alrighty! in case you have not already figured this out... not exactly rocket science... here is how to modify the tile plier so that it will break very small pieces. all you need to do is just get that mending plate taped onto the inside of the head of the tile plier.

- about a 4" - 5" | 10cm - 12cm piece of tape will do. i recommend using 2 layers of tape, as a bit of cushioning seems to help.

- also, over time, the mending plate will bend, which is a good thing... until it bends too much... you will know when that is. so, just remove the old fix and do it again. this is not a permanent fix, and unless you can find the right kind of plate with just the right amount of give, you do not want the fix to be permanent. so it is pretty handy that 4 mending plates come to a package.

- when you have a brand new mending plate on the head, use very little pressure for breaking. as the plate and the tape wear a bit, the breaking action will not be so tight... this is where you want to be. this should hold up for quite some time, unless you are really putting a lot of pressure on it and bending the plate too much. for example, i often use this tool to cut 24kt mosaic gold in half for nice, clean strips. i just score it up the middle, and break it with the modified tile plier. if the gold is too thick, however, it does not work so well, and will bend the plate more quickly.

i know that this is not a very glamorous or high-tech operation. i just stumbled upon this many years ago, and it worked. i have not really tried to improve upon it much, except for the addition of the mending plate. before the plate, i just used chunks of masking tape. it worked, but would wear down too quickly. also, when i had the opportunity to teach this technique, i was too embarrassed with the wads of masking tape, so i tried to jazz it up a bit. (yeah... pretty slick now, ain't it?)