Back in late 1999, I began developing a software program that would help me create a mosaic pattern. I had, in fact, a specific image I wanted to make but no way to do it efficiently. As I sat at my desk coding the very rudimentary program of converting an image to mosaic pattern, I pondered if this was even a good use of my time. When the program was good enough to use, I imported my image; applied my custom color logic; and looked at the color printout. The screen test was good. The next question was how well it would translate to the tile colors I used. At the time, the colors were from Hakatai, and the store was Mosaic Tile Arts in Washington. John Poetzel shipped me many bags of different colors, and over the course of a week I placed tile after tile into grids, using contact paper to pull the finished tile out of the grids. I then laid the mosaic down in my living room to look at. The photo above is the first mosaic ever created.

After showing the program to a few people and they in turn wanting a copy of it, I started selling copies. Over the next few months, I hired an additional programmer and we started refining the features until mid-2000 when we officially launched the first version of TileCreator. Since then, we have sold over 5,000 copies worldwide and created two additional versions - a Pro version, and an Artistic version that uses opus vermiculatum for laying the tiles out - and continue to develop the software.

If you had asked me 10 years ago what I would be doing a decade later with the software, I don't think I would have guessed it would turn into a full-time job. But here we are, still selling and supporting our software - now on version 5 - and preparing to release an even more feature rich program that's been under development for the last 24 months: TileCreator Designer.

Stay tuned for the next 10 years - it's going to be an amazing ride!