Mosaic of a black and white dog with a gold background

Creating a commission, piece by piece

This is Belle, who truly lives up to her name!

When one of my customers received the gift of a bespoke commissioned mosaic of her dog, she got in touch to ask if I could make one of her friend's dog too.

After a lovely conversation about how her dog's cheeky character was captured in her mosaic she sent me some photos of Belle and we talked about timescales and designs.

There's always a photo that jumps out at me, and with it I can see the tiles take shape in my mind. I instinctively know which tiles will make the animal shine, but if you have a preference for bold, glitzy or subtle we'll work with that, to make sure you have a piece that fits your style.

I do a few sketches, then choose a piece of wood. As I work with natural log slices they come in lots of shapes and sizes. I love the more unusual shapes, as they offer a unique dimension to the design. This piece flowed perfectly with the shape of Belle's ears.

I draw the design onto the wood, adding a bit of colour and shading. Then it's my favourite bit .... cutting the tiles into triangles and watching the pieces come together.