large mosaic, creating the little bits is the most time-consuming and tedious job. There is also the safety factor to consider. When you bash ceramics with a hammer, safety glasses are important.
What we really need is some kind of device that breaks tiles and crockery of any shape into bite-sized chunks without crushing it into useless little bits. It has to be safe and cheap and quick and easy.
I know my readers know just everything between you. Any ideas?
27th Street 
I think your original method is fine, always start with a hammer, always place ceramics glaze side down as this prevents cracking in the glaze and then use nippers to create much smaller pieces. With practice the nippers shouldn’t be rendering useless crushed pieces. Also consider using a fair few glass gems for small circles.
Thanks. The challenge for us is when we do a big work that requires more nipper work than our hands and wrists enjoy.
Yep, its a killer, I find with bigger works especially with children I try to use as many precut tiles are possible, tiny squares, circles and gems. Also good to wear an strap just below the elbow, prevents you straining the wrist.
Thanks for the suggestions. I took a few minutes to look at your work. Very impressive!
Thanks Eugene
Place the tiles between sheets of plywood and either drive over them yourself or put them on the street for a day
Hmmm….elaborate, but I can see it working for crockery. I was thinking of maybe making a wood box just a little bit bigger than one of those tampers you use for tamping gravel for a walk, and then using the tamper and gravity in the box.