craftgrrl | Overly abitious novice crafter needs help with her mosaic! (Reply)

hello! I'm a first-time poster and I could really use some help!

I was recently lucky enough to find a beat up, but otherwise lovely cedar chest in my parent's attic. Since I am in need of a coffee table for my new apartment I decided to take it home and refinish it. After what seems like an eternity of sanding and oiling the chest looks great, except for the top inlay section. This part of the chest must have taken the most abuse when it was being used (I fear my little kid self my have had something to do with that) and is all chipped and scratched and covered in splotches of what looks like nail polish. I don't think it can be salvaged, so I was thinking of putting a mosaic on it to cover it up. I figure this will be better suited for its coffee table purpose anyway.

The problem with this is that while I know the basics of mosaic work, I'm not sure how to do it in this particular instance. The surface of the chest is not even, with some boards being slightly warped so that if I just applied the tiles directly, the mosaic surface would be all uneven (not good for holding mugs, plates, etc). Also, the inside part of the top of the chest is not even with the boarder, and the tiles I have are not thick enough to make up for the difference (the top of the chest looks kind of like the one in this photo- an inside surface surrounded by higher planks).

Does anyone have an experience with this kind of thing or any suggestions? I'm familiar with both the direct and indirect mosaic methods- I just don't know what to physically attach the tiles to. I was thinking of using something to fill in the dips and warps of the wood to make an even surface but I'm not sure what to use. I don't have much experience working with wood. A friend of mine suggested just using gout, but I'm not sure about that. Alternatively I guess I could find a perfectly sized piece of wood or something to attach the mosaic to and then glue that into the top of the chest? I'm not sure how sturdy that would be, since it has to be able to withstand the lid of the chest being opened and closed every now and then. I was also thinking of laying down thin set on the top and using the indirect method to quickly transfer the mosaic on top to ensure that the to would be smooth... but I'm not sure if this can be done directly on wood, or if the cement would have to be super thick and make the whole thing weigh a million pounds.

I'd really appreciate any advice or ideas.

Thanks!