The tools
The basic tools are the artist's hands and his feeling for taste, the artist's imagination and skills. The preparation of the tiny mosaic stones consists in crushing the hard material for as long as it is necessary to achieve the most desirable shape and size. Therefore, all types of hammers, tile nippers, cutters and pliers are needed. Thus, very few things have changed within the space of thousands of years as far as the tools are concerned. The contemporary tools that better the artist's work are a special device for marking and cutting the ceramic tiles and a grinder.

The process of making a mosaic might seem to be an easy one, but it requires a very attentive and arduous process of planning a project, drawing sketches, choosing the most appropriate materials and techniques in order to express precisely the artist's conception.

The artist who makes mosaics must not only be skilful at fine arts, but they also must be patient, persistent, and physically strong. I, personally, support the process of preparing mosaics with the pictures, publications, and computer designing.

The designing of mosaics

• The process of designing the mosaics is found not only in choosing a pattern, but it also consists in fitting the shape into an appropriate basis and choosing good materials and techniques. The techniques are basically divided into the direct and indirect ones. The direct technique lies in arranging the stones directly on a basis covered with glue or mortar. The indirect technique is found in arranging the stones in either right-hand or left-hand way. This technique (the indirect one) is much more laborious but often is the only way to achieve a desired effect, especially in the case of making a mosaic from the parts of different height.
• The process of preparing the stones lies in crushing bigger ones into smaller parts, often not bigger than 1 centimetre or even smaller. A hammer, a grinder with a special diamond disc, device for marking and cutting the ceramic tiles, or pliers in the case of the smallest stones, are used in order to crush the stones.
• Grinding - is not always applied by the mosaic makers; personally, I use grinding when a piece of mosaic is being made from ceramic tiles and is to be placed on a floor, on which it is easy to hurt feet by unpolished and thus sharp edges; in that case each of several thousands elements is polished separately. It additionally improves the appearance by making it more attractive. In the case of stone mosaic, the process of polishing may be initiated after having finished the designed pattern.
• Arranging the elements - all the previously prepared elements are then arranged on a design, starting most often from the most arduous elements in the centre of the design and following with the easier ones that most often fill the background.
• Turning and concreting - the mosaic made in the process of the right-hand method should first be consolidated (e.g. by sticking paper or synthetic fibre on top of the mosaic) and turned 'upside down' in order to concrete it from below. The mosaic is turned again after the concrete is set and the paper of synthetic fibre is subsequently removed.
• Joining - is a process which like polishing is not always applied, especially in the case of stone mosaic, but is almost always employed while making mosaic from ceramic tiles; but there are always exceptions to the rule. It depends at a large degree on materials on the effect the artist is planning to achieve.
• Framing - the mosaic which is hung on a wall as a picture can be framed