I would guess that I have about 60-70 sets scattered about my basement, on various shelves, ledges, and windowsills. I keep my instruction booklets in a small filing cabinet, which has saved me on more than one occasion when something gets knocked off a shelf.

Like most people, I had a bunch of Lego when I was a kid. This was in the 70's, when the sets were mostly bricks with a few Space Lego sets available. Then when I was about 24, I was wandering through Wal-Mart and saw the Witch's Windship (set 6037). I bought it on a whim, loving the molded pieces and the fun of having a Lego set once again. From there, I started accumulating more and more, focusing mostly on the Star Wars stuff, and Pirates (including Islanders).

I took my son to the local Science Center on day, and the Lego Egypt display was on tour. I was of course very excited about all the various sculptures, but the item that really drew my eye was a mosaic of some ancient Egyptians. It was so intricate and big, and I was very taken with it. I went home and found a picture of my son, and made a small picture of him (which can be found my collection here). I bought a few bulk brick sets with lots of small pieces in various colors and put those to use. After that, I started making more and more, and it just took off from there.

Usually I'll throw ideas around in my head for a while, or look for an image that I think will turn into a Mosaic well. Some pictures lend themselves well to mosaics, others don't. Usually things with text, or too many colors can be difficult. Most of my "portrait" stuff is grayscale, I like it a lot, I think it brings out faces very well. Once I have picture I like, I'll run it through some image software and play with the contrast and saturation, to simplify the color range. Once I have something I like, I map out the colors and locations, and start laying out the piece. Color choice and layering style will depend on what the picture is, how much shading is needed, and whether I'm looking for sharp contrast lines or gradual shading.