How to make alphabet mosaics letter by letter

Recently, a good friend welcomed a baby girl. Being a mosaic artist, I wanted to make a unique present using mosaics. As my friend is a creative cake decorator (I have been lucky enough to sample many of these!), I thought she and her husband might appreciate their own little piece of handmade art. And so I set about making an alphabet mosaic, letter by letter!

How to make alphabet mosaics letter by letter using a template

Upon deciding to make templates, one of the first items I considered was using the alphabet to make mosaic letters. Mosaic lettering in mosaics is very versatile. It is able to be used for signage, name plates, naming a room, or inspirational words. Pretty much anything!

When I designed the mosaic alphabet letter templates, I wanted to create something with easy customisation and different size options. The intention of the templates to make was to ensure each letter maintained its shape and proportion during the design stage.

Using the templates to make alphabet mosaics letter by letter was a fairly easy process. I selected the size, placed the cut-out alphabet letter on the substrate and carefully traced and marked the lettering.    

Graduated colouring

I wanted the ‘Katie’ name to be pink. But not plain pink. A few different shades of pink.

When choosing the mosaic colours, I wanted to challenge myself and move away from using a single colour.

Earlier this year, I had attended a two day workshop, held by Margo Anton, who specialises in creating mosaic jewelry. While making mosaic jewelry was not going to be part of my long term mosaic goal, I was interested in learning about this process.

(On a side note: the workshop was great and I made two lovely pieces of jewelry. However, I am not sure my eyes could cope with working in such finite detail on a regular basis! Creating mosaic jewelry uses quite different materials from traditional mosaics. If you are interested in learning more, Margo Anton offers online courses in mosaic jewelry.)

However, from this workshop, I became a big fan of graduated colouring. I found this colouring system added both depth and visual interest to a design. I liked the seamless transition from one colour palette shade to another to create a 3D effect. Graduated colouring is way to suggest movement and highlight specific areas.

Colouring ‘Katie’

Selecting the graduating colours for ‘Katie’ involved scouring through my mosaic stockpile of all things pink. In varying shades of pink!

I found tea cups and coffee cups with both big and little flowers. To break up the ‘pinkness’, I found the same hydrangea flower in light blue and shades of black. These provided subtle contrast colours.

For the capital ‘K’, I used of a pink version of bluebells and other flowers. Crockery plates of pink shades provided the more solid colours for the name.

The background to use when making alphabet mosaics letters

As my mosaic journey has progressed, so has my knowledge of how to prepare a background. The background in a mosaic project is just as important as the main feature.

To prevent the ‘Katie’ letters from fading into the background, I chose a black ground. The contrasting colours would work perfectly together.

A horizontal brick placement was used, interspersed with light coloured millefiori. This worked to both break up the solid background and weave in the colours from the name.

‘Katie’ is sent!

I am happy to report the ‘Katie’ mosaic was sent and very happily received!

What I learnt from making this mosaic is using graduated colouring requires patience and precision. It can be challenging finding similar colours and mosaic material thickness, however the end result is very rewarding. Seeing a vibrant gradient against a contrasting background is definitely a way to make a mosaic stand out.