Mosaic is an eye-catching decorative art form used as interior and exterior decoration in homes, churches and cathedrals and was first evidenced around 1500 BC. Small shards or pieces of materials known as tesserrae or tiles are arranged together to create a complete pattern or design.

The mosaic tiles used in most mosaics are marble or other stone, pottery, mirror and even shells and beads, but one can also use glass tiles, metallic tiles and bathroom tiles.

The floors of many Roman buildings and villas were often decorated with intricate mosaic patterns and designs included scenes of everyday life and dramatic historical events. Fine examples of Roman mosaics can be seen at Fishbourne Roman Palace and Bignor Roman Villa in Britain.

Some of the most important mosaic pieces from the early period are the Circus Scene, the vast, nearly 200-foot long Great Hunting Scene, the Labours of Hercules, the Little Hunt and the incredible Bikini Girls, which depicts women in what appear to be modern-looking bikinis. Other important examples of Roman mosaic art were discovered on the Piazza Vittoria in Palermo where two houses were found with fine mosaics examples, which included Orpheus, the Four Seasons and Alexander the Great’s Hunt.

Today mosaic is still a thriving art form and there’s a mosaic tile supplies company that specialises in mosaic art – Maryland Mosaics. They have an incredible selection of the latest mosaic products to choose from as well as fantastic starter mosaic kits for beginners … and if they don’t have exactly what you’re looking for, they’ll hunt it down for you.

Their mosaic craft tiles are of the highest quality and their vast selection of mosaic tiles includes tile grids, backsplash tiles, kitchen tiles, metal tiles as well as other more unusual tiles such as a glass tile, or glass nuggets, squiggles, cabachons and glitter tiles.

Making mosaics is a very creative and satisfying art form. Designing your own patterns, then carefully choosing your very own mosaic tile, pasting these onto the surface you’ve chosen and watching it slowly grow as more and more tiles are positioned is enormously rewarding.