Create Multi-Tile Murals

Not very long ago, commissioning a personalized, multi-tile wall mural was a very costly undertaking. Today, thanks to CO2 laser technology, one-of-a-kind engraved murals are available at prices nearly anyone can afford. A large and beautifully-engraved multi-tile wall mural can bring a living space alive and add a touch of elegance to any room. In addition, smaller multi-tile murals can be installed anywhere regular tile is used - on bathroom backsplashes, inside shower stalls, around bathtubs - as well as in less obvious locations, such as stair risers and fireplace surrounds. Creating multi-tile murals on your Universal laser system is fast, easy and fun. In this easy-to-understand, step-by-step tutorial we will show you how to quickly and easily create beautiful, multi-tile murals using CorelDRAW and your Universal laser engraving system. We think you will find the process to be both rewarding and profitable.

Step 1 - Getting Started

1.1: Before you start creating a mural, there are some important choices you must make:
• You must choose a suitable photograph or artwork to engrave;

• You must choose the type of material to engrave, such as marble, granite, acrylic, wood or laser tile;

• You must choose the engraving tile size and finished mural size;

1.2: Some important questions to ask yourself:
• Is the image a good candidate for engraving?
Getting high-quality images and artwork from customers has always been a challenge for engravers. The image your customer provides must be capable of 250 dpi resolution at the actual size in which you plan to engrave it.

Note: 250 dpi provides optimal quality engraving on Universal laser systems.

Tip: Look for a well-composed and well-photographed image for best engraving quality. This will not always be the norm in the images your customers supply, but remember: you can always use graphic software programs such as Photoshop on lesser-quality photographs to crop borders, adjust brightness and contrast, remove scratches and blemishes, eliminate unwanted objects or backgrounds and add text or borders to enhance the overall image quality.


• At what distance will the observer typically be located when viewing the tiled mural?
If the viewer will be standing just a few feet away, a smaller engraving tile size should suffice; if the viewer will be standing farther away, a larger size tile may be more appropriate.

Tip: If in doubt, create paper templates and hang them where the mural is to be located to ensure that the tile size is appropriate for that particular space.


• Will the mural be located indoors or will it be exposed to the elements?
If the mural is to be located indoors, you can safely engrave on materials such as soft acrylic (invert the image and engrave on the back side of the acrylic to provide scratch protection), wood and even mat board. However, if the mural is to be located outdoors, you may want to consider using granite, marble, travertine or other lasting materials to provide long-term protection from the elements.

Okay... you’ve made your choices... now it’s time to create the mural!

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