So this afternoon I decided to take the plunge and lay the tiles on the counter top. I mixed a thick mortar for this. I also used a screen and sifted both the sand and the subsoil so the mortar was heavy and stiff. I also added an extra half of a bucket of sifted subsoil to make the mortar sticky.
I laid down a bed of mortar about 1/2 inch thick. I then smoothed and leveled out the mortar bed. I followed that with scratching the mortar bed with the toothed trowel. I then had to lay out all of the tiles and make sure they were aligned and even. Once that was done I took my 6 foot level and laid it across each row in both directions and on the diagonal. I used the level to press in the tiles so they would be as level as I can get them.
After setting the tiles with the level I checked to make sure they were secure and not loose. I did have to tap a few tiles with the rubber mallet to seat them. We then went back and added some cob mix as grout in between the tiles.
