First the autumnal theme was decided upon, then objects, photographs and line drawings were collected to work from. A suitable back board was selected taking into account the outdoor environment the mosaic will be set in. The mosaic was designed directly on to the board, and the large objects were cut out and fixed into place first, ie the leaves and seed pods. The mirrored background was started once all the main images were in place. Notice the different effects created by varing the ways of cutting and laying the tesserae.