The mosaic technique is very much like other building methods I’ve already shown you such as overlapping, stacking, and staggering. On its own, it’s just another way of putting LEGO bricks together. It’s where you decide to use the technique that makes it truly effective.
When you use it alone, the mosaic technique can help you make interesting and artistic panels that you can display just as you do paintings or photographs. Such mosaics may be repeating patterns or may be images you have copied from real life. In these types of mosaic, the end result stands alone and does not require anything else to make it complete.
Another way to use this form of building is to incorporate a mosaic section into a larger model. For example, you may want to spell out the name of a company on the side of a cargo truck or a locomotive. Or, you might want to simulate a painted mural on the side of a downtown building. In other words, you would use the mosaic technique to enhance another model, the remainder of which would be built with the other techniques you already know.
The size of your mosaic depends on what you intend to do with it. As noted earlier, the technique can have several applications. You might build a mosaic that you just want to be a display piece (such as an image of your pet or favorite car) on a 32x32 stud baseplate or perhaps on the larger 48x48 stud version.
On the other hand, you may want the mosaic portion of a larger model only to be a small section of a wall or the side of a vehicle. I’ll show you examples of both uses in this chapter.