Ceramic Tile Mural

I'm installing a ceramic tile mural as part of a tile surround for my shower over wonder board. Instructions for the mural tiles say to use an unsanded tile adhesive as the sanded variety will possibly damage the mural surface. Is there such a thing as unsanded thinset and how does it hold up compared to sanded thinset. I would appreciate any advise as to what adhesive product I should use and where can I obtain it for this wet application. Thanks in advance. The rest of the tile is italian porcelain (Shaw Trenton)

I'm pretty sure they are talking about using unsanded grout which means you need to use grout joints 1/8" or smaller for the rest of the tile.

I agree with Stan. It should be set in thinset mortar (not adhesive), and they probably recomend unsanded grout as to not scratch the tile. That would make the most sense to me.

No, both the grout and adhesive need to unsanded. I always use the standard thinset (which contains silica quartz just like the sanded grout) and then unsanded grout for 1/8 inch or less spacing (which uses limestone as the binder with the Portland cement. And the other oxides). And your right the rest of the tile needs to be the 1/8th spacing (the mural is 1/16th of an inch spacing but fits perfectly with the tile that I have). In this case they are talking about the adhesive and the insurance that when it squeezes out while embedding the tile it needs to be unsanded or it may scratch or affect the surface as you clean it off if unsanded is not used. What I don't want to use is a non-thinset adhesive that may be water soluble. Thanks for your input. This is new to me in my tiling experience and I want to make sure I'm doing the right thing.

Look at the lightweight thinset, it doesn't sag as much and seems to have less grit in it. Even then just be careful cleaning off excess.

In 20 years of tiling I have never heard of any kind of sanded grout or thinset scratch ceramic tile. It sounds like your asking if its acceptable to set this mural in mastic, in which case I would say no. I have set limestone, quartz, onyx, marble, ect with thinset or wetset into mud. I would think that if the grout or mortar didnt scratch those materials there is no way it will scratch ceramic tile. And if I am not mistaken, unsanded thinset would be portland cement.

The use of unsanded thinset requires the addition of sand. Like uniontileguy said without sand it would be portland cement.

There is no reason to have the thinset purging betweeen the tiles to begin with unless you get really sloppy for some reason. Use the proper trowel for the application and there won't be any thinset purging.

End of that issue.

Unsanded grout is available however and that is where the concerns would lie in my thinking.

Exactly what kind of tile is this that it is so vulnerable to scratching.

Need just a smidge more information rather than a steadfast pooh-poohing of the recommendations so far.

First off, there IS such a thing as unsanded thinset. It's be maybe 10-15 years since I've seen it, but it does exist, and no sand is required to use it. However, as some have stated, the non-sag thisets use a much finer sand and would be less prone to scratching the surface.
Secondly, it would make me extremely nervous as a installer if a mural were that sensitive that even the use of sanded THINSET could possibly cause problems. What's going to happen when it comes time to CLEAN this area?