There’s many different ways to create effective mosaic lettering, and it will depend on what look you’re trying to achieve.

I tend to be a bit obsessed about accuracy, and will usually use a cutout method which I’m about to explain. Being handy on the computer helps a lot with this method.

As with any mosaic involving lettering, you need to think carefully about the colour of your letters, the background surrounding tile(s), and your grout colour. It’s best to seek as much contrast with your background as you can and grout colour is an important consideration.

	In this example, I’ve created the design on the computer and then printed it out at it’s actual size.The way the letters appear here is how I want it on the mural.
	First step is to outline the lettering with a marker to make cutting out easier and to familiarise yourself with the letters
	Mark “joints” in the letters so you know where to cut and make allowance for joints in the tile.At one extreme, you could painstakingly cut cut tiles into a whole letter each, or at the other, you could cut them in small pieces for a different effect. An important step now is to mark each section with the letter it belongs to, and indicate with an arrow which way is the top. This will make things a lot easier to put the pieces together later.
	Carefully cut out each template with scissors.I’ve marked all the letters on the outside of the area I want to use, so I can simply cut all the black bits off. This way, I make sufficient allowance for the joints.
	Template pieces laid out after cutting.
	Now you can trace around the outside of your templates directly onto the tile.
	Once you traced all the templates onto the tile, mark each one the same as your templates with the letter & direction.If you’re cutting on a wet saw, it’s a good idea to mark underneath the tile too – in case the water washes your markings away. These ones I just hand cut.

Voila! Finished product. Note how I’ve given contrast against the lettering the highest priority when choosing my grout colour. Normally I’d prefer to use a black grout with those vibrant colours, but it wouldn’t have worked with dark lettering.